A story about getting primed and being framed

Getting primed and being framed

My daughter is studying Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam. She studies how to influence, persuade and impact different audiences. Every now and then she shares some of her insights with me.

Of course this is vastly relevant in my day-to-day when working with leaders that run their businesses and organisations. Key for them is how to convince, influence and win over their audiences. This against the backdrop of a highly volatile and super dynamic economic landscape, which is impacted by geopolitical tensions, technological breakthroughs and environmental developments...

In essence nothing new here… 25 years back I attended a Leadership training on Hawaii with Tony Robbins. On the agenda: how to influence people, setting an agenda, priming & framing were key topics back then as well.

Agenda setting: the premise here is that management or media do not tell us what to think, but rather what to think about. Priming is about providing a context for public discussion of an issue, setting the stage for audience understanding. Framing is to provide a focus and environment for reporting a story, influencing how audiences will understand or evaluate it.

To influence others, you need to know what already influences them. You’ve got to understand who your audience is and how to reach them. Your personal effectiveness comes from knowing & understanding who your audience is. How to connect, reach out and speak to them in a way that moves them. Everyone is moved in different ways, so getting this right is super important.

Leaders need to be strategic in their communication style and messaging. They need to set an agenda, prime and frame as well. They know they must have both a business strategy and a strategy for communicating. So leaders got to know when to push and when to pull, when to talk and when to be quiet & listen.

Leaders influence others and the world around them, by telling an effective story, inspiring them with their ideas and putting the agenda into action.

About Erik Hiep, MBA.

Erik founded management consultancy firm The Next Level in 2002 and is an Associate Professor at IE Business School in Madrid. He is also an executive Director at Presidents Institute which is based in Copenhagen. In 2018 Erik interviewed former UK Prime Minister David Cameron live on stage during the Breaking Barriers Summit before a 2000+ audience. Erik has extensive consulting experience with international management teams and boards. He has worked on a wide variety of assignments in more than 30 countries in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia & the Americas.