Submitted by: Submitted by ellaniels
Views: 123
Words: 533
Pages: 3
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 03/07/2013 02:28 AM
Communicate With Confidence
By Lisa Moretto
I was recently asked to help a young engineer develop her writing skills. (I hesitated just now, before I revealed the engineer’s gender; I don’t want you to think a lack of confidence has anything to do with being female. I see this in young and old professionals of both gender.)
Here lies the problem: her writing skills were fine. In fact, I suspect she was a strong language arts student in college. I gave her various exercises on grammar, structure, punctuation, style and organization, all in an attempt to find her weaknesses. I was just about ready to end our consultations, when an obtuse question exposed her issue. I opened our meeting with simple chit chat and asked her how the sales conference went. She recently returned from a national event in which she met with potential clients and promoted the firm.
For the next 20 minutes, the young engineer described, in detail, how the time, money and energy that the firm spent at the conference was not worth the return. (Here’s a dream situation that all Vice Presidents and Principals seek: a young engineer considering the ROI!) She explained to me that the attendance was considerably lower this year which directly impacted the leads generated. She had even thought of two alternatives for the firm to consider before agreeing to attend the conference next year.
When she finished conveying her ideas to me, the natural follow-on question, was “Did your manager approve your idea?” (And here’s where the dream ends.) She looked at me with total confusion. She never presented her ideas. UGH! Brilliant ideas lost.
She didn’t think anyone would care and didn’t consider it part of her role. When I explained that her idea warranted a proposal, she looked overwhelmed. “I’m an engineer” she told me, “not a proposal writer.” And with that statement, my consulting session(s) began.
It’s not enough to just “talk” about ideas. A well-written, organized, two-page proposal is...