TALK LIKE A CONSULTANT - Top down communication explained (management consulting skills)

Summary

In this informative video, the speaker, a former McKinsey consultant, introduces the concept of top-down communication, a critical skill for effective professional discourse. The script explains that top-down communication involves focusing on key results and starting with the main message, as opposed to detailing the process. Through a practical exercise, viewers learn how to apply this principle, particularly in high-pressure situations like being questioned by a CEO. The video aims to help viewers improve their communication skills, not only in consulting but also in various professional and personal contexts.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video is about teaching top-down communication skills, which are crucial for consultants and professionals alike.
• 📚 Top-down communication emphasizes focusing on results and key content that matters to the audience, starting with the main message.
• 🔑 The concept is often associated with the 'pyramid principle', which structures information with key messages at the top and supporting details below.
• 🤔 The video aims to clarify misconceptions about top-down communication and provide a practical understanding through an exercise.
• 👨‍🏫 The speaker's experience from McKinsey highlights the importance of effective communication for young consultants and its role in training programs.
• 📈 The training exercise involves a scenario where a consultant must concisely report project status to a senior executive, like a CEO.
• 🇫🇷 An example scenario given is a market entry study for a new product line, where the consultant concludes that France is a suitable market.
• 🙅‍♂️ A common mistake is answering with a bottom-up approach, detailing the process rather than starting with the key result.
• 🗣️ The recommended top-down approach starts with the hypothesis or conclusion and then provides supporting reasons if time allows.
• 🧐 Difficulties in adopting top-down communication may stem from natural storytelling habits, the desire to showcase work done, or unclear thinking.
• 📚 The video recommends Barbara Minto's 'The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking' for further learning on this topic.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the training programs for new consultants at McKinsey?

The primary focus of the training programs for new consultants at McKinsey is on communication skills, particularly on how to communicate effectively and articulate key messages clearly.

What is the concept of top-down communication explained in the video?

Top-down communication is a method of delivering information by starting with the key message or result and then providing supporting details. It is about focusing on the content that matters most to the audience and structuring communication to convey the main point upfront.

Why is top-down communication considered an important skill in professional settings?

Top-down communication is considered important because it allows professionals to convey their key messages and results succinctly and clearly, which is crucial for effective communication in business settings, including consulting.

Can you explain the 'pyramid principle' mentioned in the video?

The 'pyramid principle' is a concept where information is structured in a pyramid shape, with the key message at the top and the supporting details, facts, and arguments at the bottom. It helps in organizing thoughts and presenting information in a logical, top-down manner.

How does the video suggest structuring an answer when asked about a project's status by a senior executive?

The video suggests starting the answer with the current hypothesis or key result of the project, followed by the top reasons or evidence supporting that conclusion, rather than detailing the process or steps taken to reach it.

What is the main difference between top-down and bottom-up communication as per the video?

Top-down communication starts with the key message or result and then provides supporting details, while bottom-up communication starts with the details and processes and ends with the conclusion or result, which is not considered as effective in professional settings.

Why might some people find it difficult to adopt top-down communication?

Some people might find it difficult to adopt top-down communication because it goes against the natural order of recounting events, it requires not emphasizing the work done but focusing on results, and it demands clarity of thought and the ability to articulate the main reasons for a recommendation or conclusion.

What exercise does the video suggest to help understand top-down communication?

The video suggests an exercise where you imagine being asked by a senior executive about the status of a project, and then practice responding by starting with the key message and supporting reasons, as opposed to detailing the process.

What book is recommended in the video for further understanding of professional communication?

The book recommended in the video is 'The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking' by Barbara Minto, an ex-McKinsey employee, which is a bestseller on professional communication.

How often does the speaker release new content on their YouTube channel?

The speaker releases new content on their YouTube channel at least once every Saturday.

What additional platforms does the speaker use to share content related to professional development and communication skills?

