Communicating Value: A Simple Formula For When It Matters The Most
A Practical Way to Move Your Message From Tasks to Tangible Outcomes
Communicating Value: A Simple Formula For When It Matters The Most
Communicating value is one of the most important skills in any professional setting, yet it is also one of the easiest to overlook. I have been thinking about it a great deal recently. My last article explored what I have learnt about Communicating Value as a Product Owner. A few weeks before that, I wrote about The Question That Changed How I Present For Ever, and it’s one that many of us should ask far more often: So what?
Since then, I have also had the pleasure of hearing a talk by the superb Carol Benton, a speaker who encouraged the audience to shift their conversations from “What” to “So What”. That idea has stuck with me. It keeps resurfacing, especially at this time of year.
Why This Topic Keeps Coming Up
As we move from one year into the next, several types of conversations tend to surface. Some are personal, others are organisational, but the common thread is that they all require us to articulate value with clarity.
Year-End Performance Reviews
These could be your individual review with your manager, where you need to explain what you achieved and why it mattered. They could also be broader business reviews, where teams reflect on what they set out to deliver and how it benefited stakeholders and the organisation as a whole.
In both cases you are not only discussing the tasks completed. You are expected to communicate the impact. This is the essence of so what.
Planning Conversations For The Year Ahead
The turn of the year often triggers conversations about plans, roadmaps, goals and future direction. These conversations can take any form, from a simple discussion with your manager about objectives to large scale transformation programmes shaping the next twelve months.
Again, the goal is not simply to list what you intend to deliver. You need to explain what the work will enable, why it matters and how it will create value for the business.
Why We Struggle To Communicate The So What
Many of these conversations happen with very little notice. They are often sprung on us. The time to prepare is limited and when that happens, we default to thinking about what we have done.
There is nothing wrong with explaining what you have delivered. It is part of the story. The problem is that this is where many people stop. When the focus stays on what, we forget to articulate the so what. The value is lost, which means:
We undersell the impact of our work
We communicate an incomplete story
We weaken the case for future plans and resources
We miss opportunities to build credibility
This happens not because we lack ability, but because we lack a ready structure to help us think clearly under pressure.
A Simple Structure To Keep In Your Back Pocket
One practical solution is to use a basic structure that helps you quickly frame the value of your work, especially when the conversation catches you off guard. Think of it as a template you can pull out whenever you need to explain the impact of a piece of work.
It is a simple adaptation of a user story framework, but tailored to highlight value and outcomes.
We delivered [ADD DELIVERY NAME] for audience [ADD AUDIENCE NAME]
This gave the audience the capability to [BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CAPABILITY ENABLED]
This capability meant that [BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THIS ENABLED THE AUDIENCE TO DO]
Which resulted in [HIGH LEVEL OUTCOMES - QUANTIFIED WHERE POSSIBLE]
It works because it brings your thinking back to impact. It forces you to move beyond tasks and outputs and towards outcomes, consequences and value.
An Example: A Request For A Sales Pipeline Report
Here is how you might apply the structure in a real scenario.
We delivered a new sales pipeline report for the Commercial Leadership team.
This gave them the capability to see live, accurate data on deal stages, conversion rates and projected revenue.
This capability meant that they could spot bottlenecks earlier, identify which deals needed intervention and make more informed decisions about resourcing and priorities.
Which resulted in a reduction in sales cycle time of roughly ten percent over the following quarter, a fifteen percent improvement in forecasting accuracy and clearer alignment between the sales and finance teams on revenue expectations.
Short, simple and focused on value.
This is the difference between saying, “I built a sales pipeline report,” and “I created something that directly improved forecasting accuracy and helped reduce delays in the sales cycle.” One describes the task. The other communicates the impact.
Final Thoughts
Communicating value is not about exaggerating achievements or overselling outcomes. It is about recognising the significance of your work and articulating it in a way that others can clearly understand.
By keeping a reliable structure to hand, you give yourself the confidence and clarity to handle these conversations at any time, even when they arrive unexpectedly.
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