The Right Way To Speak At Work To Get Promoted and Earn More
If you cannot communicate like a strategic leader,
you risk getting passed over for promotions,
even if you are the hardest-working person in the room.
Advancing in your career, whether you are a fresh intern
or already in the C-suite,
requires knowing how to influence leaders at the highest level.
Here are four executive communication tactics to get noticed
by senior leaders, advance your career, and earn more.
Tactic 1: Win Attention with the Three O’s
Executives decide whether your idea is worth listening
to in just a few seconds.
They judge your credibility before you finish your first sentence.
If the first thing you mention sounds like more work,
more complexity, or more cost, they will ignore your idea.
Starting with the work instead of the “why” instantly gets you dismissed.
To establish credibility and get executives to lean in, use the Three O’s:
- Outcome: The result you are actually going to get, ideally referenced as a number or monetary value.
- Objective: The part of the business your idea is improving.
- Obstacle: The pain that will disappear by taking on your idea, and who it will disappear from.
Instead of asking executives to care about your idea,
the Three O’s show them why your idea already matters to them.
Tactic 2: Keep Attention by Structuring Information
Once you have an executive’s attention, the challenge is keeping it.
A common default approach is to line up all important key messages
in a logical order and present them in one big block.
This messy structure forces executives to work harder to figure
out what you are saying, causing them to tune out.
Our brains function in two different systems:
- System 1: Responds to emotion and interest, and works very fast.
- System 2: The slower, logical, and detailed part of the brain that digests information.
When you put all your information in a logical block,
you only feed System 2.
It quickly reaches its limit, and people stop listening.
Instead, break up each point into two parts:
- The relevance and tension part to activate System 1.
- The key message to activate System 2.
Switching between System 1 and System 2 builds momentum and keeps their attention for much longer.
Tactic 3: Anticipate Executive Questions
When explaining how you will deliver a transformation,
do not just throw bullet points onto a slide.
Instead, ask one simple question:
What would an executive want to know next based
on the information you just gave them?
For example, an executive might want to know:
- How are you going to get the improvement?
- What is it going to cost?
- When are we going to see the improvement?
- How do we make sure people do not push back?
Use these questions to your advantage.
State them before you actually reveal the information.
This creates curiosity, tension, and anticipation,
ensuring executives actively listen to the details that follow.
Tactic 4: Own the Momentum to Get Credit
Many professionals do the work and deliver outcomes,
but the recognition lands on someone else.
This happens when you are seen as someone who delivers work,
but not the person who is actually driving the result.
To an executive, these are two completely different people.
A critical mistake is ending meetings in a way that disconnects
you from the outcome.
Ending a meeting by simply asking, “Any questions?”
hands the steering wheel to someone else—often
your manager—who then takes over the next steps
and looks like the one driving the project forward.
To make sure the recognition goes to you,
lead the end of the meeting with momentum:
- Take charge of the next steps, even if they are small.
- Wrap up using the Three O’s one more time.
- State your plan clearly, such as: “To achieve this outcome, we’re aligned to this objective, and to avoid this risk, this is what I’m going to do next.”
This immediately puts you back in the driver’s seat.
Even if a manager provides additional next steps afterward,
they are seen as facilitating the direction you set.
The credit stays with you,
positioning you as a leader ready for the next level.