Besides the YouTube channel, the speaker also shares content on Instagram under the handle Firm Learning and has an email mailing list for more regular content on similar topics.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Top-Down Communication

The speaker introduces the concept of top-down communication, emphasizing its importance in training programs for new consultants at McKinsey. They outline the structure of the video, which includes an explanation of top-down communication and a practical exercise to help viewers understand and apply this principle. The speaker highlights that effective communication involves focusing on key results and starting with the main message, which is likened to a pyramid structure with the key message at the top and supporting details below.

05:00

🗂 Practical Exercise in Top-Down Communication

This section presents a practical scenario where a consultant is asked to summarize a market entry study project to the CEO. The speaker describes the background of the task, which involves conducting interviews and analyzing data to assess market opportunities for a new product line. The consultant's preliminary conclusion is that France would be a suitable market. The speaker invites viewers to consider how they would answer the CEO's question, then provides two contrasting examples of potential responses, one following a bottom-up approach and the other adhering to top-down communication principles.

10:01

🔍 Analysis of Top-Down Communication Examples

The speaker dissects the two examples of potential answers to the CEO's question. The first example is a bottom-up approach, detailing the process and steps taken to reach the conclusion, which is not considered effective in a business setting. The second example is a top-down approach, starting with the key message that France is the best fit for the project, followed by three supporting reasons. This method is preferred as it provides the CEO with the essential information upfront and respects their time and interest in results rather than the process.

🚀 Conclusion and Encouragement for Top-Down Communication

The speaker concludes by discussing why top-down communication can be challenging for some people, citing natural tendencies to recount the process, the desire to showcase hard work, and the lack of clarity in one's own thoughts as potential barriers. They encourage viewers to reflect and adopt top-down communication for clarity and effectiveness. The speaker also recommends a book by Barbara Minto, 'The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking,' for further learning. They invite viewers to engage with the content by liking, subscribing, and following on other platforms for more insights.

Keywords

💡Top-down communication

Top-down communication is a method of conveying information where the key message or result is presented first, followed by supporting details. It is a fundamental concept taught in the video's training programs for consultants. The approach is likened to a pyramid structure, with the broad base representing the underlying arguments and details, and the apex representing the key message. This method is crucial for effective communication, especially in professional settings where clarity and brevity are valued. In the script, top-down communication is exemplified by starting with the hypothesis for a market entry project and then explaining the reasons behind it.

💡Consulting

Consulting refers to the profession where experts provide advice and guidance to organizations, often on specific projects or business challenges. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of top-down communication in the consulting field, highlighting its relevance not only for consultants but also for other professional roles. The script uses consulting as a context to illustrate the practical application of top-down communication, particularly in scenarios where consultants must quickly and effectively communicate project status to senior executives.

💡Training programs

Training programs are structured courses or sessions designed to enhance skills and knowledge in a particular area. The script mentions that the speaker helped design training programs for new consultants at McKinsey, where communication was identified as a crucial skill. These programs aim to develop consultants' abilities to communicate effectively, with a focus on top-down communication as a key teaching point.

💡Communication skills

Communication skills encompass the ability to effectively convey information, ideas, and feelings to others through various mediums. In the context of the video, communication skills are paramount for young consultants, with top-down communication being a specific skill emphasized. The script discusses the common feedback from senior consultants and partners that effective communication is the number one area where young consultants need development.

💡Key message

The key message is the central point or conclusion that one intends to convey in a communication. It is the pinnacle of the top-down communication pyramid, and it is the first thing that should be shared with the audience. In the video script, the importance of starting communication with the key message is underscored, as it allows the audience to grasp the main point immediately, as demonstrated in the example of responding to a CEO's inquiry about a project's status.

💡Pyramid principle

The pyramid principle is a concept used to describe the structure of effective communication, where the broad base of the pyramid represents detailed arguments and facts, and the apex represents the key message. The term is used in the script to explain the top-down communication approach, where one should start with the key message and then provide supporting details, rather than starting with the details and ending with the conclusion.

