Sometimes it helps to get people to put your needs first. Otherwise, your projects stall and may not even get off the ground at all.
I was a journalist for a decade. The mayor and police chief of Portland, Oregon once called me back within 30 minutes on the same day. I was on a salary smaller than what I’m bringing in, now, but often I felt more important. I’d phoned them both on a news story that made communicating with me a priority for them, right then. Some years later, I changed jobs to work in strategic communications. It didn’t take long to realize I had gone to the back of the line. People called me back in weeks, not minutes.
Now, I’ve found the best way to communicate so you become a priority for other people is as follows. Accept the things you can’t change, before you try to change them. That’s huge. Because the iceberg of what you can control in working life is only the stuff above the water. Then, offer people a simple path to do what you need. If you’re trying to get them to do something for you, set comfortable deadlines ahead of time. Make it clear that you expect them to do that simple thing by a given time. Be explicit about what might happen if they slip in accomplishing that task.
“We’re trying to stay on track, but if we miss our marks early on, then it could set everything back a week or two or more.”
It’s not personal. If people miss deadlines, then work slips. It’s not because they’re bad people, but one draws conclusions about their reliability. Above all, I come to any meeting with a clear idea of what I need people to commit to doing by the end of it. Once the small talk is out of the way and I’ve made some Davis-Quality Jokes™, I don’t allow myself to waiver from that, and I gently seek clarification if I’m not getting it when a team is under pressure.
“So, you’re saying that by next Tuesday you’ll have sent amends through on the press release?”
“And we’re clear that it needs to go through three other parties for sign-off by the following week?”
“If we don’t get their sign-off on time, are you comfortable omitting them from the launch? Or would you rather push the launch back a couple of weeks?”
At times, I catch myself sounding like a drill instructor. Albeit a tactful and polite and smiling one. Meanwhile I got into journalism, if I’m honest, because I liked a job where a person could spend a lot of time in the pub.
Journalism didn’t feel as stuffy as most jobs, and I liked the looseness of the camaraderie. I liked literature and poetry and I wanted a job where one earned money writing for a living. I liked the supposed glamor. At the time, I really liked the drinking. It turns out, we went to the pub after hitting deadlines. And the thing I liked most about being in the pub was the close relationships we enjoyed under pressure. Everybody was working hard towards the same goal: Publishing a newspaper. To do it, we had to hit our marks.
Those days were exciting for the same reasons I enjoy working with people on projects today. And I don’t even drink, anymore! You learn who you trust to deliver, and you look forward to working together again. Those people who let you down tend to fall away. Before you know it, there’s a close-knit group of you. Sitting together there in your metaphorical pub. You’re all ready to put something extraordinary out for public consumption. If it all works out as planned, you become the ones to set the public agenda. If it goes wrong then before long, you drink alone.
Do you have a reputation for getting stuff done? How do you communicate to maintain it? What have you learned about how to become a priority for other people when it matters most? Better yet, have you found a way to do those things and have people enjoy working with you? If you have, then I’m interested in hearing more because that’s the real secret sauce.
