If they’re not listening in meetings, here’s why (and how to fix it)

A simple communication technique to get to the point and win buy-in fast

Guess where I was yesterday? No, not at the O2 listening to President Obama (I wish!), but I WAS in London for a great day leading a workshop on authentic confidence and effective communication for a brilliant mission-driven organisation.

It’s the type of work I love to do as a coach. Working closely with an engaged group of inspiring leaders and aspiring leaders and helping them identify their very own “super powers”, as well as spotting the habits that may be holding them back.

✨ Quick note before we dive in:

But first! I went live on Substack earlier this week and it was great! We had a good conversation spanning everything from mid life career change, to ageism at work, to this very technique I am sharing today.

I’m going live again on Tuesday 30th September at 7:30pm UK time and I want to hear from you. What topic interests you the most? Please vote or email me with others!

Back to yesterday’s workshop. We covered a lot of ground together - from imposter syndrome (yes, it can have both pros and cons!), to the apologetic language we often fall back on if we’re not feeling confident (if you’ve ever said “this may be a stupid idea but…” in a meeting, that’s what I mean!), but the biggest eye opener for this group was this:

The reason people don’t always listen to you in meetings (or fully engage with you and your ideas and recommendations) isn’t that your ideas aren’t good enough.

It’s because you’re losing them before you even begin. Right at the start.

Today I’m sharing exactly what I shared with this group to help them overcome this communication hurdle (particularly in high stakes situations), how we practiced it and what the outome was.

So what’s going wrong at the start of your message?

Most leaders give too much context up front. They circle around the point, add in backstory, and only eventually get to their key recommendation. By then, they’ve lost the room.

As I shared with the group yesterday, this happened a lot to me as a new Director of Communications. I often went last on the agenda (!) and my 30 min slot got truncated - I would have 10 minutes if I was lucky. So I was already behind - presenting to a room of tired, overstimulated people that didn’t really understand WHAT I was saying and WHY it should be important to them.

The fix is surprisingly simple: flip the order. Lead with your main point first, then share the supporting detail.

This is the essence of the Minto Pyramid Principle - a structured way to communicate that helps you land your point clearly and persuasively, especially in high-stakes conversations and meetings.

When I introduced this in the workshop yesterday, you could almost see the lightbulbs going on. People suddenly realised: “Ah, that’s why my ideas don’t always cut through.”

And when we practiced it, the impact was immediate - sharper, more confident delivery and faster buy-in from the group.

For paid subscribers: I’m sharing more on the Minto Pyramid, exactly how we practiced this in the workshop, with simple steps you can apply in your next meeting, plus examples you can use to build your own.