UPPOPR: The Xerox Way!

Early in my career I had a manager that taught me the Xerox way of running a training session.

To give you some background, I was training groups of 30 phone bank staff on a legislative issue and teaching them how grassroots works on Capitol Hill. These trainings were happening on a daily or weekly basis.

We were running “patch through” or phone campaigns for Fortune 500 clients and following up with email confirmations.

I've taken this tip and instilled it in many presentations I’ve given over the last 20+ years since my days in the grassroots business.

It’s amazing!

The following training tip keeps you focused while at the save time laying out the goals and expectations you have for the attendees, on the subject manner at hand and succinctly tells them what you want them to know before they leave the session.

It’s very simple:

• Utility – explain the overall project. 
• Product – explain how each fit into the plan of action. 
• Process – go over the agenda for the day. 
• Objective – set the expectation of what you want them to know. 
• Proof of Ability – explain past successes and this project is no different. 
• Review – go over the process and objective again.

Attached please find a template you can use, just fill in your content. Do yourself a favor and start using this technique today.

Good Luck!

Sample template of a UPPOPR.

The Art of Negotiation

At a recent seminar I attended on the art of negotiation, Steve Piacente and Carol Buckland with The Communication Center gave many tips on how to be an effective communicator.

They started with defining the five core concepts of communication.

• Be Clear
• Be Concise
• Be Compelling
• Be Candid
• Be Comfortable

In addition, when giving a presentation, know your audience, frame it so they hear you.  Storytelling is an effective way of communicating your message.

Persuasive communication is based on reason, emotions and beliefs/values.

As stated above, frame your message so your intended audience is interested in what you have to say.

The word “because” is powerful, it gives the reasons why they should hear your message.

In other words, remember the WIIFM theory.  "What’s in it for me."

They then referenced Dr. Robert Cialdini’s six principals of influence:

• Reciprocity
• Commitment and Consistency
• Social proof/consensus
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

They also referenced a study by UCLA professor Dr. Albert Mehrabian that states the percentages word choice, voice tone and body language have when you are communicating in an in-person conversation.  These numbers are probably not what you expected.

• Word Choice - 7%
• Voice Tone - 38%
• Body Language - 55%

To sum it up, be intentional when selecting your words, use voice and the use of pauses effectively and don’t forget the most important, body language (posture, eye contact, smile).

They then went into the five different negotiating styles.

• Competitive - I win, you lose.
• Accommodating - I lose, you win.
• Compromising - we both win and lose some.
• Avoiding - I lose, you lose.
• Collaborating - I win, you win.

They gave two examples of presentation formulas and I was reminded of one I’ve used over the years.

I learned the UPPOPR method over 30 years ago from a manager who was Xerox’d trained.  For a copy of that template go HERE or for a blog post on the subject go HERE.

They spent a little time on story formulas, and go HERE for a past blog post on that subject.

They finished talking about language of leadership and separated that discussion into two areas - weak and power speak.

Weak speak - saying “I think” vs “I know” or “I feel” vs “I am convinced.”

Power speak - use straightforward language, without jargon, and keep your communications short and to the point.

Good luck in your next conversation!