Repetition Through Synthesis

I interviewed Telma Gonçalves on Raw Talks.

And I caught her doing something 90% of managers consider a waste of time.

Repeating herself.

But not in any old way.

Repetition through synthesis.

What does that mean in practice?

She would explain what she wanted to explain and at the end she would boil the concept down to the key points. Almost like a TLDR.

Sounds basic. It isn’t.

Constantly repeating the same ideas, goals and concepts is a permanent part of the job for anyone who leads people.

For a team to work as one and stay aligned, it has to operate on a shared set of principles.

And for that to happen, those concepts need to be repeated.

Several times. In different contexts. In different ways.

I’ve made that mistake plenty of times.

Assuming that saying it once was enough for it to be taken in and understood.

It wasn’t. The message competes with a thousand other priorities in each person’s head.

Repetition isn’t a lack of creativity.

It’s respect for the reality of how information is absorbed.

It’s wanting results instead of wanting to be right.

When you start to feel you’re already being far too repetitive, you’ve only just started.