Learn to ‘headline’ your conversations

My wife used to work for a cable television company when we lived in Los Angeles. One day a management consultant was hired to help organize the company and improve communication.

She promoted a verbal communication technique called “headlining.” Each time my wife would approach the general manager to tell him something the consultant would bark “headline it” before my wife could get a word out of her mouth.

Though this rankled my wife and the consultant’s brusque desk-side manner could have used improvement, the technique is an excellent one and worthy of being embraced in any workplace.

“Headlining” is exactly what the name implies – to speak in headlines. In other words, whatever you have to say should be compressed into a single sentence that communicates the gist.

Of course, newspapers and magazines often supplement the headlines they write by putting a kicker (also know as a subhead) beneath it. You can certainly do the same while headlining your speech, distilling your remarks to perhaps two or three sentences rather than one. The idea is to get to the point in rapid-fire fashion so a meaningful exchange can ensue.

Headlining strikes at the heart of a ubiquitous problem that bogs down interpersonal and group communication – the tendency to provide far more information or verbiage than necessary.

When properly executed, headlining gives the receiving party enough information to understand your point, and to ask intelligent questions to fill out blank spaces.

Conversations that are an exchange of headlines do two important things: They save time and add clarity.

I tried implementing this practice with my management team while publisher of the East Bay Business Times, with limited success – only because I wasn’t persistent enough in reminding people (and myself) to communicate that way.

It proved a powerful technique even in limited use. When I asked a question I could sometimes see and smell my colleague’s brain cells burning, grappling for an essay-length answer. When I quickly followed-up by saying, “Give it to me in a headline,” their bodies would sometimes visibly relax. An onus had been lifted when they realized a simple, declarative sentence was all I wanted.

When I was asked a question, I would sometimes reinforce the practice by prefacing my reply by saying, “This is the headline…”

Some might consider this a stilted way to converse. But once ingrained the technique becomes very natural. With a little practice there is no need for reminders or qualifiers.

Of course, when you’re having a casual workplace conversation headlining might not be the best way to handle it. But you might be surprised. When you get in the habit of compressing your thoughts into headlines it can be freeing and empowering. It allows you to invest less time and fewer words. It allows you to stand out among your peers as a person who speaks with cogency.

It also makes for livelier conversation because of the more dynamic back-and-forth between participants. When we don’t headline our communication is more like a football game. One side has possession of the ball, the other side waits and wonders when they’ll get another chance to go on offense. By contrast, when the parties headline their conversation it’s more like ping pong. There’s no time for waiting and getting bored because the communication is coming in quick bursts that require quick replies.

A suggestion: Don’t rush off to work and declare headlining an office policy right off the bat. Instead, start headlining your own communication. Try it on for size. See how people respond to you. Gauge how much more effective your communication becomes as you sharpen your headlining skills.

You might even find that some colleagues fall into step by mirroring your conversational style. It might spread organically, especially among employees skilled at managing up and catching onto the boss’s behavior.

What do you think? Click on the “comment” link and give us a few headlines.

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