How to write Business Documents - Situation, Complication, Solution — Transcript

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1. 0:00arguably the most important part of a
2. 0:02business document is its introduction it
3. 0:05is so important to from the very
4. 0:07beginning capture the interest of your
5. 0:09readers also of your viewers if you're
6. 0:12presenting something this is exactly
7. 0:13what we're going to talk about today in
8. 0:15this video my name is heinrich welcome
9. 0:17to my channel firm learning this is the
10. 0:19place where i want to help you become
11. 0:21successful in the first years of your
12. 0:23career today i want to introduce you to
13. 0:26a framework an introduction framework
14. 0:28that is taught in almost every
15. 0:30on-boarding program of any of the large
16. 0:32consulting firms like mckinsey bcg or
17. 0:35bain i trust this will be important
18. 0:37because it's just so versatile you can
19. 0:39use it for almost every business
20. 0:41document that you use the first that i
21. 0:43want you to understand is that good
22. 0:45business writing is not something that
23. 0:48either comes or does not come to you
24. 0:50like many other things it's a skill that
25. 0:52needs to be practiced and can be learned
26. 0:55and for sure in consulting onboarding
27. 0:57programs at the large strategy
28. 0:59consulting firms this always played a
29. 1:02big role and an important part of that
30. 1:05is the introduction because compared to
31. 1:07people reading a book clearly no one
32. 1:10will ever be as excited to read your
33. 1:13business document as the person might be
34. 1:16excited just to read their favorite book
35. 1:19their favorite novel they're just filled
36. 1:21with action excitement or whatever other
37. 1:24topic they're really interested in so as
38. 1:26a good business writer with your
39. 1:28introduction you want to create at least
40. 1:30a little bit of this excitement of this
41. 1:33interest of your reader in your document
42. 1:35so as most good books your introduction
43. 1:38should have a beginning a middle part
44. 1:40and an ending and there is one framework
45. 1:43which is very commonly used and taught
46. 1:46in consulting firms which i believe is
47. 1:49at the core of almost all good
48. 1:51introductions and this framework is the
49. 1:54framework of situation complication
50. 1:57solution so let's now go over these
51. 1:59three fundamental components of
52. 2:01introduction and let's start with the
53. 2:03situation
54. 2:04so the situation is the start of
55. 2:06introduction where you briefly describe
56. 2:09how the situation currently looks like
57. 2:11so here you're looking for a couple of
58. 2:13sentences where you know that other
59. 2:15people we agree to them so you know that
60. 2:18the people reading your document will
61. 2:19say yes this is exactly the situation
62. 2:22that we're currently facing this is what
63. 2:24the state is called what this currently
64. 2:26looks like so you don't want to go with
65. 2:28something controversial but rather
66. 2:30something where you know that you have
67. 2:31the buy-in of everyone reading this just
68. 2:34to make sure that this is captivating
69. 2:36and you will have common grounds with
70. 2:38all your audience of course and this is
71. 2:39then true for the other parts as well
72. 2:41how detailed this is going to be will
73. 2:43depend on the overall context of your
74. 2:45document so if your total document your
75. 2:47total memo is only two or three pages
76. 2:49long probably this whole introduction
77. 2:52will only be one or two paragraphs
78. 2:54whereas if your document is 50 pages 100
79. 2:57pages so even longer than likely this
80. 2:59introductory part can also be one or two
81. 3:01pages or so or even longer what's
82. 3:03important for these first sentences of
83. 3:05your situation part is that what you
84. 3:07write is captivating so it leaves the
85. 3:09reader being interested in what you're
86. 3:10saying and wanting to understand further
87. 3:13how the situation will evolve what you
88. 3:15will have to say about the situation so
89. 3:18this is this first part of the
90. 3:19introduction so let me make a couple of
91. 3:21examples for what sentences you could
92. 3:23write before the situation here looking
93. 3:25at another screen to read them so for
94. 3:27instance you could write something like
95. 3:29the profit margin of our company has
96. 3:32been steadily declining over the last
97. 3:35five years
98. 3:37that seems interesting so what do we do
99. 3:39about this right this is then the next
100. 3:41question how this will be making
101. 3:43hopefully of interest to your readers or
102. 3:44next the public health crisis our world
103. 3:48is currently facing created a
104. 3:50significant impact on our everyday life
105. 3:53so again an uncontroversial statement
106. 3:56that somehow leaves me asking okay like
107. 3:58what do we do how does this continue our
108. 4:01next
109. 4:02youtube channels have a great capacity
110. 4:04to teach educational material
111. 4:07so i hope we all agree with that but
112. 4:08once again
113. 4:10what does this mean what is the
114. 4:11implication of that right so this is
