Archive for the ‘Getting Your Message Across’ Category

Communication is one of those areas that people talk about as being really important, and it is. Yet sometimes leaders and managers fail to communicate effectively. So what is the real cost of failing to communicate effectively?

Wasted Time

One thing that most people seem to be short on these days, despite all of the advances in technology, is time. Worse still, no-one can buy more of it. We all have the same allocation per week, per day, per year. Imagine for example you fail to effectively communicate your requirements for a piece of work you have asked your team to do. They will spend valuable time and energy delivering something that is not of value. And as you are paying them for doing it, you are adversely impacting on the bottom line financial results.

Loss Of Confidence

People want leaders to lead and provide clear direction to others. When they procrastinate or avoid taking decisions, they create doubt and this doubt can lead to a loss of confidence among your followers. It can also result in a loss of confidence from external stakeholders.

Loss Of Credibility

People only follow people who they believe have credibility. How you communicate with others has a direct impact on your credibility. For example, if you don’t treat people well and are even perhaps off hand with them, your credibility diminishes.

Loss Of Business Opportunities

If you are involved in delivering services, being a poor communicator and specifically not listening can actually result in lost business opportunities. For example, professional services organisations like accountants and lawyers work hard on building client relationships. They are looking out and listening for unmet needs to which their firm may be able to help them find a solution.

Loss Of Staff

One of the biggest complaints people have is that they don’t know what is going on. Failing to keep people informed as to what is going on and the possible implications for them, especially in times of uncertainty, can result in the loss of key staff.

The Bottom Line

Being an effective communicator is not an optional extra but a key ingredient in being a highly successful leader.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Many people fear presenting more than death. Often these barriers to presenting are more in the mind than grounded in reality. So what are the common myths you need to be alert to?

Myth 1: It needs to be word perfect
• In reality it needs to be understandable, not word perfect.

Myth 2: Everyone is judging you

• This is no different to every other walk of life. You cannot change or force people to always think you are great. Life is not like that.

Myth 3: You cannot use humour

• You obviously cannot be a stand up comic in a business presentation but at the same time there is no rule that says it is a humour free zone.

Myth 4: It is genetic

• The fact is, I have yet to hear any midwife tell the parents of a new born that it has the presentation gene. How about you?

The truth is myths hinder our ability to present well. So what myths or beliefs do you need to drop in order to be a better presenter?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Sitting at a recent dinner with fellow business owners, I noticed just how much labelling was going on.

What the heck do I mean by labelling?

Basically, I mean wanting to put a label or title on something that would be crystal clear if people just said it in straightforward terms.

If you are a leader and using any of the following, maybe it is time to stop labelling and start saying what you really mean (and I have provided a few examples).

“Employee Engagement”

Basically what you might be seeking is to get people’s ideas, views or contributions to problems or challenges.

“Re-engineering”

Or more simply, changing the way we do things.

“Customer experience”

What we want our interaction with clients to be like.

“Efficiency”

Getting rid of the layers of process that are not contributing to the end result.

“Quality”

Just define what quality means in your product or service offer.

The truth is labelling can just make the simple complex. So what other favourites do you have in terms of labels that make the simple complex?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. Be clear about the outcome or objective when making a presentation.
2. Research your audience and know their level of expertise.
3. Think about the key questions that they will need answered or reassurance on.
4. Tailor your presentation of the ideas to answer the most important questions that the recipients of the presentation have.
5. Practise, practise, practise rather than relying on getting it right first time.

What else would you add to the list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

If you are part of a profession or area of an organisation that is or is at least perceived to be complex, it can be challenging when it comes to presenting information.  For example, when I worked in accountancy, there was a perception that it was really complex and in some cases people had a phobia when it comes to numbers.  So what are some of the golden rules when it comes to presenting technically complex information?

 

Golden Rule 1:  Think first about the about the audience

 

Chances are you will have some people who are pretty comfortable and complex receiving presentations from people in your area.  When thinking about the audience, consider what it is they definitely need to know as opposed to the stuff that would be nice to know.  When dealing with complex stuff I generally have found that the more you focus on the key stuff the less likely you are to lose people.

 

Golden Rule 2:  Think about something similar that people can relate to

 

I generally found that if you can relate the thing you are presenting to something that people can relate to then it becomes much easier.  I can recall when working in the NHS I had to explain a new funding system called payment by results.  Essentially you were paid for the work you did and coded.  I used the example of scanning your shopping to illustrate the similarity with coding.  If the item does not get scanned the seller does not collect the money.

 

Golden Rule 3: Keep it jargon free

 

We all tend to get caught up in the jargon that goes with our particular area.  If you are going to use technical terms then make sure you explain them but ideally avoid them all together.

 

Golden Rule 4: Focus on the key messages

 

People can only handle so much at any one time so focus on getting your key messages across.  If for regulatory or other reasons you need to make people aware of certain things give them a handout and make reference to it in your presentation.

 

Golden Rule 5:  Check understanding and leave plenty of time for questions

 

With complex stuff less is better than more. At the end make sure that people have understood and build in more time for people to ask their questions.

