In the tour of duty of corporate governance practice, I have observed there are instances where we, as in house resource, face that may be termed as “casualties” arising from the fact that we belong to a particular profession.

The fact that one is an accountant, lawyer, engineer and so on by profession may be used to explain or understand their approach towards addressing issues.

Close to home for me is statements such as “She means to say yes but because she is a lawyer, she will take us through this discourse…it’s like a ritual for her…” Can you relate to this? If you can’t, then lucky you!

Over the years I have pondered this issue and some of the outcomes have been to make conscious efforts to tailor my responses to the needs of my audience in the corporate but also bearing in mind the need to balance it with the supporting justification for my recommendations on the proposed way forward on an issue.

I remind myself that I am neither in a lecture room at the University, court room nor law firm and therefore there is need for me to structure my presentation to the needs of the corporate.

It is important for professionals in the corporate to uphold their professional standards as to conduct and quality service delivery. In doing that, there may be need for them to take the journey towards the answer, “yes” or “no”.

I would recommend that in identifying our available spaces for discharging our duties, there is a process categorization of those spaces. For example, there is space for you to do your brainstorming and exciting exchange of ideas and concepts within the comforts of your team of like professionals as well as individual quiet times.

Then, when your detailed work is done, interrogate where there is an overkill in terms of demonstration of the issues for your corporate audience, simplify technical terms by reducing on jargon and replacing it with the basic point, quoting principles and provisions in totality only if it has a direct bearing on the “yes” or “no” and placing emphasis on critical issues.

Further, take note of the concentration and time span allocation of your audience and be able to tell your story in terms of background, issue and conclusion in a standard paragraph so that you can get your audience sufficiently “switched on”.

Lastly, rehearse how to break your submission down in a sentence … or two, just in case you are asked to make your point in less than a minute!

My point? The journey to “yes” or “no” is necessary. In order for you to get it right, you must regularly be in tune with the needs and concerns of your audience and rise to the challenge of proving the relevance of your journey!

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