Creative Streak

Want To Show How Intelligent You Are?

Perhaps it's because my body doesn't know what time zone it's in, but one thing has been sticking in my craw since I got back to Chicago. I've sat in a dozen workshops and meetings over the past few weeks, and among all of the presentations, one element was consistent.

Of the time allotted to them, many presenters filled up the agenda with themselves – I call it “ME” time – leaving little room for Q&A and/or keeping audience interaction to a minimum. These meetings looked like Drawing A.  

In contrast, a few presenters chose to use the agenda to get their organised points across quickly, spending the remaining time with key people discussing and debating the recommendations. These meetings looked like Drawing B. 

I understand why the A people chose to facilitate the meeting the way they did. They wanted to get the maximum amount of information across to their audience, to show how much they knew their topic or recommendation, to show they were thorough and comprehensive.

Afterwards, when I asked why, the reasons were various. One said they reported to someone who was anal-retentive and controlling. Meetings were meant to agree on decisions: instead, they turned into opportunities for their boss to micro-manage information. Others realised they were justifying their employment or position in uncertain economic times. Most admitted that the idea of editing their thoughts never occurred to them.

Ironic, isn’t it? What they ultimately wanted to achieve (to show value, get promoted, keep their job) was in direct opposition of what they actually did in their PowerPoint presentations.

I applaud the B people who elected to facilitate their meeting differently. They chose to convey their recommendations in messages which were clear, succinct or prioritised. They’d learnt that distilling a sea of information down to its essential points demonstrates as much (if not more) command of the topic as filling up a slide up with charts, graphs and detail. Their response to the anal retentive boss was to show they could differentiate between strategic data and minutiae. Their response to a tenuous position was to show their efficiency and effectiveness.

How to Retrieve Self-Confidence

There isn't a single person I've coached over the years - and I'd include myself in this group - who've lost their confidence at one point or another. It might be a momentary slip, or something that lasts longer than a few weeks. But it happens. The important thing is to call it for what it is, realize it's natural and probably inevitable, and take appropriate action.

Here's another excellent post from Dawn Lennon's blog Business Fitness, entitled "Self-Confidence Lost? Five Steps to Getting It Back." Her steps are wise and practical.

If I may add a personal point to this, I'd offer a favourite retort from my Grandma Eklund - the doyenne of common sense. Other people's opinions of you are none of your business.

 

Cindy Ratzlaff on Leaders' Successful Daily Habits

Marketing expert and blogger Cindy Ratzlaff gathers an insightful list of daily rituals from successful leaders in a variety of fields and industries in her post "15 Daily Habits of Powerhouse Leaders." She interviews her friends and colleagues on tips ranging from philosophical to immediately practical, in areas such as social media, curiosity, time management and creativity. Some good food for thought during a time-out break this week. (Photo taken from her website.)

What Happened to Obama? A Case Study in Storytelling

An opinion piece on Barack Obama - What Happened to Obama? – in the New York Times on Monday is also a magnificent primer on the power of stories. It’s a short read and worth your time, regardless of whether you think it’s an accurate portrait of the US president.

It’s often said that language is the greatest invention of man. But well before literacy emerged, stories were the primary way people transmitted knowledge, values and context to others. In other words, life is stories, and vice versa. Whether we like it or not, they’re an integral part of who we are.

Stories help us understand the continuity of life: from re-capping what has happened to us (and why), to assessing where we are today, to imagining how our tomorrow may be different.

Meaningful stories are comprised of key ingredients: above all else, protagonists and villains. One plays off the other, to show context. The protagonist may not be like us, but they must be someone we can identify. This element of putting ourselves in the story demonstrates our need for emotion. Emotions are what truly inspire us to act and change. Facts persuade, but emotions motivate.

By their very nature, stories are dynamic. They allow the storyteller to connect with their audience: to influence, mentor and guide. They allow the audience to connect with the storyteller: to consider what's been said, be inspired and learn, to change.

