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Communication Skills for Leaders – Part II: Practice/Preparation

April 7, 2015 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

In this three part series we’ll look to cover one of the most feared skills that a leader can possibly look to exhibit: Communication. Get communication skills for leaders right, and the world can be your oyster. Get communication skills for leaders wrong, and you’ll get nowhere near the results you could have achieved (Read that as NO oysters!) In Part I, we took a look at planning your presentation, here in Part II we’ll delve into proper practice/preparation you should undertake, and lastly in Part III we’ll tackle presenting… Enjoy!

Communication Skills for Leaders – Presentation Practice/Preparation

Think back to that presentation you participated in as an audience member that was fantastic… Think about what it was that made it fantastic. Got it? If you’re like most of the leaders that come through a “Communicate with Influence” workshop you identified “engagement” as the that key to success.

So if you know that engagement is the key in your presentation, how will you practice, or prepare? Your engagement goal is (should be?) to get your audience if sitting to creep towards the edge of their seat (front edge that is). If they are standing, for them to get on the balls of their feet leaning forward. In order to accomplish this, you’ll want to vary your presentation pattern.

Variation of Sights, Sounds, and Content

If members of your audience are like typical audiences we prepare for in communication skills training for leaders, they have a certain threshold at which their attention span deteriorates rapidly. Typically, you have twenty (20) seconds to grab your audience’s attention from the beginning of your presentation. Thereafter, every three (3) minutes you should recapture their focus (Otherwise, they’ll get distracted, and a distracted audience is one that has “left the building” along with Elvis!)

Varying your speaking volume and rate are other techniques certain to engage your audience. Speaking from a position of passion can also further your variation. But how you relay content should be from the audience’s perspective (In other words, what is it that the audience desires in order to fully understand/act on what’s being presented? Again, this should be accomplished through their desires, not what you like or how you like it!)

Your PowerPoint Sucks!

We typically spend no less than an hour in communication skills training for leaders discussing the do’s/don’ts of PowerPoint presentations. While “death” by PowerPoint is never a desired outcome, unfortunately this typically is the destination for many a leader… and deservingly so! When was the last time you were an audience member and saw firsthand a PowerPoint presentation that was engaging? If you’re like most of the leaders I encounter, your slides are so chock-full of information/data that there is little/no whitespace left on the slide!

So what’s the poor leader to do but create slides that have a plethora of data so as to choke the slide, and leave the audience member reeling because not only can they not read the slide but have little/no recourse thereafter? The answer is to create a PowerPoint slide with simply a title and an image… That’s it!

How to Practice Your Presentation

They say that practice leads to perfection. However, what if you are practicing wrong? Only “perfect” practice leads to perfection. I bring this up because there typically is little/no practice involved in the majority of leadership presentations (and that’s a HUGE mistake!) So if you’re going to practice, at least make an attempt to practice with the goal of perfection.

So what is perfect practice? Consider it a mental exercise where you will see the presentation from front to back, then back to front, and finally diagnosed from a side-angle. In Part I of this series (Planning), we discussed planning out your introduction/conclusion statements and simply putting together a bullet-point list of body content. At a high-level, practice your presentation by seeing those structured moments front to back, then back to front. Seeing your presentation from this perspective will allow you to effectively navigate (or develop) your strategy effectively from your audiences point of view. Viewing your presentation from a side-perspective allows you to detail not only what you will say, but how you can be most persuasive in delivering the message.

Let’s Get Physical!

I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention the primary medium of communication, that being you and your body. Before you say a word, your audience has already judged you. Yep, that’s right… Before you say word one your audience has already determined the outcome of your presentation. If earlier I mentioned that you have 20-seconds to align your audience around your message, you had better look the part as a leader before you even begin.

So what does it take to effectively communicate by looking the part? The majority of audiences want their leader to have confidence (think of this as communication content on steroids). In addition to this key mental characteristic, audience members will also diagnose how you are dressed as well as your physical presence. While dressing for success can largely offset some of these physical moments, it’s important to do the best you can with what you’ve got. Whether you like it or not, we all have a choice (read that as in you’re in CONTROL) of how we look and what we eat. Choices that look to leverage your leadership persona should be carefully considered.