115. 4:13exactly the effect that you want to
116. 4:15create start with something
117. 4:16uncontroversial and then build based on
118. 4:18that so before we now continue let me
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159. 5:44with part two of your introduction and
160. 5:47this is the complication part so these
161. 5:49should be then the sentences that
162. 5:51directly follow the situation part and
163. 5:54here you know introducing some elements
164. 5:57which make the whole situation a bit
165. 5:58more complex a bit more complicated
166. 6:01maybe there's an additional problem that
167. 6:04is part of the situation that you are
168. 6:05describing so something that maybe now
169. 6:08is indeed a little bit more
170. 6:09controversial so here maybe there are
171. 6:11some people in the room or some people
172. 6:13reading this that would not necessarily
173. 6:16agree or maybe this is just a little bit
174. 6:18more controversial but this is then fine
175. 6:20for the second part one thing that's
176. 6:23important to understand is that the
177. 6:24complication does not necessarily need
178. 6:27to be a problem it can also just indeed
179. 6:29be just an additional factor that acts
180. 6:32to the complexity an additional factor
181. 6:34that just makes the whole situation more
182. 6:36interesting more worthwhile of our
183. 6:39attention things like that can be great
184. 6:42complications as well now to make it a
185. 6:44bit easier for you to understand what a
186. 6:45strong complication is let me talk about
187. 6:48this book the pyramid principle this is
188. 6:50a book that already recommended to you
189. 6:52in some of the prior videos and in the
190. 6:54video today i'm also boring on a couple
191. 6:56of concepts that i explained in this
192. 6:57book and indeed the situation
193. 7:00complication solution framework is also
194. 7:02a framework that is picked up in here
195. 7:04and explained and here there are a
196. 7:05couple of examples what great
197. 7:07complications could be let me just read
198. 7:10a couple of them for you to make it
199. 7:11clear so good complication could be
200. 7:14something went wrong
201. 7:16so you introduce the situation and now
202. 7:18you are adding an additional point that
203. 7:20shows how something went wrong
204. 7:23or another one could be something could
205. 7:25go wrong so what would there be right
206. 7:27like what are you describing something
207. 7:29could go wrong in the situation that
208. 7:30you're currently facing
209. 7:32something changed or something could
210. 7:34change so maybe we all agree that
211. 7:36currently the situation looks like this
212. 7:39but maybe this is not how it will look
213. 7:41like forever or here's what you might
214. 7:44expect to find in it so what exactly is
215. 7:47in the situation what is going on
216. 7:49or here's someone with a different point
217. 7:52of view maybe we all agree that this is
218. 7:54how the situation currently looks like
219. 7:56but other people hold these other views
220. 7:58this is how other people see it or
221. 8:01in this situation we have three
222. 8:03alternatives so this is currently what
223. 8:05we are facing and this is now what we
224. 8:07could do about it so i hope you
225. 8:09understand the complication does not
226. 8:11necessarily need to be a problem but
227. 8:13just something that adds to the
228. 8:14situation makes it a little bit more
229. 8:16spicy more worthwhile of our attention
230. 8:19then the last part of the complication
231. 8:21should always be a question
232. 8:23a question that builds on the
233. 8:25complication and is then usually the
234. 8:27most logical question to ask so for
235. 8:30instance if then you are introducing in
236. 8:32the complication the point that someone
237. 8:34else might have a different view on
238. 8:35something then the question is so what
239. 8:38is this view or if we have now three
240. 8:40potential solutions to address an issue
241. 8:43what are these solutions what could we
242. 8:45do or if the situation is changing how
243. 8:48is it changing right so always asking
244. 8:51this logical next question that also the
245. 8:54reader will ask him or herself because
246. 8:57this is of course what captivates the
247. 8:59interest what these people want to know
248. 9:01and now it starts to become a little bit
249. 9:02like an interesting book where you just
250. 9:05want to know how it continues right how
251. 9:07this goes on this is exactly i want to
252. 9:09captivate the interest of the people now
253. 9:11let's continue with the solution aspect
254. 9:14of this introduction so the last aspect
255. 9:16of it and of course the solution should
256. 9:18provide a nice and concise answer to the
257. 9:21question that you posed in the
258. 9:23complication segment what's here also
259. 9:25important to understand is that similar
260. 9:26with the complication the solution does
261. 9:29not necessarily need to be a solution to
262. 9:31a specific problem just call it like
263. 9:33that just to make it a bit more like
264. 9:35actionable but it can also be understood
265. 9:37just as a key message a key insight that
266. 9:40you want to share so based on the
