Nov 10 is consulting presentations

Passive vs Active

Active/Forceful
- Direct, I would phrases, orders
- I have decided to implement X
- Do not add extra phrases that aren’t clarifiers
- Expressive, natural

Passive
- “this problem should be corrected” vs “you must correct the problem now”
- Indirect, not communicating, unpersonal
- Planned, rhetorical

Personal
- Uses reader’s name
- Friendly
- Cite specific situations to related reader

Impersonal
- No personal pronouns
- Mistakes were made, not “you made a mistake”

Scale:

Passive (Indirect) Impersonal Personal Forceful (direct)

Professional vs Collegial
Exercise:
You’re a project manager and you expected a status report from a colleague yesterday, which
was needed to finish for your presentation. The report hasn’t arrived. Craft different emails for
the employee with the 3 tones: personal, Passive, and Active/Forceful

Passive
Hey X,

The team’s findings are going to be presented for our sponsors. I wanted to check in on the
status of everyone’s report, as time is cutting short. The presentation is almost complete and is
missing a few items and we will need the status report in particular to move forward.

Active/Forceful
Hey John,

I will be presenting to our sponsors soon and I am missing the status report that was due
yesterday. It’s the final piece to figure out next steps moving forward. I will need the report
ASAP, so please be considerate of the time and make sure to submit that report by noon today.
If there are any questions, please direct them towards me.

Personal
Hey John,

Your status report was due yesterday, and I wanted to check in on you and see if there was
anything you needed help with. We need this done for our sponsor presentation and you have
a crucial part in this, so I need your status report to move forward. Could you let me know
when you might have that ready?