Leading With Words

Leading With Words

The Rhetorical Triangle
Making your writing credible, appealing and logical

As a business leader you are frequently called upon to prepare written document on position, policies, or the mission of your organization. Most communication from the top down is received poorly by rank and file members of business organizations. So, putting your ideas and thoughts on paper becomes an even greater challenge. Delivering an effective, persuasive, and sincere message can motivate or demotivate the troops. So writing this type of message is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced. And even if you've had lots of practice - which many business leaders lack - your writing skills may be a little rusty.

Compounding the dilemma is the fact that nearly everyone is over-communicated. You've got to say more with less words and accomplish all the goals mentioned above. In addition, with the increase of email and working with people in remote places, delivering clear and persuasive communication is becoming more and more important. The trend is away from direct, one-on-one communication because people do not have to be face-to-face any more when they work together.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this is that when you write, you often don’t get a second chance to make your point in a different way. You get one shot, and if you lose your reader, it is difficult to get them back. This is why you need to pick and choose your words carefully, and present your points in a style, manner and sequence that best suits the message you are sending.

Edward de Bono's Mind Works Group created The Rhetorical Triangle as a useful way of formulating your thoughts and presenting your position. Let's look at how you can use it to improve your writing.

Understanding the Tool: Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the ancient art of using language to persuade. If you use it well, your audience will easily understand what you're saying, and will be influenced by your message.

By taking the time to understand how rhetorical arguments are structured and presented, you can vastly improve your own writing, and make your points clearly, efficiently and effectively.

The term “rhetoric” in modern language has been used to refer to arguments that are designed to obscure the truth. The word has therefore taken on a negative connotation (“All that politician does is spew rhetoric.”) This is not the sense that we're using here when we talk about the Rhetorical Triangle.

Applying the principles of rhetoric helps you structure an argument so the truth becomes immediately apparent to your audience. With the Rhetorical Triangle approach, we focus on the three things that have the greatest impact on an argument:

The leader as writer;

The staff as audience; and

The context of the message.

These three elements form the points of the Rhetorical Triangle:

According to this approach, these three factors determine the persuasiveness of your writte presentation. Your writing – and all other formx of communication – needs to take all three into consideration.

The Leader as Writer

Whether consciously or sub-consciously, your staff wants to know what your motives are for your communication. If you don’t make it clear why you are presenting information, some people will assume that you are not being totally candid, or that you are hiding something. Members of your staff may ask themselves:

Are you providing truthful information that they need to perform their jobs?
Are you trying to educate, to help them improve their performance?
Are you making a call for action, asking for change, or leading change that is in progress?
Are you attempting to persuade others to change a perspective or firmly held belief?
Are you presenting ideas for problem solving or analysis? Or
Are you trying to spin potentially negative information?

The way you are viewed by your people, your ethos affects the argument. The audience wants to know the real you. Are you presenting that or your public image? They can tell the difference. So make sure you clarify:

Who you are by the voice you use. Hint: have someone read what you have written out loud to you. How does it sound?;
Are you competent to speak on this issue? Is it proceeding from your position? Or, if it is a technical issue that is being covered, would it be better to be introduced by you with another "authority" on your staff making the technical points?; and
What form of your authority are you using in this communication? Are you commanding, or leading? There IS a difference.

Your audience will also be trying to figure out what your motives are and what you believe, value, and assume. This information helps them determine your credibility and decide whether you are being sincere.

The Audience - Your Staff

When you communicate, in writing or verbally, you need to understand your audience. (This is greatly simplified if you know their strengths.) Knowing who you're speaking to helps you avoid using technical terms when speaking to lay people, or “dumbing down” the content if your message is intended for professionals. Things to consider here include:

Why are you communicating to this audience in the first place?
What are your staff's expectations? Are you dropping another bomb? Remember, there is an abundant amount of paranoia on the part of most employees today.
How will they use the information you provide? Be specific from the outset. Perhaps you should use bullet points to tell them what you're going to tell them.
What is the audience hoping to take away after reading/listening? Employees are looking for security, confidence, and a vision of the future you are going to lead them to. Does your message contain hope and confidence?

