Have you ever submitted a plan to a leader or customer?

Have you ever submitted a plan successfully?

If the plan is repeatedly rejected and modified, but it still fails, are you annoyed or determined to modify it until the other party is satisfied?

For everyone in the workplace, they must have done the work of "submitting a plan". We are anxious, flustered, even angry and complaining ... It is too difficult to put the initiative in the hands of others, because even if you make all the preparations, it may be just because the positions and perspectives of both sides are not on the same channel, and all the plans you made in the previous few nights will be overturned.

Have we ever thought about what the problem is? Are you not working hard enough? Or did you go in the wrong direction from the beginning?

Facts have proved that the plan has been revised many times. In the final analysis, there is a problem in communication between the two sides. Perhaps the two sides did not accurately express their intentions and purposes, which led to the ideological deviation from language to writing; Perhaps the thinking of both sides is not in one dimension at all, and discussing problems is like talking about chickens and ducks; Perhaps the reporter knew clearly when reporting his own work, but the content of the expression made the listener simply unable to understand what he was saying. ...

All these will lead to low efficiency and high duplication of work. To solve this problem, what we need is accurate expression.

Accurate Expression is a book that guides us to achieve accurate expression by mastering written communication skills. This book presents the whole communication process in the form of a story through a virtual case of a consulting company, and helps us solve the problem with professional problems. The book focuses on guiding us to master four abilities of written communication, namely, logical thinking ability, hypothesis testing ability, meeting design ability and business text production ability. It teaches us how to communicate in words in detail, how to express it accurately, and helps us write touching copy.

The author of this book, Takada Keihisa, has worked in Arthur D. Little, BCG and other well-known consulting companies for many years and has rich consulting experience. As a consultant, it is his daily job to submit a plan. In order to improve work efficiency and improve the pass rate of the scheme, he summarized a series of skills to make the scheme pass smoothly and accurately. I think these three points are particularly important here.

There is a saying in Zhouyi that "different people have different views": it means that different people will look at the same thing in different ways, even in different ways, especially at work.

Many times, the plan we have formulated cannot be smoothly promoted because of the disagreement between the two sides. It seems that we are discussing the same problem, but it is quite different. At this time, it is particularly important to confirm the positions of both sides at the same level. So how to achieve unity of purpose and accurate positioning?

1. Listen

No matter what plan we need to complete, as Party B, we must clearly understand that it is not what you want, but what the other party wants. You can't just think from your own point of view, but fully listen to each other's opinions.

What does he want? What do you want? What are the requirements? what do you think? Don't express your opinions in a hurry. Listen, understand and listen clearly. This is the first step we should take.

2. "Guide" and "Force"

After we have listened carefully to each other's opinions and demands, the next thing to do is to sort out and clarify. By asking questions, make clear what the other person doesn't understand and doesn't make it clear. Only when it is really clear can we do the next work better. Here, the author Takada Keihisa puts forward two communication methods: "guidance" and "coercion".

"Force": When the other party speaks his own demands, he often gives ambiguous answers, and may not even know himself. At this time, we need to communicate again and reach a unified opinion. We should ask each other's views and attitudes about something very clearly, so that they can make judgments and give accurate opinions. This is a "forced" way of communication.

Of course, the "compulsion" mentioned here is a kind of psychological expectation, but we know that we need to achieve a certain goal in this way, and we can pay more attention to the art of language in practical work.

"Guidance": As more professional people, when the other party can't clearly express what he wants to say, we can guide the other party to speak by asking questions, encouraging and responding, and get the answers or attitudes we want to know in the guidance.

Either way, these two ways are used by us to fully understand each other's intentions and make communication smoother. But let's be clear, there is no difference between the two. In the actual operation process, we should choose the appropriate communication mode according to different objects or things, and finally realize our communication purpose.

Step 3 summarize with professional knowledge

After listening and communicating, give a professional opinion very clearly. After all, we are professionals. Therefore, it is very important for the meeting to give a clear summary. Whether it is early communication or mid-term report, it can not only clarify the core of this meeting, but also confirm the position with the other party through summary to minimize mistakes.