 

What other Golden Rules would you add to the list?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective managers and leaders.  For more information click here 

As a leader, you know that your ability to communicate effectively is a vital contributor to the results that you achieve.  After all if you don’t communicate effectively you might struggle for example to:

 

• Engage others by building rapport

 

• Miss out on good ideas or opportunities

 

• Fail to get your point across as well as you would like.

 

 

Communication is often seen narrowly as being about speaking.  Yet you know that this is just one component of communication.  Of equal importance is your ability to get your message across in writing and listen effectively.

 

 

So what might you do in each of the three areas to boost your communication skills?

 

Speaking

 

• Take the time to properly plan, especially when giving a formal presentation.

 

 

• Keep the focus on your key messages rather than trying to memorise things word for word.

 

 

• Don’t detract from your key objective. This is sometimes easy to say but more difficult to do, particularly if in a challenging situation.

 

 

• Practice, practice, practice – it really does make a big difference.

 

Writing

 

• Think about structure right up front.

 

 

• If you are preparing a report, make sure you include an executive summary or précis of the key points.

 

 

• Watch out for technical jargon that might mean something to you but not to your readers.

 

Listening

 

• Focus on paying attention to what is being said when someone else is speaking rather than formulating what you are going to say next.

 

 

• Make sure you are watching out for disconnects between what is being said and the non verbal signals like body language.

 

 

• Try being completely silent or making minimal contributions if you are usually very vocal in meetings.

Bottom Line – There is always scope to get better at communicating.  So what other tips would you add?

If you are managing or leading a team, chances are you will be required to make a presentation from time to time. While some relish giving a presentation, for others just the mere fact that they might have to fills them with fear. 

So what are 6 common barriers that could be getting in the way of you successfully presenting?

Barrier 1: Believing it has got to be slick

We watch great presenters and it all seems so slick, word perfect, no ums or ahs, stutters or stammers- and we think that’s the way we need to be.  Of course we all want to get better and better.  At the same time if we view each presentation as a learning opportunity, we don’t get stuck in the barrier of believing we need to be super slick.

Barrier 2: Thinking you are being judged

Sometimes we come across people who seem to get hung up on the fact that everyone will pass judgement.  Yes they will have their own views about you as presenter.  By the same token rather than judging they are more likely to be relieved that it is you rather than them giving the presentation.

Barrier 3: You have it or you don’t

What do I mean?  Ever heard people say that people are born presenters.  Now I don’t know about you but I have yet to hear about a midwife announcing to the proud parents of a newborn that the baby has the presentation gene.  Like every other skill, presentation skills can be developed.

Barrier 4: Thinking you can’t be nervous

Even the best presenters are nervous.  It is what you do with those nerves that makes the difference.  You can either channel them as a source of adrenalin or something that keeps you stuck.  You get to choose.

Barrier 5: Making ridiculous comparisons

You might not be the next world speaking champion or as good as the President or Prime Minister.  Aiming high is great but don’t add extra pressure by making unrealistic comparisons.

Barrier 6: Thinking you can wing it

The foundations of any successful presentation are in the planning and preparation. Get this right and you are well on your way to a successful presentation.  Trouble is many folks view this as dull and don’t allocate the time they should do.  Don’t compromise a successful presentation by trying to wing it.

Bottom Line – With practise anyone can become a competent presenter.  So what’s stopping you from becoming an effective presenter?

Communication is important whether you are a leader in an organisation or someone who is running a small business.  As part of my ongoing learning and development I like to listen to teleseminars and other virtual learning events.  One of the key things that I have noticed from listening to many of these virtual trainings is that the best presenters always focus on one thing.  Keeping the audience at the forefront of their mind all of the time. 

When you keep the audience at the forefront of your mind when communicating, there are a number of real benefits.  These include:

Benefit 1:  You respect their time

Imagine you turned up to a presentation which was billed as a 60 minute talk and it was 30 minutes before you offered any worthwhile tangible content.  What do you think the feedback would be like?  Remember that people have a lot of competing demands on their time, so respect this and focus on giving them as much as you can in the time available.

Benefit 2:  Your build credibility

People listening to a presentation live or virtually want value.  If you are delivering value you are building your credibility as someone they can trust to provide them with tools, strategies and ideas to help them achieve better results.

Benefit 3: You fully focus

When you remember your audience and what you wanted to create for them at the end of the communication, you keep your focus on them and the results that they desired from attending.  What this means at a practical level is that you respond to what the audience really needs rather than promoting yourself.

Benefit 4: You get more buy-in

If you are responding to the issues that are important to your audience, you create more buy-in.  For example, if you are a leader or manager, specifically responding to the burning issues that your people are worrying about, you are more likely to get their support in implanting solutions.

Benefit 5: You are open to ideas

Many businesses are having to make tough choices right now.  If you are remembering your audience, chances are that you will build in sufficient time in your communication process to listen to ideas and suggestions that people closest to the point of delivery have.

Bottom Line- Communication is a great opportunity to get your message across and to get input from others.  So what steps can you take to focus more on your audience?