This part of the triangle is concerned with appealing to the emotions of the audience, which is known as pathos. The audience needs to be moved by what you are saying. Ask yourself:

What emotion do you want to evoke? Fear, trust, loyalty...?

Do you have shared values you want to draw on?

How do your audience’s beliefs fit with your message?

Are you calling upon them and their strengths?

Connecting with your audience through pathos is a strong means of gaining support.

The Context

Finally, your audience analyzes the content and circumstances of your communication.

What events preceded the communication? Honesty is always the best policy for Leaders. For bosses, it's not.
What types of arguments are used?
Are they logical and well thought out?
How are they delivered?
Where is the document or speech delivered?
Is this communication necessary?

Here the emphasis is on logic and reason, or logos (pronounced log-oss). Your audience needs to be able to follow what you are saying for it to be believable. Ask yourself:

Have I presented a logical, well-constructed argument?
How do I support my claims?
What evidence do I have?
What are the counterarguments?

The three points on the Rhetorical Triangle relate directly to the three classic appeals you should consider when communicating.

Ethos – Building trust by establishing your credibility and authority (Writer)
Pathos – Appealing to emotion by connecting with your audience through their values and interests (Audience)
Logos – Appeal to intelligence with well-constructed and clearly argued ideas (Context)

To be fully effective and persuasive, your communication must appeal to all three of the elements of the Rhetorical Triangle. An argument that is purely based on emotion won’t last for very long. Likewise, if all you do is present facts and figures, you will lose your audience’s interest and they won’t be able to relate to what you are saying. Finally, you can be the most credible person going, but if you don’t make sense, or your arguments aren’t logical, you won’t be considered credible for very long.

Using the Rhetorical Triangle

When preparing a written document, speech or presentation you should first consider the three elements required for effective persuasion. If your communication is lacking in any of the three areas, then you'll decrease the overall impact your message will have on your audience.

Step One: Fully consider the impact your credibility has on the message. Failing to do so risks leaving your audience unconvinced. Answer the audience’s question, “Is the source credible?”

What is the purpose of your communication?

A call for action?
To provide information?
To educate?
To persuade or change a perspective?
To present ideas?
To entertain?

Who are you as a person?

Establish who you are and reveal your biases, beliefs, values and assumptions as appropriate.
Explain where your expertise comes from
Use expert testimony
Show why should you be considered an authority. Be the authority, not the BOSS.

Step Two: Fully consider your audience; otherwise they may feel disconnected and the message will be lost. Appeal to their emotions where this is appropriate and honest. And answer the audience’s hidden question, “Is this person trying to manipulate me?”

Who are the members of your audience?

What are their expectations?
Why are they reading/listening?
How will they use this document?
What do I want them to take away?

How can you connect emotionally?

What emotions do you want to evoke?
Do you use anecdotes or personal stories?

Step Three: Fully consider the context of your message. And make sure you deliver it with a solid appeal to reason. Answer the audience’s question, “Is the presentation logical?”

How will you present the information?

What type of reasoning will I use?
How will you support my position? With statistics? Observations?…
What tone will you use, formal or informal?
How will you deliver the communication?

What events are surrounding this communication?

What background information do you need to supply?
What do you need to present to make sure my points are clear?
Are there counterarguments you should bring up and then dismiss?
Does the method or location of your communication fit with its message?

Key Points

Making persuasive arguments is not easy. By applying the principles of rhetoric to your initial planning, you can significantly increase the success of your communication.

You've heard the statement, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. So, your audience wants to know that you care as well as that you are credible. They want to know that you understand them, and they want the argument to be logical. These are the three cornerstones of the Rhetorical Triangle, and they must all be addressed in order for your argument to be effective.

Make sure you keep your message balanced between these points. That way you will ensure your message will be clearly understood and received with the correct intention. When you seek to understand how your message will be perceived in this way, you're in the perfect position to address your audience’s concerns before they even have a chance to surface.