Helping Tech Talk Exec: Communication Skills Training for Technical Leaders
Communication skills training for technical teams often starts with one critical challenge: communicating complex information at the level executives need. Technical experts bring tremendous depth and precision, but executive audiences often need the bottom line first. Learning to bridge that gap can strengthen influence, accelerate decisions and give technical leaders a stronger voice at the table.
Communication Skills Training: How Technical Teams Communicate Differently
You’ve seen this challenge. It’s in every meeting where strategy connects to implementation. It’s where vision meets tactics. And it’s one of the biggest communication skills training challenges in most companies. That is why communication skills training is so important.
Here’s how it happens:
The leadership team wants to expand a product into a new vertical. They’ve seen the numbers to support market size and they know there’s a window of opportunity. They’ve also been told there’s a “little tweaking” that will need to be done in the product’s application to make it viable in the new vertical. So, the next meeting calls for the engineers to come in and explain what’s involved in “tweaking” or converting the product.
The leadership team is looking for a 15-minute explanation to quantify what needs to be done and how long it will take. Instead, they get the step-by-step details of how it will be done.
In an effort to get out of the details and move toward answers, the leaders jump in with questions and assumptions. It was meant to speed up the discussion, but instead it signals to an engineer that the leaders didn’t understand the information. So, the engineer provides more explanation.
The leaders want the bottom-line. The engineers communicate in process and details. And whether the disconnect goes on for several minutes or more than an hour, it’s frustrating to both the executive listeners and the technical communicator.
Communication Skills Training: Helping Engineers Become More Influential Communicators
As a coach and communication skills training expert, I’ve been asked many times: “Why is communicating to the executive level so hard for engineers and technical teams? After all, they are arguably the smartest people in the company!”
Both points are true. Engineers are some of the smartest people in a company, and communicating with executives is a common challenge. It always has been. But companies are noticing it more because technical input has become more critical as a point of influence and essential to making smart decisions.
So, why is “executive talk” hard?
I’ve coached on both of sides of the table for decades and solved for the challenge when I wrote Leading Executive Conversations. But I wrote the book for all audiences who want to solve for the executives’ perspective…and the tech group is a little unique.
Through the years, I’ve learned that it really comes down to how people think, because how they think impacts how they speak. And engineers think in details, steps and precision. And thank goodness they do! Would you want to drive an automobile that was built from a sketch instead of a blueprint? Can you imagine working on a computer that can do 20 things but can’t connect those things to each other?
Whether process-thinking is innate or developed over time, engineers add the greatest value by bringing precision and detail to vague concepts. It’s no wonder that they communicate in details. To tell a leader that they can build a new capability in eight weeks isn’t how they think. And in fact, they wouldn’t be comfortable with that answer unless someone took them through details of what was planned over those eight weeks. It’s how they think, it’s how they work, and that’s why it’s how they communicate. I describe it as communicating from the bottom up.
Yet most leaders think in the opposite manner. They let go of thinking through details of HOW some time ago. They need the What, and the Why. They start with the big concept and challenge whether the WHY has enough value to pursue. They listen to implementation just enough to buy-in. Most leaders think and communicate from the top-down.
And the disconnect comes when the leader feels impatient working through the HOW to get to WHY and the engineer feels the value isn’t justified unless you communicate detailed steps to prove out the HOW.
But it’s a disconnect that’s solvable because you’re dealing with some of the smartest people in the room! And once we figured out why the challenge exists, we developed a process for solving it. And we’ve found that technical teams can be some of the best students of communication skills training.
Communication Skills Training: From Technical Details to Executive-Level Communication
To help Tech Talk Exec, we developed a communication skills training process that is based on key insights and a formulaic outline. We’re prescriptive in defining the executive perspective and building specific examples that illustrate how the outline works against common technical topics.
It’s our storyline formula with two key components: a Message and a Framework. This gives an engineer a blueprint to follow that lifts the altitude of their conversation. The details don’t disappear entirely. But the flow of communication is organized with a top-down approach that starts with what executives value and then leads to the technical steps that can be reduced or expanded based on an executive’s interest.
It’s solving for one of the biggest communication skills training challenges in companies today. And it’s helping technical teams become key influencers at a time when their expertise is essential to smart business decisions.
