Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

80 Improve your Communication Skills
Situation 
Briefly tell the listener something they already know. Make a 
statement about the matter that you 
know
they will agree with. 
This demonstrates that you are on their territory: you understand 
their situation and can appreciate their point of view. Try to state 
the Situation in such a way that the listener expects to hear more. 
Think of this as a kind of ‘Once upon a time…’. It’s an opener, a 
scene-setting statement that prepares them for what’s to come. 
Problem 
Now identify a Problem that has arisen within the Situation. The 
listener may know about the Problem; they may not. But they 
certainly should know about it! In other words, the Problem 
should be their problem at least as much as yours. 
Problems, of course, come in many shapes and sizes. It’s 
important that you identify a Problem that the listener will 
recognise. It must clearly relate to the Situation that you have set 
up: it poses a threat to it or creates a challenge within it. 
What’s the problem? 
Situation 
Problem
Stable, agreed Something’s gone wrong
status quo
Something could go wrong 
Something’s changed 
Something could change 
Something new has arisen 
Someone has a different point of view 
We don’t know what to do 
There are a number of things we could do 
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

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81 The Skills of Persuasion
Problems can be positive as well as negative. You may want to 
alert your listener to an opportunity that has arisen within the 
Situation. 
Question 
The Problem causes the listener to ask a Question (or would do 
so, if they were aware of it). Once again, the listener may or may 
not be asking the Question. If they are, you are better placed to be 
able to answer it. If they are not, you may have to carefully get 
them to agree that this Question is worth asking.