L.I.L.A.C Communications Model

L.I.L.A.C stands for:

• Listen
• Integrate
• Learn
• Assimilate
• Communicate

It is a mnemonic that I regularly use in my work as a Product Owner, and as a Rugby Coach. In both environments the time available to deliver messages is limited, stakeholders hold a range of opinions, the operating environment is complex and clarity of message can dramatically impact outcomes. Considering this it is extremely important to:

Listen

Listening is the basis of good communication. Listening to the views of others enables an understanding of their thinking.

Integrate

Integrating views requires consideration of conflicting view points to identify potential win-win outcomes. Integrating views also presents an opportunity to consider your own view point, and how it compares to others.

Learn

Learning requires humility, through learning the basis of different approaches to problems it is possible to develop new approaches that are improved over anything that could have been created working alone.

Assimilate

Assimilating requires an understanding of the operating context and what has been learnt, and distilling this information to a message that can be clearly delivered.

Communicate

Communication requires clear delivery of your message. It also requires that the message can be justified if challenged. This is where having Listened, Integrated, Learnt and Assimilated information can improve the quality of communication.