SUMMARY

In Part I of this communication skills for leaders presentation series, we took a look at planning your presentation. Here in Part II of this series we’ve taken a look proper practice/preparation you should undertake. We investigated your variation of Sights, Sounds, and Content, how to avoid having your PowerPoints suck, effective ways to Practice your Presentation, as well as how to get the Physical Edge when Communicating. In the final part of this series (Part III) we’ll tackle presenting.

Sincerely yours,

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

Sam Palazzolo is the Managing Director at Tip of the Spear Ventures, an agile Venture Capital and Business Advisory Services firm specializing in Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, and Communication Skills Training for Leaders.

Communication Skills for Leaders – Part I: Planning

April 6, 2015 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

In this three part series we’ll look to cover one of the most feared skills that a leader can possibly look to exhibit: Communication. Get communication skills for leaders right, and the world can be your oyster. Get communication skills for leaders wrong, and you’ll get nowhere near the results you could have achieved (Read that as NO oysters!) In Part I, we’ll take a look at planning your presentation, Part II we’ll delve into proper practice/preparation you should undertake, and lastly in Part III we’ll tackle presenting… Enjoy!

Communication Skills for Leaders – Planning Your Presentation

Think back to your last communication moment as a leader and ask yourself the following questions:

What was my point?
How effective was I at delivering that point to my audience (scale of 1-10, 1 being “I didn’t” and 10 being “I’m a regular Dale Carnegie!”)
What action did my audience take based on our conversation?
What should I do different next time I communicate with the same/different audience?

If you’re like most leaders, the pursuit of perfection is never complete. The perfection “carrot” is perpetually dangled ever so close, but always out of reach. When it comes to communication skills for leaders, consider yourself as a participant in a two-way interview. On side one (1), you are the interviewer loaded with your interview questions and on the other side two (2) you can play the role of interviewee.

What is Your Point?

Important to identify is what you want to discuss. Your focus on this primary point(s) can tighten your conversation. Typically, in executive coaching session after executive coaching session, I hear leaders mention that their communication isn’t driving results that they intended. When I ask them “What was your point?” they typically begin rambling. “No wonder!” is my response. If you can’t surmise your communication point into a Twitter Tweet (140 characters) then your audience will probably be lost.

If That’s Your Point, What Do They Need To Hear?

After identifying what the point of your conversation is, you need to identify what your audience will need to hear in order to do three things: (1) Understand, (2) Identify direction that should be taken, and (3) Know what successful implementation looks like (or the end destination you intend to arrive at).

With these three points in mind, craft your presentation so that you deliver on what it is that your audience needs to hear with an outline for your presentation. Important to now regarding the presentation strategy is to fully write out what you intend to say as an opening/closing statement(s). Keep these paragraphs tightly focused around your point! The body of your presentation should act so as to support the point you are delivering, provide direction, and share successful implementation. Body discussions should be captured with short/bullet-point lists (No need to fully craft exactly what you are going to say, instead look to capture the essence of the points as well as pro/con stance on them if necessary).

Audience Emotions – Will They Care?

After you’ve knocked out your communication skills for leader presentation planning outline, you’ll want to identify what emotions your audience will have from three (3) perspectives: (1) What is their emotions heading into the conversation, (2) What emotion do you want them to have at each section of your presentation, and finally (3) What emotion do you want them to have as they depart towards implementation/execution?

Typically leaders do a lousy job of not only identifying intended emotions audience members should/will have, but emotional perspective is often off-base (i.e., wrong). No this much, if you’ve never planned the emotional angles for a presentation, this will come as a strong, sometimes confusing aspect of your presentation. If you mess/miss this aspect, your presentation is likely to miss the mark!

