Structure

Why your answer was right and the decision still went the other way

You gave the full picture. You started at the beginning. By the time you reached the conclusion, the room had already formed one.

The moment

The director asks whether the migration can ship this quarter. You begin with the background, because the background matters.

Three minutes later you reach the answer. The director decided at forty seconds, on the part you had not said yet.

What this dimension is

Structure is whether the answer is complete and in an order the listener can follow.

Structure is whether the answer is complete and in an order the listener can follow. Under pressure most people default to telling the story in the order it happened, which is almost never the order a decision needs.

Weak signal

The answer starts at the beginning of the story and never reaches the result. Three minutes pass before the headline arrives, if it arrives at all.

Strong signal

The result comes first, then the context, then the evidence. The listener knows where the answer is going from the first sentence.

What it costs

The bill arrives somewhere else

This is the dimension that changes outcomes rather than impressions. A correct answer delivered in the wrong order loses to a weaker answer delivered in the right one, and the person who lost it usually never learns why.

The separator

The first language question

Asked in every session

In your first language, do you give the answer first or the story first?

Many people find they do exactly the same thing in their first language. That is useful, because it means the pattern is visible and measurable rather than tied to vocabulary.

How it is measured

Scored, not described

0
Emerging
How SignalCheck measures it

Structure, scored on the same 100 point scale

Structure is scored on the same 100 point scale as the other four, in every session, using the same bands. This sample sits in the Emerging band.

Sample

See where you actually sit on all five

A short conversation first, so we can tell you whether a SignalCheck is the right fit. If it is not, we will say so.