over budget. This is Hard. To succeed, you need to both persuade your
boss and problem-solve.
Sometimes you go forward with Hard communications, even though
you think your chances of success are slim, for legal reasons, or because
you feel strongly about an issue.
For example, suppose your insurance company refuses to settle on a
property damage claim after a hurricane, citing the fact that you didn’t
have hurricane insurance. You feel that it’s an issue of poor construction,
not weather—specifically, you believe that if the building wall had been
built properly, it wouldn’t have fallen in the rain. You therefore decide to
write a letter of protest to the president of the insurance company. They
have precedent, policy, and the law on their side; your indignation, however,
transcends mere law, and it makes you feel better to write a good,
stiff letter of protest.
EXERCISE 4: Put the Matrix of Persuasion to Work
Use the matrix to evaluate the project that has you writing to Mr. Smith
about your favorite boss. Which quadrant do you think the project is in?
Is Mr. Smith “on your side” or “not on your side”? Is Mr. Smith constrained
against doing what you support?
If you decided that you need to Persuade and Educate, that gives
you important information. (About 80 percent of all written business
communications are in the Persuade and Educate quadrant. Those
goals—to persuade and educate—are common business activities.) As
you continue developing the letter, doesn’t it make sense that you’re going
to want to include several benefit statements? Given that you’ll need to
prove each benefit’s value to Mr. Smith’s company, isn’t it likely that
the letter will be long rather than short, and that you may ask Mr. Smith
to contact you for additional information?
Perhaps you consider the letter to Mr. Smith Easy. If Mr. Smith is predisposed
to hire an excellent candidate—in your view, your favorite
boss—and if there’s a job available, you may be right. If you are, you may
want to keep your letter short and factual.
If your favorite boss is trying for a career change, perhaps this is a
Problem-solving communication, and you should organize your message
to demonstrate how your boss’s experience translates into the new job’s
requirements.