“It’s Ground Hog Day!”
How to communicate and tell memorable and engaging stories
After graduating, Logan spent a few years working in Russia. When he got back to the US, he kept getting confused when we’d mention things like “Groundhog Day!”
“You know, the movie with Bill Murray that takes place on Groundhog Day, and he relives the same day repeatedly?”
He had no idea what we were talking about. Having spent years out of the country and exposed to different media, much of our discussions were lost on him. It wasn’t a language barrier – he spoke English. He simply lacked a frame of reference for the things we discussed. I frequently translated our conversations to give him context.
“Robin Williams dressed as an older woman named Mrs. Doubtfire. He wanted to spend time with his kids during a contentious divorce and his ex wouldn’t approve the additional time.”
“Whitney Houston recorded the hit song ‘I Will Always Love You,’ originally written by Dolly Parton. It was featured in a movie where she was a celebrity who fell in love with her bodyguard, Kevin Costner.”
“Michael Jordan was a basketball player who won several championships. But he took a detour into minor-league baseball for a year before returning to play with the Chicago Bulls.”
“Beanie Babies are these small toys, about the size of a softball, stuffed with plastic pellets that resemble beans. They come as every imaginable animal, and for some reason, people fanatically collect them.”
Each time Logan didn’t grasp a reference, we’d fill in the context he lacked. We began adopting the mindset that he probably didn’t understand what we were talking about, so we included descriptions to prevent him from feeling left out.
One of the most common mistakes people make when we are communicating and telling stories is focusing on what we want to share. We often neglect to make sure that we’ve appropriately set the context and meaning so the audience can understand.
Have you ever been in a setting where the people around you are speaking a different language that you don’t understand? At first, your brain tries to keep up and listen for words you recognize. But soon, it gives up. Focusing on something that doesn’t have meaning is too much work. Your brain slides into lazy mode and the conversation becomes white noise, like Charlie Brown’s mumbling teacher. Physically, you’re present, but mentally, you’ve checked out.
Versions of this happen even when someone speaks the same language. Phil in engineering starts explaining the R&D project to marketing. But he neglects to translate what he’s saying, leaving them without the necessary context and meaning. Michelle in data analytics presents the dashboard but fails to ground the decision-makers in the story of data. When Aunt Lydia asks you what you’re working on, her eyes glaze over after ten seconds. You might as well be the Chandler Bing of your family because she doesn’t know what you do for a living.
Instead of centering on ourselves and what we want to say, we need to focus on the people we’re talking with.
Adopt the mindset of a translator.
No matter who you are speaking with, think about how you’re explaining things so they can understand.
Start by asking yourself, “What does the audience need to know? not “What do I have to say?”
Whenever you are about to present, it’s tempting to open existing slides and build a bulleted list of all the things you have to say, especially when there is existing content. Instead, think of your audience and what you want them to come away with.Consider: What is their mindset and understanding?
Identify the audience’s mindset and understanding to further define what they need to know. When Phil is presenting R&D projects to marketing, his goal is to share information so they can prepare messaging and campaigns. These are different details than he would tell other engineers. Marketing is seeking higher-level messages that describe problems the products solve and the benefits for customers.Add: How can I make this relatable to the audience?
What are the common experiences that are relatable to your audience? Consider where you can weave them in as a metaphor or example to create a relatable context. I recently rewatched Ghostbusters and loved the scene that used a Twinkie as an example to describe the scale of the problem they were facing.
When describing project risks someone said, “It’s like we’re camping. Our flashlights are dead, and we don’t have replacement batteries. But we still have food, dry wood, and matches.” This helps you recognize there are some risks on the project to monitor, but they aren’t significant yet.
Adopt the role of a translator when you’re communicating and telling stories. Share information in a way that is meaningful to your audience. Otherwise, you will find yourself stuck repeating the same message without a different result, just like Bill Murray reliving Groundhog Day.
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Check out THE PERFECT STORY for more tips on how to be a memorable communicator.