267. 9:41questions that we just asked ourselves
268. 9:43earlier you provide a good and clear
269. 9:46answer the solution the key message that
270. 9:49you want to share
271. 9:50and which is not the starting point for
272. 9:52the top-down communication message that
273. 9:55you will have not to follow the starting
274. 9:57point to the main document that you are
275. 9:59now outlining what's important about the
276. 10:01solution section also to provide a
277. 10:03proper introduction then to the main
278. 10:05part of the document is then in the end
279. 10:08to also outline the main structure of
280. 10:10the document so talk to the reader about
281. 10:13what they can now expect if they
282. 10:15continue reading so how have you
283. 10:17structured it how have you now detailed
284. 10:19the solution in the main part of your
285. 10:22document what's important on this though
286. 10:24is also discussed in many of my slide
287. 10:26writing videos you once again if you're
288. 10:28interested more on this content i will
289. 10:29link the slide writing playlist of my
290. 10:31channel above it's important that you do
291. 10:33not talk about the structure but rather
292. 10:36the ideas the contents right so avoid
293. 10:39saying now in the solution in the end
294. 10:41that now the document for instance will
295. 10:43also outline enable enablers of your
296. 10:46ideas but instead in half a sentence
297. 10:49right what the most important enabler
298. 10:51for your solution is so to make this now
299. 10:53easier to understand let me just provide
300. 10:55you with a simple example of how such a
301. 10:58total introduction could look like now
302. 11:00based on a document that is maybe rather
303. 11:02short and not that long and this
304. 11:05introduction goes as follows let me just
305. 11:07read it out to you
306. 11:09the profit margins of our company have
307. 11:11been steadily declining over the last
308. 11:14five years
309. 11:15this is the situation as we've already
310. 11:17seen in us earlier
311. 11:18next this is not the complication
312. 11:21in addition
313. 11:22new competitors have entered our home
314. 11:24market this year putting additional
315. 11:27pressure on our market share
316. 11:30what can we do to address this issue
317. 11:33so you know you're introducing an
318. 11:34additional factor that makes it even
319. 11:36more challenging maybe it's a bit more
320. 11:38controversial also but scholar provides
321. 11:41why act now it provides an answer to the
322. 11:44question why now something needs to
323. 11:45happen why this whole issue is really
324. 11:48worthwhile of our attention right now
325. 11:50and indeed now you could continue in
326. 11:52saying this report outlines how a shift
327. 11:55from product selling to solution selling
328. 11:58could defend our market share and
329. 11:59increase our profitability we will
330. 12:02highlight what processes and
331. 12:03capabilities we need to make this happen
332. 12:06and how the implementation roadmap looks
333. 12:08like so here now in the solution segment
334. 12:10of the introduction you're first saying
335. 12:12what your hypothesis is of how this
336. 12:14could be addressed namely the shift from
337. 12:16product selling to solution selling and
338. 12:18now you also provide a brief outline of
339. 12:20what is that will follow namely what the
340. 12:23key segments are but rather in the terms
341. 12:25of ideas than those structure elements
342. 12:27namely processes and capabilities which
343. 12:29you feel like are a very important part
344. 12:31of that but also an implementation
345. 12:32roadmap and how this will look like how
346. 12:34this will happen so situation
347. 12:36complication solution it is just my
348. 12:39humble experience that if you set up
349. 12:41your introductions in this way you will
350. 12:43in most cases succeed in providing quite
351. 12:46an effective and also interest capturing
352. 12:48introduction to your business documents
353. 12:50i can just encourage you to try this out
354. 12:52in the next document that you write and
355. 12:54of course let me know how this worked
356. 12:55out for you what i can only tell you is
357. 12:57that this is just a framework that is
358. 12:59applied excessively in consulting what
359. 13:02do you think about using the situation
360. 13:04complication solution framework for your
361. 13:06introductions does this make sense to
362. 13:08have other things that you know that you
363. 13:10would love to share with the from
364. 13:11learning community please let me know in
365. 13:13the comments and as always if you took
366. 13:15any value out of this video at all
367. 13:18please hit the like button for the
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370. 13:23my content i once again want to thank
371. 13:26datacam for sponsoring this video and
372. 13:28thereby contributing to the firm
373. 13:30learning community and of course also
374. 13:32big thanks to all the members of firm
375. 13:34learning my name is heinrich i'm
376. 13:36releasing new videos every single
377. 13:38saturday so see you soon next week until
378. 13:41then all the best to all of you and bye
379. 13:43bye