Start a work conversation Tip 5: Give a summary before going into detail

How to start a work conversation, tip number 5: give a summary before you go into the detail. When we talk at work, we normally have a large topic to talk about, or a complex topic. There may be multiple things we want to cover. Before you start giving details and specifics, give a summary of the whole topic. Now, the reason for doing this is it sets the scene for your audience. It gives them the big picture before you start going into that specific little detail. If you don't do this, you run the risk of starting a conversation without the audience understanding how it relates to them or how the topic relates to the bigger picture. You might also run the risk of going straight down into the detail of your topic, and when that happens, it's very difficult for an audience to understand how that information fits together and how it relates to things they care about. So how do you do this? How do you give a summary at the beginning of your message? Well, you can use a structure like goal, problem, solution. Say, here's the goal that we're trying to achieve. Here's the problem that is standing between us and that goal. And this is what we're doing about it. Now, when it comes to the, this is what we're doing about it piece, you could have a conversation about, I need your help. We're trying to achieve this goal. There's a problem that stands in the way. I need your help finding a solution. Or you could say, we have a solution. I'd like your input. In that case, you're talking about the whole picture. You're saying, here's what we're trying to achieve, here's what's standing in between us and achieving it, the problem, and here's what we want to do. That 3-line summary gives the entire big picture before you go into the specifics of what you want to talk about. And when you do that, your audience will better understand what you want to say. So if you want to start a work conversation well, begin with a summary before you go into the detail.