Structure Your Presentation

If you go into a conversation without any direction, any outcome will do. However, if you properly structure the conversation your audience members will have a greater chance of retaining the information relayed (Some studies show that audience members retain upwards of 40% more content when the presentation is conducted in a structured manner, and that manner is explained/discussed at the beginning of the conversation).

Here are a few presentation structures that you may want to experiment/explore, keeping in mind your point (message) as well as audience:

Problem – Solution
Pros – Cons
Chronological Logic (Past, Present, Future)
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
What’s Wrong? What’s Right?
If – So – Then

SUMMARY

In Part I of this communication skills for leaders presentation series, we’ve taken a look at planning your presentation. With proper identification of what your presentation point is, focusing what your audience needs to hear, considering emotions for your communication, and properly structuring your presentation you will be able to lay the groundwork for an effective presentation. In Part II of this series we’ll take a look proper practice/preparation you should undertake, and lastly in Part III we’ll tackle presenting.

Sincerely yours,

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

The Leadership Challenge: Helping Those That Don’t Want Help

April 4, 2015 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: We’ve all seen those people in organizations that won’t accept help… “Nose to the grindstone!” is their mantra, and attempting to help them receives a negative reaction. Sometimes subtle, sometimes head-jerking, these negative reactions typically persuade those wanting to assist to never (as in NEVER) offer assistance again. In this post, I’ll take a look at the number one (#1) reason why stakeholders in business refuse help, and five (5) tips to overcome such moments for success… Enjoy!

The #1 Reason: Weakness

The number one (#1) reason why someone doesn’t want to accept help is typically because they don’t want to be perceived as weak. Real or imagined, exposing your weaknesses is often not looked upon as very positive, and is typically a very ingrained pattern of thinking (So therefore very difficult to overcome). But what if you don’t have a choice in the matter? What if you are assigned to participate in a team full of those that don’t want/need your help?

In executive coaching session after executive coaching, I’ve seen empirical evidence on the topic of overcoming weak perception with the following five (5) tips.

Tip #5: Get to the Heart of the “Weak” Matter

There are many possible reasons regarding why the individual is reluctant to have help be offered, and it’s important to narrow the field of possibilities down. Some of the reasons identified in executive coaching conversations for this reluctance might include:

They might feel totally independent and don’t need/require any help from anyone/anytime.
Accepting help puts doubt into their level of competency.
They may be frightened of the consequences of accepting help.
The individual could be scared of rejection associated with asking for help and not receiving.
Their status as a “Perfectionist” could be jeopardized.
Overwhelming feelings of vulnerability.
Concern over this being a signal of potential un-professionalism.
Allowing problems to serve as roadblocks on the way to success.
Past acceptance never seemed to work out the way they intended (Hence, they are better off simply doing everything by themselves).
They don’t want to burden others by asking.

Tip #4: Unrealistic Ideals and Wishful Thinking

If the individual puts themselves in a real/perceived position where there are conflicting or reinforced societal “norms” where asking for help is seen as a weakness. Here is a list identified in executive coaching conversations that leaders should pay attention to regarding societal norms associated with such unrealistic ideals and wishful thinking:

There is a common theme that runs amuck in tv shows, movies, social media etc.
The common thought that it is ok or fine to be alone, standing as an individual against all odds/comers by.
Peer pressure of organizational hazing.

Tip #3: Your Bias Actually Feeds the “No Help Required” Flame

By building an invisible individual wall around themselves, sometimes these individuals purposefully are warding off the potential of being hurt. While they might feel a greater sense of safety versus the rewards of collaboration, it’s important to keep the following in mind as a leader identified in executive coaching conversations:

It is both arrogant and conceited to think that you can offer to give, but never receive help (That one’s aimed at you leader!)
The influence/persuasion law of reciprocity are alive and well. Think of how good it felt to not only give/receive help in the past (Or share the potential rewards of what could be).
Their abilities sabotage their thinking. In other words, they are so confident that failure is not an option, that all they can see is success!