We should express the core content of communication in the simplest way, so that the other party can understand it at a glance and make the final decision. There are several principles to master here: simple and specific, and let the other party make a decision.

By doing the above three points, we can basically achieve accurate positioning and the general direction will not be wrong. Next, we just need to advance and complete step by step.

What we have to do next is to sort out our own ideas and establish a certain logical relationship.

In the preface of Accurate Expression, Takada said: The ability to think rationally and express appropriately is indispensable for business people. Among them, reasonable thinking ability refers to our logical thinking ability.

Many times, when we discuss a very serious problem, some people can make it very clear and complete, and you will easily believe what he said after listening; And some people say a lot, but you sound like a piece of east and a piece of west, feeling full of loopholes. The former is logically clear, while the latter is not.

The book Accurate Expression clearly points out that logic refers to the reasonable organization of language. There are only two ways to achieve this goal, vertical logic and horizontal logic.

Vertical logic

The so-called "vertical logic" is what we often say about causality, which is similar to B. Because A, for example, Xiao Ming studied mathematics very hard, he got 100 in the math exam. This is a simple logic. But many times we express problems in our work, and this causal relationship is very unclear and sounds logically chaotic. For example, Xiao Ming loves reading, so he got 100. We thought that there was a direct relationship between the two, but it didn't, which made the listener feel very unclear. We often make such mistakes at work.

If you want to make your vertical logic more accurate, the most important thing is not to confuse different things. Just like the example we just gave, it seems that reading is a kind of love for learning, but if you want to directly introduce the love for reading, you can get 100, which is still far-fetched. This is the reason for the different nature.

Transverse logic

In logic, there is another organizational form called horizontal logic. That is, when you describe a problem, whether your argument is sufficient and comprehensive. We often make listeners doubt because of our insufficient arguments, which is also a kind of unclear logic.

In order to make our horizontal logic more accurate, we can do it from the following angles:

(1) using frames

First of all, we should establish an overall framework, which is the basis of the whole link.

② Avoid omission.

After the big framework is formulated, we should use all kinds of abilities to put forward all kinds of possibilities from multiple angles and levels, and the more the better, to avoid omissions.

③ Eliminate duplication.

When we have listed all the possibilities, don't forget to check it again, delete the repeated parts and avoid repeating what we have said.

If the above three points can be achieved, there will be no problem in the organization of horizontal logic, with clear logic and natural and accurate language expression.

Logic is very important to everyone, but often our understanding of logic is too broad. In practical work, it is often because the logic is not clear that the other party can't understand what we want to express. Essential consistency, avoiding omissions, grasping these two points, the logic will be accurate, and the expression will naturally be accurate.

According to the above two points, we already know that to achieve accurate expression, both position and logic should be accurate, but it is also indispensable that the content should be accurate.

Whether it's ppt, plan or a small piece of paper, what comes out of your hand represents you. I will never forget the year when I first started working. On the ppt I am about to use, Master pointed out that there is a period missing.

In order to make our content more accurate, these three points are very important:

1. Simple, direct and focused

No matter what form your copy is presented, the most important thing is to be simple, direct and focused. Show what you want to express most in the most direct way, so that others can know what you want to express at a glance, instead of focusing only on form and pattern and ignoring the core content.

2. Follow familiar habits

For example, we are used to looking from left to right, so you should not design from right to left; For example, keywords are expressed in big and deep words ... never the other way around.

We must pay attention to these details.

3. Delete unnecessary content

I have talked about simplicity and directness before, and I emphasize here again that we should be willing to give up unnecessary and unimportant things. If it is not important or clear, you can delete it all until it can't be deleted completely, so that your copy will always be concise and efficient.

In addition to these three points, there are many reminders about the accurate expression of text production, which I present here in the form of mind map.

Accurate expression is very important to everyone and is one of the basic skills that each of us should master in the workplace. Whether we have just started our job or have been working for several years, accurate expression can double our efficiency in our work and let us output what we want to express more accurately. At this point, accurate expression has made me gain a lot. If you want to further improve yourself in accurate expression and written communication, don't miss this book.