A Research-Based Way to Put a Spin on Your Message
Structure your message strategically to create a positive or negative impression.
First Appeared on Inc.com
John Hart, a human resources manager, knew his new boss’s idea was bad — but he couldn’t say so. His recently hired EVP of human resources, Matt, was gung ho to launch a new learning management system (LMS) throughout their manufacturing company. That would mean 2,500 people needing to learn new procedures to participate in the many mandatory training sessions their organization required.
John had seen LMS rollouts before, and knew firsthand about the extraordinary time-sink they represented, often with few measurable benefits. Matt had come from a consulting firm that routinely rolled out new learning software; he did not fully realize the impact this one would have on the workforce of his new employer. Nevertheless, he was confident. He had asked John to write a report detailing the proposed LMS rollout, and he expected his position to be validated.
John knew that he could not come right out and say what he thought — that would not sit well with his new boss. Still, he felt obligated to register his concerns. Fortunately, John had recently participated in my Worktalk persuasive writing workshop, and he had learned a powerful method for putting a spin on documents without overtly stating an opinion.
Should You Always Take a Stand?
As a manager and business leader, you write persuasively every day. But sometimes, when we wish to persuade, it pays to use understated ways of stating our position. We might need to use subtle tools to put a spin on our document without appearing to take a strong position. To do this, you can use a technique that we at Worktalk call Strategic Organizing.
The approach is based on the well-known primacy and recency effects, also known as serial-position effects. Research has proved that people are most impacted by the first thing they see (primacy), and they are most likely to remember the last thing they see (recency). Memory is muddled for moments in the middle. Building on these foundations helps us manage our readers’ impressions of our message.
How to Use Strategic Organizing
To put a positive spin, we open with the positive points about our position, sandwich the negatives in the middle, and close with the positives. Thanks to the serial-position effect, the reader walks away with a positive feeling about the idea. Conversely, if we think the idea is poor, we can lead with the negatives, bury the positives in the middle, and close with the negatives. Voilà: a negative impression.
In John’s case, he knew there were both good and bad reasons to adopt the new LMS. The good reasons included better recordkeeping, easier storage of learning materials, and more nuanced scoring. There were also negatives, such as the steep learning curve leading to high costs in time and productivity, the added complexity of the new system, and its high cost. Moreover, the LMS system’s vendor required a multiyear service contract with the purchase, so the company would be locked into the new system even if it didn’t work as expected. In John’s view, the negatives outweighed the positives.
With Strategic Organizing in mind, he outlined his report. Rather than generalizing, he got down to details. His opening focused on the measurable costs in lost time and productivity caused by adopting the new LMS, highlighted several complex elements of the system, and compared the cost of the new program with the previous one. He dropped the system’s benefits briefly in the middle of the report without elaboration. In closing, he reiterated the disadvantages of the learning curve, pointing out that other corporate initiatives were already taxing their employees’ ability to integrate change. His parting shot was a warning that because of the vendor’s requirements, the company would be stuck with the new system for years even if it didn’t work.
His approach worked. Matt realized that perhaps he had been too hasty and asked John and several other key managers to do a more thorough cost-benefit analysis.
When a Spin Is Better Than a Statement
Sometimes you can call an idea as you see it. But often, a direct approach is not ideal. Perhaps you are trying to influence a decision without seeming to force it. Sometimes you are not the decision maker or, if you are the leader, you need to get buy-in from your senior team. Or perhaps you are like John, a manager who sees things the executive doesn’t. Thanks to the impact of primacy and recency, you can be confident that whatever you lead and end with will have the strongest impact on your readers’ minds.
