Framing: How to start effective conversations every time

The first minute of a discussion is a critical time to grab the attention of your audience. This is true whether it is a room full of developers or the CEO. The first minute is the best opportunity to get the audience where you need them to effectively understand the message you are about to deliver.

What will you get from reading this article?

• The tools and techniques described in this article will help you improve the first minute of any meeting or work-based discussion. The result will be less confusion, fewer misunderstandings and greater clarity when communicating across teams or divisions.
• The tools should also give you more confidence when communicating because you know you are delivering a clear and concise message
• Above all, they will save you time when communicating almost anything. And if there is one thing we would like more of but cannot buy, it is time!

It may seem like a bold claim, that the first minute of any meeting or discussion can have such significant impacts, but stay with me.  

A familiar scene:

I recently witnessed a discussion between two colleagues:

A project manager stopped their team leader in the corridor and started talking about an issue on one of their projects. After a few minutes, the team leader interrupted the project manager, "I'm sorry," they said. "what project is this for?"

The project manager looked confused, but gave the name of the project and then carried on talking about the issue. A few more minutes passed, and the team leader asked another question. "Is there something specific I can help with?"

This time the project manager looked surprised. "Oh," they said, "I wanted to let you know we will deliver a month later than planned."

This revelation changed the nature of the interaction significantly.

The team leader asked the project manager to start from the beginning and go back through the information they had already shared. This time the team leader asked questions about the issue, timeframes, what mitigation plans were in place, and so on.

In this scenario, the first five minutes of the interaction were wasted because the two people were not having the same conversation. The team leader entered the conversation blind, they didn't know which project the PM was talking about, and after five minutes, they still didn't know the main goal or purpose of the conversation.

Reflection point / Self evaluation

Question: Have you ever been on the receiving end of a conversation like this?

• Does it happen often?
• Did the 'revelation' of the critical message change the way you received or interpreted the information?
• Was it an efficient use of time for you and the other people involved?

If you are like most of the people I've spoken to, you have experienced a conversation like this.

Now for the challenging question: Have you ever started a conversation like the one in the scenario above? 

When giving this training live, this is the point the audience becomes quiet. My answer is yes, I have started conversations like the one in the example. I used to do it a lot. That was until I learned a technique to help make the first 60 seconds better every time.

The technique is called 'framing.'

What is framing?

Framing = Orientation + Bottom Line Up Front

Framing is an easy way to get your audience where you need them to be before you deliver the detail of your message. Framing tells the audience what the conversation is about, and if done well, it lets them know what is expected of them right from the start.

Orientation: 

Orientation is about getting your audience to the right starting place on the map

In the scenario described above, the team leader had to interrupt the project manager to ask for the project name. It meant the first few minutes were wasted because the team leader wasn't mentally in the same place as the project manager. If the project manager had named the project, the team leader would be oriented right away. 

Starting a meeting or a discussion with a simple orientation of ten words or less will get people to the same place on the map as you. This is the first step in framing a discussion.

Do you start your work based conversations with a clear orientation? If not, don't worry, this is an easy thing to solve. Here are some examples of orientation that you can adapt to your situation: 

• I'm working on the Jefferson project.
• I've reviewed the new compliance rules.
• Can we talk about the monthly finance reports?

These simple statements take about five seconds to say and immediately orients the audience to the topic you want to discuss. The next thing is to get them in the right frame of mind to hear your message using Bottom Line Up Front.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

In the previous scenario, the conversation changed significantly when the project manager said: "we will deliver a month late." The entire discussion revolved around that fact and yet it only came out after minutes of information sharing. If the conversation had started with that one line, the team leader would have understood the core theme of the conversation from the start. This is what is meant by Bottom Line Up Front. 

Newspapers do this, the headline is at the top of the page, usually in bold and large font. The headline grabs the reader's attention and sets the tone for what follows.

Unfortunately, it is rare for conversations to start with this level of clarity. We either leave the headline until the end, adding it a summary after pouring out all the detail, or we forget to include it altogether, leaving it to the audience to guess the headline.

Not knowing the headline impacts how we receive and process information. It also changes how we focus on the topic. We saw this when the team leader restarted the discussion after they knew about the delay. The revelation of the headline changed the way they needed to process the detail. 

The good news is it is easy to deliver the Bottom Line Up Front. The headline for most work-related exchanges falls into a few broad categories:

• I need you to take action
• I need help/advice
• Something is about to happen, and I don't want you to be surprised
• Here is the information you asked for
• I need to inform you about … 
• Etc.

Imagine if every interaction at work started with Orientation and then one of these sentences. It would be clear at the start of the conversation what frame of mind you need to be in to receive the information. 

Why don't we all use Bottom Line Up Front?

Despite being a simple concept, BLUF is not often used. The most common reasons I hear are:

• It can feel too rushed or too blunt to lead off with this type of message
• We are afraid of the reaction to the news and want to soften the message with the justification first 
• We assume the audience already knows what we are talking about
• We think people need to hear the detail so they can understand the action/request
• Conversations should start with a greeting and a personal interaction

As the scenario showed, not leading with the headline means wasted time and confusion. Assuming the audience knows what the headline is has a similar result. Softening the message with detail only prolongs the delivery of whatever the headline is, whether good or bad.

For the last bullet point, I agree entirely. Framing doesn't replace the basic principles of engaging people in conversation. I wouldn't suggest replacing "Hi Amy, did you have a nice weekend." with an immediate statement of "We are $2 million over budget on the System migration." Framing begins when you get to the 'work' part of the conversation.

You can use BLUF and Orientation in either order. The key is to keep it short. You should be able to cover both the Orientation and the BLUF in 15 words or less.

Challenge: Start improving your communication today

Framing is a simple concept, but it takes practice to use it with confidence.

I challenge you to use framing today. In your next work call, meeting or conversation, begin with one line that includes the Orientation and Bottom Line Up Front. It may feel awkward at first, but I assure you that the audience will appreciate it. If you keep using framing, you'll become more comfortable with the technique and will reap the rewards of more effective communication.