💡Market entry study

A market entry study is a research project aimed at assessing the viability and opportunities for launching a new product or service in a specific market. In the script, the market entry study serves as a practical example to illustrate the application of top-down communication. The consultant is tasked with summarizing the project's status, focusing on the key message that France is a suitable market for the new product line.

💡Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a proposed explanation or assumption made on the basis of limited evidence, serving as a starting point for further investigation or discussion. In the context of the video, the consultant's hypothesis is that France would be the best fit for the project, which is presented as the key message in the top-down communication example.

💡Results

Results refer to the outcomes or findings of a study, project, or process. In the video, the emphasis is on focusing communication on results, rather than on the process or steps taken to achieve those results. This is exemplified by the consultant's communication strategy, where the project's outcome (France as a suitable market) is presented upfront, followed by the reasons supporting this result.

💡Professional context

The professional context refers to the environment or setting in which a person works or operates professionally. The script highlights that top-down communication is not only beneficial in consulting but also in various other professional roles. It suggests that the ability to communicate effectively in a professional context can be greatly enhanced by adopting a top-down approach.

Highlights

Top-down communication is a crucial skill emphasized in McKinsey's training programs for new consultants.

The concept is designed to enhance the effectiveness of communication in professional settings.

Top-down communication involves starting with the key message and focusing on the results.

It contrasts with bottom-up communication, which starts with details and works up to the conclusion.

The training includes exercises to practice top-down communication in simulated scenarios.

The video provides a clear definition of top-down communication and its importance.

The presenter explains the pyramid principle as a way to structure thoughts and communication.

The base of the pyramid consists of underlying arguments and details, while the top holds the key message.

Many people mistakenly start communication with details instead of the key message.

The video demonstrates top-down communication with a practical example involving a market entry study.

The example illustrates the difference between bottom-up and top-down approaches in responding to a CEO's inquiry.

The recommended top-down response provides the hypothesis first, followed by supporting reasons.

The presenter discusses common pitfalls in communication and why people tend to use bottom-up approaches.

The video encourages reflecting on one's own communication style to improve clarity and effectiveness.

The presenter suggests 'The Pyramid Principle' by Barbara Minto as a valuable resource for further learning.

The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to engage with the content and subscribe for more.

Transcripts

- During my time at McKinsey,

I helped in designing the training programs

for the new consultants.

In these training programs,

communication was always one of the most important skills.

It was common feedback of all the senior consultants

and all the partners that the number one topic

where young consultants needed training on

and where they need to be developed by the training programs

is how to communicate effectively.

How to say the things in the right way.

One of the most fundamental concepts that we taught

in these training programs is the concept

of top-down communication.

In this video, I'm going to talk

about what top-down communication is.

We are jointly going to work through one exercise

that I trust will really teach you

how top-down communication works.

So by watching this video,

I trust that you will build a very important skill set

that will hugely benefit you,

not only if you work in consulting,

but pretty much in every other role

in the professional context,

and probably even in your private life as well.

Welcome to another coffee break

with me here on my channel, Firm Learning.

If you're new here with this channel,

I want to help you to become successful

in the first years in your career.

But now without further ado, let's jump into it.

I will teach you how to talk like a consultant.

And this video will be structured in two parts.

First, I'm going to talk

about what top-down communication actually is.

And then second, we're going to do an exercise together

to really help you engrain this principle in your head.

So what is top-down communication?

And if you read all the books and articles about that,

you will find out that there are lots of definitions.

Many people claiming different things

to be top-down communication.

So I really want to simplify it for you.

So in my experience,

what this really comes down to is two things.

Namely, first in your communication to focus on the results,

to focus on the content.

To only focus on the things

that really matter to your audience.

And second, always starting your communication

with the key message, with the key result

that you want to communicate to your audience.

When people talk about top-down communication,

they often also use the word pyramid principle.