Tip #2: Reality Should Rule

Overcoming reasons (realistic ones) as to why help should be expected, coupled with a realistic thought patterns of performance should provide the opportunity to help. Some aspects of reality identified in executive coaching conversations that should be implemented to foster help include:

Learn the pros/cons associated with accepting help.
Flip your trust equation (simply provide it, without question/debt/guilt/etc.)
Act on opportunities to provide/seek/receive help without a second thought (Hurry, do it before that second thought enters your mind).
Start by asking those you trust.

Tip #1: Focus on Solutions

As a leader, you typically have problems (multiple problems?) that face you. In working with those that typically don’t ask for help, you may be able to overcome these obstacles by keeping things focused on solutions, and the short-timeline associated/inherent therein. Considering the individual’s strength, ability to give, and trust can go a long way towards focusing on solutions.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve covered the number one (#1) reason why we don’t ask for help, along with five (5) tips to assist in overcoming such moments (people!) Important to keep in mind that regardless of which method/tip you chose to implement, there is always an opportunity to provide great leadership along the way (or to simply hire differently in future situations as the need arises).

Sincerely yours,

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

What You Should STOP Doing As A Leader – Part VII

April 3, 2015 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

The Point: While there are a gluttony of behaviors/actions you should be doing as a leader, we thought it would be interesting to take a typical Tip of the Spear contrarian view of what you should STOP doing as a leader. As such, the following seven (7) part series was developed based on executive coaching conversations had with leaders. In reviewing these leadership behaviors/actions, see if you see a little bit of yourself in the examples provided (No doubt you know several leaders besides yourself guilty)… Enjoy!

Leadership Winning – The Double-Edged Sword

As we head into this, the seventh and final post on “What You Should STOP Doing as a Leader” I thought that it would be appropriate to share why we’ve come on this journey. This series was developed as a result of an interview I participated in recently for a leadership publication. During the interview, I was asked one question that really resonated with me: “What’s the number one (#1) problem that you see universally when you work with leaders?” Keep in mind, I’m fortunate to work with some very bright/focused individuals (You might want to call them Type “A”). My answer was a leaders misguided notion of “Winning” at all costs.

Regardless of the situation/context/stakeholders present, the number one (#1) issue I see is leaders that want to win all the time. Not win as in baseball one out of every three… Not win as in the lottery one in a bazillion… But to win each and every time. This obviously is a leadership double-edged sword moment! By wanting to win, inevitably someone else loses. There is no “win-win” only“win-lose.”

As a Leader… You Make the Call!

Here are two scenarios of Leadership Winning, and I want you to make the call (reminiscent of the old ABC Monday Night Football spots):

Scenario 1: You and a group of colleagues are flying into San Francisco for a pitch presentation. In making the reservations, you’d like to rent a vehicle through Hertz (Yes, you are a Hertz Gold Plus member, and membership has its privileges!) However, your entire team has been traveling to/from San Francisco for the last several months, and along the way they’ve had several “bad” customer moments with Hertz, so they want to use Avis instead. You succumb, allow Avis to be the rental car choice for the trip, and sharpen your vision in preparation for why this should not have been the groups choice. The check-in at Avis goes fine, a little slow for your taste, but fine nonetheless. Likewise, the vehicle is nice, not super clean or dirty, but just fine. The car gets you from point A to B, and back to the Airport (point C). Return happens again just fine (But a little slow for your taste). So what do you do? You make the call!

If you’re like most of the leaders I work with in executive coaching, you’ll nit-pick the entire experience for flaws. “Fine” in your leadership definition playbook is kind of non-committal… It’s neither great nor poor, but in the purgatory of suspended judgment (i.e., Bad in your book… After all, you’re in search of excellence!)

Scenario 2: Here’s another example, perhaps a bit more closer to home if you’re a leader that is kept awake at night because of work. You’ve had a less than stellar night of sleep (Read that as less than your typical 3-4 hours of sleep. You do only get 3-4 hours of sleep, right?) Rather than toss and turn, you get up and start working on several initiatives. In the morning, which ultimately comes hours later, your spouse/significant other/friend/roommate awakens and tells you how tired they are. What’s your reaction? You make the call!

