You dey get di floor twice a week without even trying. People dey bring you inside di meetings wey matter, dem dey wait when you start sentence, and when you talk say something na risk, di room go treat am as risk. Dat one na standing, and na you build am.
Na here wetin you fit don start to notice from up there. For each of di last three meetings, di best line for di room comot from person wey di table just look pass. Somebody talk di one true thing about di timeline, and forty seconds later di conversation don move on like say nobody talk anything. You notice am because you get spare attention. Most people for dat room no get.
One move dey available to you for dat moment, and no be manners. Na di most senior thing wey anybody fit do with a room attention, e dey cost one sentence, and everybody wey dey watch go notice am.
How much I suppose dey talk for meeting?
Three contributions na good target for meeting wey no be you dey run am, and one of di three go to another person. Three dey enough make you be participant instead of person wey just sidon der, and e small enough make each one earn him place.
To dey count na rough method, and na dat na di point. Without number, na mood and whoever dey most comfortable to talk go decide airtime, and na so person wey get something wey worth saying go comot without talking anything, while person wey no get anything to add go talk for nine minutes. Target dey fix both ends. Five contributions before di meeting reach halfway mean say na you dey take over di room. Zero when ten minutes remain mean say your point go land as objection instead of position.
Na di third contribution na wetin dis article dey talk about. Spend am on point wey somebody make and everybody drop.
Wetin I go talk to give person credit without sounding like manager?
Call di person name and call di exact thing wey dem do, for one sentence, den continue. "Make we go back to wetin Dana talk, di rollback plan na di one I go build on."
Di difference between dat one and ordinary praise na say e specific. "Great point, Dana" na noise, and everybody for di room dey hear am as noise. E also dey sound like manager wey dey share sticker, and na exactly why capable people dey avoid dis move. To call di real work dey do something completely different. E dey serve di point again so di room go must handle am, and e dey attach Dana name to real work instead of to personality.
Sentences wey dey stand strong, for normal voice, without ceremony:
- "Make we go back to wetin Dana talk, na dat one I go build on."
- "Di rollback plan comot from Priya. She don run am twice."
- "Na Ben find dis one, no be me. Ben, talk di part about di retries."
Di last one strong pass, because e dey hand over di floor plus di credit. You no dey describe person contribution from safe distance. You dey give dem thirty seconds of di room, and you dey stand behind wetin dem go do with am.
When to call person name dey really count?
When di people wey go decide dat person next role dey inside di room. Di same sentence for corridor na kindness. For staffing meeting na career event.
Na dis part most people dey get wrong, and na good manners dey make dem get am wrong. Dem dey save di praise for private one on one, where e go land warm but e no go travel anywhere. Di economist Heather Sarsons study how dem dey assign credit for joint work when nobody fit see who do which part, and she find out say people dey fill di gap with assumptions, and say dose assumptions no dey fall on everybody equally. Where record dey silent, room go still write one. To talk who do wetin no be decoration on top di facts. Na di only version of di facts wey dem dey record.
So di timing rule easy. Talk am where e count: for front of di person wey dey sign promotion, inside di client meeting, for di panel, inside di room where next quarter dey decided. If na once you go do am, do am der.
Wetin I go talk when person repeat my point like say na him own?
Collect am back with one line, no vex, and make di meeting continue. "I glad say e land. Building on am, di next step na di refund data."
E dey happen, and usually no be say dem thief am, and to treat am like thief go cost you pass wetin di point worth. Dat sentence dey do three things at once. E dey claim di origin, e stay warm, and e dey move forward, so nobody for di room need pick side. Talk am for di same voice wey you don dey use, den leave am and go back to di bigger move, because person wey dey count offence no get any attention left to spend on anybody else.
To give credit away go cost me di credit?
No, and di reason cold pass how e sound. Standing no be fixed quantity wey you dey slice. A room dey continuously dey decide how serious dem go take you, and di person wey dey call other people work name dey read as di one wey no dey fear for him own.
Den di thing wey everybody dey underestimate dey, wey be how rare dis thing be. Gallup work on recognition find out say na only about one out of three US workers strongly agree say dem receive recognition or praise for good work inside di past seven days, and say di recognition wey people dey remember pass comot from manager or senior leader. Rare plus memorable na strong return on one sentence.
Two distinctions dey turn dis from nice idea into something wey you fit really run.
Mentor dey talk to you. Sponsor dey talk about you. Sylvia Ann Hewlett research on sponsorship draw dat line hard. Advice wey dem give for private na mentoring. To call somebody name inside room wey dem no dey, and to attach your own standing to am, na sponsorship, and na dat one dey move career. Most people never hear anybody name di difference for dem, na why dem dey believe say dem dey already do dis thing when na coffee dem just dey drink.
Do am once for person wey no ask you. To champion person wey go never find out na di version wey cost pass and buy pass, because you no dey build favour, you dey build habit and reputation. KEEP CALM founder put giving back among di reasons why him own career work, and e do am all di way up instead of after e don arrive, and e talk say di energy and support wey come back na tenfold. Na him account of him own twenty years be dat, no be return wey anybody fit promise you. Wetin you fit check na di mechanism for di small end. Di person wey you call dia name go remember am for years, and everybody wey hear you do am now sabi exactly di kind person wey you be inside room.
Di version wey nobody dey see you do
Three things separate dis from just being nice, and all three na decisions wey you dey take for di moment.
Name di deed, no be di quality. "Dana dey great" no give anybody anything to work with. "Na Dana rollback plan make we no lose Thursday" na fact wey go survive even when stranger repeat am.
Time am for where e cost to talk am and where e worth to hear am, wey be for front of di people wey dey decide, no be for corridor after.
And do am at least once for person wey no fit pay you back and wey no go ever find out. Dat one no get audience and no get return wey you fit point at, and na dat one dey turn technique into how you dey operate.
You still dey take your own space. Three contributions no be small ask, and two of dem na your own. Wetin change na wetin di third one dey for, and e still be di cheapest thing for dis whole category: one sentence, talk am loud, with name and fact inside, for front of di correct people.
Sources
- Harvard Business Review, Make Yourself Sponsor-Worthy
- Gallup, The Importance of Employee Recognition: Low Cost, High Impact
- American Economic Association, Recognition for Group Work: Gender Differences in Academia