How to Communicate Technical Information to Executives
Communicating technical information to executives requires more than removing jargon or shortening an explanation. The technical leader must reorganize the information around the executive’s perspective.
Executives are usually listening for a decision, recommendation or business implication. They want to know what has changed, why it matters, what risks or opportunities are involved and what needs to happen next.
The technical details still matter. But they should support the message rather than delay it.
Begin with the Business Message
Technical experts often begin with the history of a problem, the process used to evaluate it or the data that led to a conclusion. That sequence makes sense when the goal is to demonstrate the rigor behind the work.
An executive audience typically needs the conclusion first.
A technical update might begin with:
We recommend delaying the launch by two weeks to resolve a security issue that could affect customer access.
That opening immediately gives the executive the recommendation, timing and business implication. The technical leader can then explain the evidence supporting the recommendation.
Starting with the answer is not oversimplifying the work. It is organizing the information around what the listener needs first.
Connect Technical Work to Business Impact
Technical information becomes more influential when executives can connect it to an organizational priority.
Before an executive conversation, determine how the issue affects:
- Revenue or cost
- Customers or employees
- Risk and compliance
- Speed and operational efficiency
- Competitive position
- Strategic priorities
- The organization’s ability to scale
Instead of describing only what a system does, explain what the system enables. Instead of walking through every project dependency, identify which dependency could affect timing, cost or performance.
This shift helps technical leaders move from reporting information to influencing a business decision.
Organize Details in Layers
Effective executive communication does not eliminate detail. It makes detail easier to access.
Begin with the message and the recommended action. Follow with a simple framework of two or three supporting points. Then prepare the deeper technical information executives may request.
This layered approach allows the conversation to expand according to the executive’s interest. Some leaders will want only the recommendation and its business impact. Others will ask about assumptions, alternatives, implementation requirements or risk.
The technical communicator should be prepared for either response.
A clear structure might include:
- The message: What the executive needs to understand.
- The business impact: Why the issue matters now.
- The recommendation: What should happen next.
- The support: The evidence, risks and technical details behind the recommendation.
The communicator maintains the precision of the work while giving the executive control over how deeply the conversation goes.
Anticipate Executive Questions
Technical leaders sometimes interpret questions as evidence that the explanation was unclear. They respond by restarting the explanation or providing more detail.
But executive questions often serve a different purpose. Leaders may be testing the recommendation, evaluating risk or comparing the proposal with competing priorities.
Before the conversation, anticipate questions such as:
- What decision are you asking us to make?
- What happens if we do nothing?
- What alternatives did you consider?
- What will this cost?
- What could change the timeline?
- What is the greatest risk?
- How confident are you in the recommendation?
- Who needs to be involved?
Preparing concise answers helps the technical leader remain confident and responsive without being pulled immediately into unnecessary detail.
Communication Skills Training for Technical Leaders
Communication skills training for technical leaders should not teach them to think less technically. Their depth, precision and process orientation are essential to the organization.
The goal is to help them communicate that expertise at the right altitude.
At SW&A, we begin our communication skills training with Content, Style and Situation. We help technical leaders determine what an executive audience needs to hear, organize complex information into a clear storyline and communicate recommendations with credibility and confidence.
The work is applied to real business situations. A technical leader may be preparing to explain an AI investment, recommend a system migration, discuss cybersecurity risk, request additional resources or provide an update on a major implementation.
Through communication skills training, coaching and practice, leaders learn to:
- Lead with the most important business message
- Translate technical complexity into organizational impact
- Adjust the level of detail for different executive audiences
- Make recommendations more concise and actionable
- Respond confidently to questions and pushback
- Maintain technical credibility without overwhelming the listener
- Build greater influence with senior decision-makers
Technical expertise earns a leader a place in the conversation. The ability to connect that expertise to business priorities helps the leader influence what happens next.
SW&A provides tailored communication skills training and executive coaching for technology, engineering, information security, data and AI leaders. We help technical experts make complex ideas clear, relevant and actionable for the executives who need to understand them.
Do you need help coaching tech leaders or communication skills training for your executives? We’d love to share our insights and some great success stories about strengthening the voice and the impact of technical teams.