The reason why you talk about a pyramid

where you have a pyramid structure

is because you need to imagine and structure in your head

all the different facts, information, all the details

that you want to talk about in a pyramidal form.

So at the bottom, there are all the underlying arguments,

there are the details.

But then based on this fundament,

you would then draw some conclusions,

you would then draw some results.

And then on the very top is the key message

that you really wanna share

and that you really wanna talk about

and the main error that many people do

is not starting with this result, with this key message,

but rather starting with all the individual details,

with all the little arguments

that then your whole case is composed of,

and then only in the very end

to then draw the conclusion from it.

So they pretty much turn the pyramid around

and this for many different reasons

is not considered effective communication.

And if you want to learn more about that,

I talked a lot about this in my first video

in communication skills.

I will link it somewhere above here for you

if you want to check it out.

So hopefully this clarifies what top-down communication is,

but now to make it even more tangible for you,

let's deep dive into a practical example.

And this was an exercise that we did a lot

with young consultants, that we used a lot at McKinsey

to train consultants in the organization.

And you can imagine the overall setting

to be something like this:

You as a consultant sitting in the team room,

just mind your business doing your work,

and then suddenly the CEO of the company

or another senior client of the company,

or maybe even a partner is walking into your team room

and asking you, "Hey, Heinrich, how is it going?

Where do we stand? What's the current status?"

And this is a question

that hits many people kind of off guard

because you were just in the middle

of something completely else.

And now you are required to

in front of a senior person really concisely, briefly,

and to the point answering such a question

of where you stand with a specific task.

So now let's jump into this exercise

and let's imagine you finding yourself in such a situation,

and the context is as follows

and I'm reading from the slide here.

So you are working on a market entry study

and the objective of the study is

to assess market entry opportunities for a new product line.

So the client tasked you to work on that.

And of course it could easily also

be just the internal team, so not necessarily a consultant,

but an employee of the company

working on this specific task.

And now in order to do that, you conducted interviews

with lots of different internal and external experts

to learn more about this topic.

You analyzed lots of data,

you worked with different departments,

with the finance department, with the marketing department.

Probably the preliminary result,

the first indication that you have is

that the market entry in France would be a good fit

and you're basing this result just based

on all these interviews that you conducted

and all these data analysis that you did.

And now, indeed, the CEO walks in

and asks you to give a project summary.

He says, "Hey, how is it going?

You work on the market entry project, right?

What is the status on that?"

And now the question is, how do you answer to that?

And now I just want to take you a moment

and ideally just grab a pen,

grab a piece of paper and just jot down a couple of thoughts

on how you would reply to that.

And of course, if you want,

you can just briefly pause the video to do that.

Okay, so I hope to do just exactly that.

And now I want to guide you through two examples,

or two examples of potential answers.

And then let's briefly discuss

what is going well with this example,

and maybe what isn't so much.

Let's start with example number one

as a potential answer that somebody could have given.

And this answer goes as follows.

"So the last weeks we have been very busy on the project.

First, I talked to Tom from finance to get the market data.

However, when looking at the numbers,

we realized that marketing has the better numbers,

with the new marketing data set

together with interviews we conducted,

we were able to get a good overview

of the different market opportunities.

At the moment, it looks like France will be a good fit

for our project, though this is still work in progress."

So this could be an answer

and, from my experience, this is an answer

that many people would give in such a situation.

So let's just dissect it a bit.

What is special? What is characteristic about this answer?

And this answer consists of the stating

all the different steps that you did,

all the different steps that you did

to come to this conclusion.

Just saying, okay, first I did that, then I did this.

Then I talked to this guy, then I talked to that guy.

So lots of work that I put in, I crunched all these numbers.

And in the end, there is a specific result that we have now.

And of course now, if you look into this, this is something

that you would not consider talk-down communication.

Okay guys, this is not top-down communication

but it's the opposite, it's bottom up communication

because you start by giving all the details,

by giving all the nitty-gritty facts

and steps and arguments.