Is Pret A Manger the new Zappos?

In case you didn't see it over the weekend, a profile in the New York Times on the restaurant chain Pret a Manger entitled "Would You Like a Smile With That?" It's a great case study on teamwork and customer service.

When I lived in London for a month in March, the £24 charge for breakfast drove me out to the nearest Pret every morning. The food and service were impeccable, and I can't wait for them to land in Chicago.

Here's their US website. The food photography alone gets a big thumbs-up.

Want To Get Heard? Say Less

An excellent post by Dawn Lennon from Business Fitness. In particular, her four techniques to say the right thing at the right moment makes it well worth the read.

1. State or re-state the problem.
2. Synthesize ideas.
3. Summarise key points.
4. Simply.

The Best Keyboard Tips for PowerPoint

When presenting - especially using PowerPoint - I’m a big believer in looking like you’re in control of the technology, instead of it controlling you. No matter the keyboard (since they’re always different, especially between countries), here are some universal keyboard short-cuts to help you appear confident with the laptop/computer from the moment you begin.

PowerPoint Show vs. PowerPoint SlideShow

First, if you won’t need to be editing the document during the presentation, consider saving your document as a PowerPoint Show.  This is slightly different:  in Show, the document always opens directly into Slide Show (as opposed to directly opening in Editing Mode).

F5 - From Editing Mode to Slide Show

If you can’t (or don’t want to) save as a PowerPoint Show, you can go from the normal Editing Mode to Slide Show by pressing the F5 key. (A whole lot easier than trying to find that little button on the bottom right-hand side of the desktop.) Pressing F5 always takes you to Slide #1.

SHIFT + F5 - Go to a specific slide from Editing Mode to SlideShow

If you’re in the middle of a presentation – say you’re working on slide #10 – you can go directly to that specific slide in PowerPoint SlideShow by pressing SHIFT + F5. For example, SlideShow will open at slide #10.

How To Be An Authentic Speaker

Of all the attributes you bring as a speaker – informally at a status meeting, formally as a conference presenter – which do you think is most important?

We debate this question in my Impact workshops. Some people believe the most important element is being engaging, other say it’s being relevant. Or motivating, or enthusiastic. Then someone suggests an element that gets everyone's agreement – but at the same, is the most difficult to teach:  being authentic.

The other elements – engagement, relevancy, motivation, enthusiasm, among lots of others – are easier to define (and teach) because they are specific. Because of this, a good trainer can teach specific techniques or show a presenter hints to make them extrinsic to the audience.

Authenticity is different because it begins with something intrinsic – something inside the speaker. No matter how good the trainer, only the speaker can make this attribute come alive. Along with charisma – another unteachable attribute – the element of authenticity intrigues me because they're the ultimate goals of the best speakers. They can sell their ideas with such ease. But to teach a person to be "real" or "genuine"? The Holy Grail perhaps.

To that point, here's how I define "speaker authenticity" – whether it's demonstrated across an auditorium, a conference call, a boardroom table, or a cup of coffee. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

No. 1  You have to be you.

It begins with utterly knowing yourself. If you don't know who you are, more so, what you stand for, how can you be authentic to the audience? There's a truth to being you. It's more than knowing your topic, or having credibility, or having age and/or wisdom - although they all help. It requires a lot of self-examination, but not to be egotistical. It's done to get a crystal-clear perception. That's why being filmed (giving the presentation, or in a training workshop) is so vital: you have to know how you come across before you can be authentic. As many people find it confronting to see themselves on camera as they find it comforting, but it's part of understanding you.

Communications as a Leadership Skill

For the next several weeks, I have the luxury of living at a client’s business school campus. One benefit among many is access to its small but impressive library of business books and periodicals. A few nights ago, I came across a personal favourite – Why CEOs Fail by David Dotlich and Peter Cairo.

