Whether you’re navigating interviews, Q&A sessions, or engaging in conversations with stakeholders, mastering the art of media training can be the key to success as it keeps the focus ON the things you want to talk about and AWAY from those you don’t.

Here are three key tips I learnt in media training to elevate your communication game:

1. Know your North Star

The key to a good Q&A is don’t answer the question you’re asked, answer the question you wish you were asked. If there’s a crucial message you want to get across, that’s your North Star. Practice answering questions that lead you back there.

Then if they keep commenting on something trivial or something you don’t know well, you can bring the conversation back to what matters.

2. Don’t speak for others.

If somebody says “You must be shocked by your competitors’ collapse” don’t take the bait. Instead say you’ll let that person comment on their situation, and then bring the conversation back to your area of focus.

3. Have command of two or three recent statistics that support your perspective.

You don’t need to be a walking encyclopaedia, but a few stats are very compelling. Make sure they are no more than two or three years old, and that you can cite your sources.

What More Can You Do?

While the strategies above are indispensable, there’s always room for refinement. Here are a few additional tips to enhance your performance during Q&A sessions and interviews:

4. Active Listening: Pay close attention to the questions posed to you. Understanding the intent behind each query allows you to tailor your responses more effectively.

5. Authenticity: Stay true to your brand and values. Authenticity resonates with audiences far more than rehearsed or scripted responses.

6. Bridge Techniques: Master the art of bridging—seamlessly transitioning from the question asked to the point you wish to convey. This technique allows you to maintain control over the conversation.

7. Practice, Practice, Practice: Like any skill, effective communication requires practice. Engage in mock interviews, seek feedback, and continuously refine your approach.

By harnessing these insights and refining your communication skills, you’ll be better equipped to give interviews which drive your vision forward with clarity and conviction.

What else would you add? What do you find helps when you’re involved in Q&A sessions or interviews?

Next in the #FinnemoreFireside series is this brilliant chat I had last month with Mike Donoghue, CEO of John Taylor Multi-Academy Trust (JTMAT). It was a great conversation providing lots of insight into how MATs work and what is important to directors, leaders, governors, staff and learners.

To provide some background on Mike, he was appointed Headteacher at John Taylor High School in January 2010 and oversaw the first change to ‘converter’ academy status of an ‘outstanding’ school in Staffordshire in November 2010. That school plus 14 others now lie at the heart of John Taylor Multi-Academy Trust where Mike is CEO.

In September 2014 he became an elected member of the Regional School Commissioner’s (West Midlands) Headteachers Board, was re-elected in 2017 and elected to the newly-constituted Advisory Board in 2022. Mike has also been appointed to the DfE’s Secondary Headteacher Reference Group, an advisory panel assisting with policy and strategy decision-making.

It’s an insightful conversation which includes, amongst other things:

• What it means to be a teaching school, and how fulfilling and valuable it can be
• The challenges and opportunities that come with working outside your organisation
• Growing into a successful MAT, and how do you define the perfect size
• Equality of entitlement when it comes to professional development
• The sliding scale between autonomy and regulation/structure, and how to create that balance as a MAT: compliance-driven vs excellence-driven
• Co-construction and why this is so important across the Trust
• How the Trust is very similar to a cycling peloton!
• Using evidence in staff appraisals and the concept of quid pro quo and ownership
• What Mike would like to see more of from software suppliers, and how major investment in one area can actually stymie innovation in others
• Where Mike takes his influence from on which solutions to introduce to the Trust and why

HIPPO is an acronym for the Highest-Paid Person’s Opinion . . . and they’re bad for business.

Hippo’s tell you their opinion and, because it’s easy to agree or too scary to challenge it, people nod along. Highly-skilled and experienced team members’ ideas are instantly devalued purely because they’re paid less than the Hippo.

It throttles innovation and it needs to stop.

But what to do instead?

Take the Google approach and test everything. Every idea deserves to be tried or challenged, and when you can back it up with data from testing you’ve got a really good chance of being heard over the roar of the hippo.