This is communication that is based on the process.

It's based on the things that you did,

but not so much about the result,

and in a business setting,

in most cases you want to avoid communicate like that.

And the main reason is that, frankly, the CEO won't care,

the CEO will not care to whom you talk to,

whose data set you analyzed.

These are all just details

that in most cases are just not of interest,

but instead he will just trust you

that if you tell him something,

of course you will have done the research,

of course you will have done the analysis,

but in general, this is just not the answer

that C-level executives of companies are interested in.

Let's contrast this now with a second example

of how such a question could have been answered.

And again, let me just read it out for you.

So, here, an answer could go like this:

"Our current hypothesis is that France

would be the best fit for our project.

This is based on three reasons.

First, our consumer research shows

that French consumers would appreciate our offering.

Second, the competitive landscape in France

is not yet developed.

We will be the first with this offering.

Third, our logistics and distribution capabilities

are well set up to serve the French market."

And now, again, let's first dissect this.

What is special about this answer?

So first, this answer now doesn't talk at all

about the little steps in between

that you took to get to a result.

Instead, this answer starts by giving the result,

it starts by sharing your current hypothesis.

And so pretty much if the CEO would need now

to leave the meeting just after a couple of seconds,

if now would have a phone call popping up on his phone

and he wouldn't be able to now continue listening to you,

he already just with the first sentences of your answer,

he would already know the result,

he would already know what your hypothesis is.

And of course now, if he would have the time

to continue listening to you,

he would not only have the answer,

but he also also would be able to hear the top three reasons

that you based your the conclusion,

that you based your answer on.

And this of course now is information that the CEO

or other senior level executives

in the corporation will be interested in.

This is the type of communication that is top-down.

It focuses on the content or for the results that you work,

but not on the process.

This is exactly what top-down communication is all about.

And I would always encourage you

to communicate your results in this fashion.

So why is it so difficult for many people

to on-the-spot embrace this top-down communication skill

and just communicate in that way?

Probably this is for three reasons.

First, it's just the natural way to talk about it,

to use this bottom-up approach, right?

It's just the order of how you did the things.

First you did this this, then this, then this, then this.

So this is just a natural way of how you tell something.

But, of course, still, it's not the best way.

So only because this is your first impulse,

take a second, take a step back and just reflect.

The second reason why I believe many people

rather use bottom-up than top-down communication

is because it really stresses all the work that you did.

It shows all your sweat, all the things, all the long hours

all the mental energy that you put into a task.

But the CEO will not care how long you worked last night

or how smart you were by coming up with the idea

of now hitting up the marketing guy.

This is not what will interest the senior-level guys.

They will care about the results

so don't bore them with the process.

Don't try to impress them

with the long hours that you worked.

And the third reason is

that people are messy in their head, right?

People for themselves often do not have it crystal clear

why they are recommending something.

What the underlying reasons are when you come up

with a conclusion or with a recommendation,

and so make sure just also for the quality of the thinking,

for the quality of your documents,

that it's always crystal clear for yourself,

just to start with,

what really the result is that you want to put out there,

and what also the main underlying arguments are

that are supporting your conclusions.

So I hope this video helped you to understand

what top-down communication is all about.

If you have any more questions on this topic,

leave me a comment below in the comment section,

and I will do my very best

to answer every single comment that you have.

If you want to learn even more

about this type of professional communication,

I have a book that I can really recommend you.

The book is called "The Pyramid Principle:

Logic in Writing and Thinking."

It is written by Barbara Minto.

She is an ex-McKinsey employee herself.

And this book is one of the best sellers

of professional communication.

If you want to check it out,

I included a link to the book below

in the video description, I can highly recommend it.

And now if you want to do me a little favor,

if you took any value out of this video,

please hit the like button.

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I release at least one video every Saturday.

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Thank you for watching guys,

I very much appreciate your time.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend

and talk to you soon again next Saturday.