Leadership Development Redux

Fascinating! I find it absolutely fascinating that conferences and summits and institutes and seminars on leadership and leadership development boast agendas chock full of topics, except for the one that matters most … communicating effectively. Wow, really?

Can a leader really lead without communicating effectively? Can a leader succeed on these topics alone: managing tight budgets for profitability, maximization of social media, cutting edge HR programs, understanding corporate social responsibility, or fostering a culture that’s comfortable with change? Um, I don’t think so ...

My own obvious bias notwithstanding, you could argue that true leadership is almost exclusively about communicating effectively, and success is almost exclusively dependent on the ability to communicate effectively. Think about it. No one succeeds alone. No one leads alone. “Leadership” implies the involvement of, and need for, other people. And how does one lead other people? Through budgets? Through HR policies and programs? Through Facebook? No. Those are management issues and tools. Leadership is different. One leads other people by engaging, connecting, inspiring, persuading, informing, motivating … all communications tasks.

Successful leaders are people who communicate with a steady, dependable “voice” … a voice that’s clear, open, appreciative, and affirming. The true work of a leader is to be able to find his/her voice, the exact style and tone, and then stick to it. The trickiest part is to remain clear, open, appreciative, and affirming even when times are tense and the message is difficult. This is absolutely the distinguishing characteristic for leadership, though; it’s how one engages, connects, inspires, persuades, informs, motivates, etc. even under duress.

I am not suggesting that managing can be done by a trained monkey and that leadership is for the elite few. Not at all. In fact, managing well also requires the effective communications skills of a leader. What I am suggesting, though, is that, in one way or another, we are all leaders or in leadership positions. And so the single most important skill we can develop is good communications skills, beginning with a clear, open, appreciative, and affirming voice. And then the finer points will come with time … or with reading this blog!

Power Points on PowerPoint

Here’s what we know …

• Less is more.
• A picture is worth a thousand words.
• Microsoft named it PowerPoint, not EveryPoint.
• Slides are a visual aid for the audience, not a script for the speaker.
• Visual aids are meant to reinforce and illustrate, not narrate.
• Screen + darkened room + speaker taking time to boot up technology = naptime.
• Slides + bullet points with sub bullet points + handouts + speaker = audience overload.

Nonetheless, PowerPoint is to meetings as negative campaigning is to elections: something we don’t like but feel helpless about and resign ourselves to accepting; something we complain about, but rarely take steps to change.

Soooooo, just a few SmartMouth ideas for changing it up:

Write on a whiteboard or giant sticky notes for visuals. It’s animated and dynamic; it’s as though you’re engaging the audience in the process of creating your “slides,” which is far more entertaining and memorable for them.

Use video footage instead of slides when and if you can. People love to watch TV! There’s so much available out there (YouTube, etc.), and it’s easy to embed a video into a traditional PowerPoint presentation.

Think about creating slides that use one word or one sentence to capture the “so what?” of your points. You should know your stuff well enough to be able to speak to the topic without needing to read a paragraph off the screen anyway. If you don’t, that’s a whole other problem, isn’t it?

Be brief. Be animated. Be present. Be engaged. Be open to a dialogue with your audience. If you do all that, you might not even need visuals. Brevity is so impactful just on its own.

Be adaptable! Be open to shutting down the PowerPoint if you notice you’re losing your audience. When all else fails, connect with the people in your audience. It’s all about them anyway. Don’t kill them with your slides just because you worked hard on preparing them. It’s not all about you!

The word “presentation” is not automatically synonymous with PowerPoint. You have choices ...

Learning to Tell Time

Why do speakers go over their allotted time? If there was ever a presentation buzzkill, it’s the speaker who keeps on going … and going … and going.

You know you get aggravated with the long-winded speaker when you’re sitting in the audience, but what happens when it’s you standing at the podium? Are you aware of time? Do you know what 5 minutes of talking feels like? Do you know what 20 minutes feels like? You should. You need to learn to tell, or keep, time.

In the speech prep arena, I’m going to put it out there that minding your time trumps all your excessive fretting over content. Yup, I’m saying that content alone will not leave a good impression with your audience. You need more than that. Great content needs the added ingredients of audience connection (more on that another time!) and time sensitivity.

We talk about people who are “brief and to the point” with awe and admiration, so let’s work on being one of those … Practice delivering your material. Know how much time it takes. Know what 5 or 20 minutes of talking feels like. Prioritize in order to make any necessary cuts. And when you’re at the mic, don’t go off on a tangent just because you have the floor and you thought of something super cool to share. Keep to the time limit; your audience will be grateful, and you will have succeeded in leaving a good impression … with or without perfect content!

Tick tock, people, tick tock.

Storytelling 101

And I really mean 101, nothing fancy. No once upon a time stuff here, no professional storytelling tactics. Just some basic tips for telling a story – as in, sharing a case example or an anecdote – during a talk. So here goes …

First, there has to be a point. Stories or anecdotes or examples must illustrate a point. And, as mere illustrations of a point, they fall under the category of “information” (see http://smartmouthtalks.blogspot.com/2011/03/putting-engine-back-together.html). As with any information you share to support a point you’re making, you’ll want to pick out and prioritize the stories you tell and the detail you share based on your audience (their needs, interests, concerns, etc.).

Second, you can’t tell the whole story. It doesn’t matter how short you think it is, it’s probably not that short. You’re going to need to figure out how to be concise, so you can neatly support your point while holding onto your audience’s attention. So here’s a quick recipe:

1-3 sentences of problem/challenge

1-3 sentences of dramatic tension/suspense

1-3 sentences of solution/outcome

This recipe is doable. I have had people trim their 10-12 minute, multi-paragraph stories down to 1.5 minutes and fewer than 9 sentences by using this recipe. Stick to the recipe, stick to what’s relevant to the point (and the audience!), and you can do it in less than 9 sentences, I promise. It’s good discipline!

Third, you have to practice stories. Just like you practice the rest of your talk. Making a note to self – either on paper or in your head – that you want to include “the Uncle Joe story” is not enough. You need to map it out and practice it. Otherwise you’ll find yourself adding unnecessarily to the length of your talk and potentially losing your audience.

Try these tips, and hopefully you’ll speak happily ever after …