If you’re like the leaders I work with as an executive coach your response is probably something along the lines of “You’re tired? You are tired! I’ve been up since 1AM, and you’ve been sleeping like a baby… What do you have to be tired about?”

In your drive to “win” at all costs as a leader, in both professional and personal settings you are out of order/balance/looking at things wrong (Are there really any boundaries that separate your professional and personal lives? No wonder you have no balance!). But ask yourself… “Exactly what am I winning at here?”

Can You Win as a Leader by Losing?

The moral of these examples, and this series for that matter, is for you as a leader to achieve victory more often than failure… To win more than you lose. Key to achieving that goal is to recognize that sometimes, you may very well be more successful (read that as you’ll win more) if you lose on purpose. A loss or failure is a prime opportunity to quality control your processes, insure measurements along key performance indicators are taken/are accurate, and course correct as appropriate. If you’ll take the time to stop, breath, and think before you act you’ll still maintain your power position, be in better control of yourself, and achieve more of your goals.

SUMMARY

So in this post, the final post in the series “What You as a Leader Should STOP Doing” we covered leader’s desire to win, which may/may not always be the best option. Think of it this way: Have you ever won the battle, but still ended up losing the war? With “big picture” focus and end-game results in mind, determine your course and prepare to course-correct. One of the clients I worked with was famous for saying “I know that I want to depart from here, and get to there… But I’m not exactly certain with 100% accuracy where ‘there’ will end up being. What I do know is that it won’t be here.” Remember to stop, take a deep breath, and think about your true direction forward for ultimate results!

Sincerely yours,

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

What You Should STOP Doing As A Leader – Part VI

April 2, 2015 By Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

Crushing Creativity

An associate comes to you with a “new” idea that they want to implement. This idea represents their view on how things could be better (Read that as reflecting operational improvement efficiency, higher revenues, decreased expenses, increased customer advocacy, etc.) When this new idea is presented to you, what do you do? If you’re like most leaders, you ask the question “Why?”

In Centered Executive Coaching sessions I frequently talk with leaders about how it is that they cultivate creativity. After all, you do want new/exciting ways to do things in your organization, right? In session after session, conversation with leaders across borders/cultures, typically the response comes back regarding the first question asked as “Why?” While you’re attempting to get to the heart of the matter, or reasoning, what your stakeholders hear instead of the curiosity of your question is “Defend yourself and your position which isn’t good.”

Implementation Effectiveness

Implementation effectiveness is a simple mathematical formula I developed that has (A) the quality of the concept/idea multiplied times (B) the commitment level to implement. Now the quality of an idea can be quite difficult to measure, but let’s base success criteria off of key performance indicators that have traditionally working in the past as well as other items that need to be considered because of the innovation. Commitment level consists of the individual’s ability to see things through to implementation/feedback loop. Keep in mind that this too can be challenging, primarily because implementation may/may not consist of the individual alone (in other words, there might be actual “leadership” moments where they’ll have to get others to follow along!)

Leadership Pause – Stop, Breath, Speak

So if your stakeholders are put on the defense immediately through your use of the question “Why?” what should you do? In researching the effectiveness of interviewing questions, the suggested decreased use of “Why?” should be replaced with anything but! Try using any of the other 5 W’s and H instead.

Along with this new interviewing style, as a leader it is important to break, or pause, take a deep breath, and think before you speak.

Too often I encounter leaders that simply want to rush to judgment when it comes to creative ideas that are submitted. Part ego driven (As a leader, you do have your ego under control don’t you?), and part “best interest” focused moments of creativity soon become disengagement areas for your stakeholders, and a “Why bother?” attitude prevails.

SUMMARY

So in this post we covered that leaders should stop crushing their stakeholders creativity through asking questions that rob the individual. Instead, encourage creativity through the proper use of interviewing and implementing the Leadership Pause – Stop, Breath, Speak (Don’t forget to Think before speaking!)

Sincerely yours,

Sam Palazzolo

PS – You may also enjoy some of the other recent posts I wrote:

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