As a leader in an organization, you can use the Pyramid Principle to communicate with peers or project stakeholders when you make an important proposal. You are plainly and directly answering the question that was posed to you. The Pyramid Principle was created by Barbara Minto – the first female post-MBA hire at McKinsey – in the 1970s. ️ Three rules of structuring your communication. Underneath the single thought, you are supposed to group and summarize the next level of supporting ideas and arguments. The McKinsey Minto Pyramid Principle for communicating complex topics easily. The Pyramid Principle offers the advantage of powerful written communication by structuring it logically. It works by introducing a thesis statement before going into points and arguments that support it. The technique applies to every type of document in which your purpose is to offer your thinking to a reader – email, 1-page memo, multi-page report, or formal slide presentation. The core of Structured Thinking is to group ideas in a presenter’s inductive or deductive thought process into small clusters that support the main thesis in increasing detail (granularity). Group and summarize your supporting arguments. You can read more about it in her book ‘The Pyramid Principle’. This is a seminal concept in executive communication, and has spread like a virus from McKinsey to every other con… 'The Pyramid Principle' shows how to structure and present arguments so that they gain immediate understanding. The other common objection to the Pyramid Principle is that it is perceived to take away from the authority of the answer or conclusion – the “punchline.” That is a valid concern. What Is the Minto Pyramid Principle? What other priorities and budgets are you competing with? Put in simpler terms, it starts with asking for what you want, and explaining why you want it. ️ How to tell a story that makes your audience care. Many times, we only had a few minutes to communicate that recommendation — then, if the executive was interested in digging deeper, we could present more details. The Pyramid Principle is a framework for clear thinking and writing. Her concept literally flipped presentations on their head, and her book on the subject is still widely recognized as the standard for communicating concepts and arguments in a logical, well-structured way. The MECE principle, pronounced "ME-see", is a grouping principle for separating a set of items into subsets that are mutually exclusive (ME) and collectively exhaustive (CE). It works equally for internal or external audiences, and regardless of medium or language. Mastering the Pyramid Principle is a critical skill. That’s where the Pyramid Principle comes in. The Pyramid Principle® advocates that “ideas in writing should always form a pyramid under a single thought”. Your audience—whether listeners or readers—will naturally begin to group and summarize your arguments and ideas in order to remember them. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Controlling the sequence of how you present your ideas is very important. It helps personal reflection and organisation. The Minto Pyramid Principle assumes that you already know how to write good sentences and paragraphs. The key take-aways from the Pyramid Principle at McKinsey were: To communicate in a structured way with a busy executive, you should start with the answer to the executive’s question first, and then list your supporting arguments. If you’re interested in learning more, definitely pick up the original book by Barbara Minto. As an entrepreneur, the tool could be what you use to communicate with prospective investors or board members. They want to focus on the big picture—in this case the “answer”— and don’t want to get bogged down by details. It gets right to the heart of the matter: either your recommendation aligns with what they were already thinking and you can move on to next steps, or they have objections that you get to use your supporting arguments to address. Yet, when communicating to executives, put yourself in their shoes. So why lead with the answer first? One of the tools that we used at McKinsey was the Pyramid Principle, a methodology for structured communication. Second, many executives often think in a “top-down” manner. I show you how I map the pyramid principle to a short presentation I created to research the question "how do you manage a millennial?" For many people, it’s natural to build up to a conclusion by first reciting all of the facts, recounting all of the analyses that have been done, or reviewing all of the supporting ideas. It is an effective tool to communicate with anyone who faces … That’s right – today we’re talking about the world-famous Pyramid Principle. Use the time you have to get to the part of the conversation you really want to engage in. The Pyramid Principle will show you how to communicate your ideas clearly and succinctly. At McKinsey, “start with the answer first” was drilled into us. The Pyramid Principle explained. Then comes evidence for each argument. The Pyramid Principle is used the consulting world over – whether during interim internal discussions or executive-level presentations. Download our free Pyramid Principle Applied Guide, Types of Leadership: Position vs Influence, The 3 Levels of Effective Communication Skills Training, Give main supporting arguments as opposed to details, Back up supporting arguments with data points. [citation needed] The Pyramid Principle advocates that “ideas in writing should always form a pyramid under a single thought.” The single thought is the answer to the question at hand and the supporting arguments are found under. all situations needing escalation, but not meeting Code Blue criteria. So you may as well help them do it and make your overall recommendation more effective and memorable. Only then, after you have answered the question, should you present your supporting reasons. By delivering your recommendation in the “answer first” format, you are fitting into the executive’s mental model and allowing them to quickly process your recommendation. Why is the Pyramid Principle important in consulting? We’re not naturally trained to communicate like this. ️ How to structure your communication in a way that’s easy to understand. However, if any group of ideas are arranged into a pyramid structure in the first place, not only will it save valuable time and effort to write, it will take even less effort to read and comprehend it. That’s what The Pyramid Principle is at its core: a principle that allows you to quickly seize your audience’s attention and communicate with gravitas, by creating a compelling story that is easy to understand and remember. This not only applies to writing, but also works for verbal communication. Barbara Minto developed the Pyramid Principle while working at McKinsey. If the stakeholder wants to hear your supporting arguments, they’ll ask for the more granular level of data. Intrapersonal communication Within a single person ­ self­communication ­> encoding & formulating of a message / thinking process. Not in our speech. Then you get to the punch line. While the concept is straightforward, it’s surprisingly difficult to master. Give your conclusion or answer first, follow it up with your main arguments, and then follow those with data that supports each one. The Pyramid … This “top-down” structure is counter-intuitive for many of us, especially those with a scientific or engineering background used to writing technical papers. Can’t that be abrasive? Underneath the single thought, group and summarize the next level of supporting ideas and arguments. Basically, the Pyramid Principle is a communication technique that allows you to to structure your points and arguments properly. We recommend following the Minto Pyramid Principle. When you group and summarize your supporting arguments, it’s easy to go from the single thought to the next level of ideas without getting too detailed right away. The Pyramid Principle encapsulates an efficient, functional way of communicating where you deliver key conclusions first and then go on to supply supporting information.. We can use the pyramid principle in many different contexts, but it is particularly crucial to adhere to in delivering your client recommendation at the end of your case study. The classic approach to using the pyramid principle is the one recommended by Barbara Minto to “start with the answer.” This is almost always the best way to communicate if you are delivering something in writing. Whether creating written texts or delivering responsive presentations, we formulate too vague, too long and not aligned to the other. We’re storytellers. In some cases, the executive may already mentally be at the conclusion you want them to reach, in which case she will accept your recommendation and move on (without you having to go into the detailed supporting arguments). What if we told you that there’s a better way to create and present your decks? We communicate a lot, but is it clear to others what we mean? 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