Communication is at the core of business.
No matter what you do, you canât avoid it. As consultants, executives, and ultimately problem-solvers, even if we come up with solutions, we must convey these solutions to others.
At McKinsey, we learn the importance of being structured in our thinking and communication. My first post covered the thinking aspect, and this one will cover the communication.
One of the tools we use at McKinsey is the Pyramid Principle, which is a framework for structured communication.
Exhibit 1: The Pyramid Principle
The Pyramid Principle was created by Barbara Minto, the first female post-MBA hire at McKinsey, in the 1970s.
This concept goes beyond communicating with senior partners or executives. Itâs useful anytime you are trying to convey a persuasive argument or ask someone to do something.
The Pyramid Principle will help you communicate your point clearly and concisely to any audience.
Hereâs how it works:
Start with your answer
Summarize your supporting arguments
Summarize your supporting facts
Start with the Answer
People are busy in the business world, so donât make them wait for an answer when they ask for it!
Always start your answer by giving the key idea or conclusion first, then list your supporting arguments.
This may be counterintuitive for many people, as we are usually taught to do research, find facts and figures, do analyses, and then reach a conclusion.
You must change that way of thinking. When an executive asks you what to do next, donât start talking about your research, data, to then point towards a recommendation.
You START with the recommendation.
Why? Because;
Executives are used to processing lots of information at once and need to get to the core of the issue quickly.
You sound more persuasive as you speak with confidence as you are able to think through your answer.
It gives more context to better understand your arguments afterwards (i.e. if someone knows what your thesis is, theyâll better understand why youâre giving certain arguments).
Overall, starting with the answer or conclusion will always simplify your communication with the other person. You will also learn to become more structured in your thoughts.
Have Supporting Arguments
Youâve given your answer, now itâs time to back it up.
You must have supporting arguments, in the form of facts and data, to back up everything you say.
Exhibit 2: Full Pyramid Structure
This is what your âpyramidâ should look like.
You have arguments backing up your main conclusion, and facts and data that in turn support your arguments.
Essentially, ideas at any level of the pyramid must always be summaries of the ideas grouped below them.
Moreover, your supporting ideas should be logically ordered. You can do this in many ways, for instance:
Time order: if there is a sequence of events that form a cause-effect relationship, you should present the ideas in time order.
Structural order: break a singular thought into its parts, ensuring that you have covered all of the major supporting ideas.
Degree order: present supporting ideas in rank order of importance, most to least important.
Rule of 3
For this framework to be even better, you can combine it with the rule of 3.
3 is a magic number in consulting and business. To apply the rule of 3, you simply need 3 arguments to back up anything you say.
Why 3?
It forces you to stay concise and focus on the answer you gave without overwhelming the other person with countless arguments
It forces you to select the top 3 most important arguments you can find
It increases your persuasiveness, as you sound more structured and confident when you speak
Itâs a very simple rule to apply.
Now that you know this, I want you to deliberately put this into practice and become aware of how others answer questions.
Take mental notes of how they do it.
Are they structured or is their answer all over the place?
Was their recommendation clear, or is the team still unsure about what to do?
You should discern these small details and use them as feedback to enhance the way you communicate with others.
Hey, Iâd love to get some feedback from you!
Let me know in the comments what you thought of this post.
Too long, short, interesting, or not?
Donât be shy!