When you have a recommendation fail to persuade others, this failure can feel devastating. You feel countless hours have been wasted, an opportunity was lost, and perhaps you’re unwilling to go through that exercise again. More often than not though, it’s not because your recommendation was a poor one, but because you're not speaking in the love language your colleagues receive.
One of the main reasons organizations hire external, business management consultancies like BCG, Bain, or Accenture is because they use a storytelling structure that explains the rationale behind a recommendation. This structure is is valued by executives and stakeholders it is predictable in nature and is specifically focused on placing difficult trade-off decisions at the heart of the story.
When it comes to communicating business rationale, a great communication structure can make or break your presentation. One of the most famous and heavily used analytical storytelling structures is called The Pyramid Principle.
Developed by Barbara Minto, the Pyramid Principle takes the basic elements of a story and organizes them into a pyramid structure to make them easy for someone else to understand. By using a pyramidal structure, presenters can present their arguments by framing what is known, summarize logical reasons for action, and order the arguments in a way which makes sense to the audience.
The Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR) Framework is both a popular version of the structure and very learnable. If you’re familiar with the 5 paragraph essay structure in writing, the SCR Framework is quite similar in its base, but includes flexibility to adjust accordingly. The beauty of this framework is that it can be tailored for specific circumstances in which a decision needs to be made.
To construct a good argument, the framework allows you to structure your thinking as a series of situations and complications, which leads to a resolution. The structure is summarized with the acronym SCR:
- Situation: The important, fact-based state of current affairs that everyone in the room agrees with
- Complication: The reason(s) the situation requires action
- Resolution: The specific action you're recommending to solve the problem
The most basic approach for presenting business rationale with SCR is to highlight one situation, introduce three complications that require action, and conclude with a resolution to solve the problem.
I like to think about it like an equation: S + C + C + C + R.
As you become familiar with the approach, you’ll find it’s applicable for more than just product or design decisions. Here’s an example from my past, where I used the SCR Framework to present my decision to change the priorities of my team.
Situation: Our goal is to develop a modern approach to Employee Experience
Complication: We currently have a goal of reducing operational expenses by 8% for this year
Complication: 2/3s of employees are spending less than 10 seconds on average for the digital tools we provide to them
Complication: The CSAT rate for employee digital tools is 37%
Resolution: Prioritize the rapid development and adoption of a design system to meet cost-saving goals, increase usage of digital tools, and increase the overall satisfaction within those tools.
Pro-tips when using SCR
With this basic format, a few best practice guidelines can be introduced to help you develop a more complete SCR story.
- Situations are statements everyone agrees with: Getting your situation right will make or break your argument.
- Use the rule of three: The rule of three is a writing principle based on how we as humans recognize patterns. Since three is the smallest number of elements required to create a pattern, this principle suggests that using three elements at a time is more effective than using another number. An example of this principle in practice is using three complications to support the situation.
- Complications should create healthy tension: Without tension, stakeholders may be less than compelled to act. While design tools journey maps and service blueprints are incredibly powerful for developing insights, time and time again I see designers fail to create enough tension from these tools to compel hard decisions to be made.
- Support one complication before introducing another: One of the biggest mistakes I see in presentations is the ordering of the slides. Each complication should come with supporting data and information before introducing a new complication. Using the rule of three, include three supporting arguments for every complication. This is essential to both introduce and close a complication, ensuring your audience is able to follow along.
Use our free Mural template
To influence strategic decisions, start with our Situation Complication Resolution Canvas on Mural. This template walks you through a step-by-step process to shape your rationale and argument in the love language your colleagues’ receive.