When I re-read the eleven behaviours that the authors say derail careers and destroy organisations – issues such as arrogance, aloofness and distrust – I was reminded of something I realised when I read the book in the first place. You could narrow down the entire book to One Reason Why CEOs Fail: they don’t know how to communicate.

No one - including CEOs - are taught how to talk. Generally all of us start speaking by 18 months. From that point forward, it's a skill we master by trial and error - which is not only the messiest way to learn, but without supervision, also the least effective.

Over time, we succeed in communicating sometimes by practice and rehearsal - although less and less in a world which gets busier by each e-mail. Sometimes it's success by fate and chance. Sometimes by the fact we have a lazy audience. But more likely, we rely upon what I call The God Principle: we hope and pray for the best. In other words, we bumble our way through a conversation, honing and refining what we say as we go along. It's an impromptu performance on the business stage, improvising in a pin-striped suit.

When you add a delivery mechanism to the conversation - such as our new second language, called PowerPoint - the messages become either diluted or convoluted, or both. When we finish with one conversation, as someone admitted to me a few hours ago, we go on to the next situation with much reflection.

Instead, I offer the idea that Leadership is Communications, and vice versa. No effective leader persuades, motivates and engages another individual or a team of people without knowing how to speak, literally or figuratively. Time and again, I see people rely instead of things which they believe is communications, but is not .... such as data of the highest quality, the pedigree of a management process or system, the ingenuity of the product, the title under their name, the stories they tell.

But if a leader can’t convey what they believe using facts and feelings, to argue their hypothesis, to gather agreement around a recommendation, or instil a sense of dedication to a specific task ... then truly, what good are the other elements?

If I take the concept that Dotlich and Cairo used in their book, there are a six behaviours which derail a leader from being a good communicator.

1. An inability to use the business result to create the right messages - What are you trying to say, and why?
2. An inability to understand the context of their communications - What’s going on around you? What’s the problem?
3. An inability to recognise the audience, to understand their mindset - Who are you speaking to? What do they think now, and why?
4. An inability to create messages with authenticity - What are you going to say? What messages will change the minds of the audience?
5. An inability to use the right format and style to convey the messages - What will I use to help support what I’m saying?
6. An inability to deliver the messages with the proper technique - How do I use my posture, voice, gestures, etc. to engage
7. An inability, after speaking, to listen and respond appropriately - How I react, how will I ‘re-convince’?
8. An inability to ensure closure - Does the other party agree with me? How will I get commitment?

If there’s anything to add to this, it’s an agreement on the criteria of what makes a message 'right'. Are they ...

• Compelling Do the messages inspire action?
• Relevant Is what I’m saying important to the audience – not just to me?
• Prioritised Is the most important information first?
• Direct Am I being clear? Am I opinionated?
• Credible Am I believable, authentic?
• Rational and emotional Am I balancing the facts with feelings?
• Defensible Will my messages stand up to scrutiny?

Bits & Bytes, May 29

Again, some miscellanea from around the Internet.

Adults, Play and Creativity

Two posts on ‘play’ for adults, particularly in business. On one hand, it’s fairly well-known that play is an important ingredient for adults, both in creative thinking and in learning. On the other, I know there's real hesitation from the Regular Person who doesn't understand what we often mean by that statement. A random search on Google has some questionable suggestions by creative experts, such as “Learn to cut loose, even at work!” or “When you’re writing your next report, think like a child!”

I'm not sure this is a good example of playing at work, but a few weeks ago, at a workshop for a financial services company in Melbourne, an executive and I were analysing how to improve her 78-page slide presentation for an upcoming meeting of the Board of Directors. Her immediate supervisor demanded she put all of his slides in the presentation, but then said "But feel free to make it your own." (Talk about Creative Paradoxes, see below.)

After getting our heads around the complex topic, we began to joke about how we might turn the presentation into something playful. “What would the Board of Directors never expect?” And, "What would make her presentation a surprise?” Or, “What if the Board were in control of the presentation, instead of her?”