Presenting Your Ideas

Whether you do professional speaking, facilitate workshops, coach professionals or attend conference calls – which makes up a lot of my work time - or you simply navigate regular business relationships, there is one common element we all share. It is what makes us similar and vastly different. It is something that we can implement or destroy.

Nancy Duarte has been studying this topic as well as what makes a great presentation for many years and she explains both in her 2011 TEDTalk.


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Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture strategist, writer, speaker, executive coach engaging leaders, collaborative teams, and strong business results.

Nancy Duarte | TED

Your Communication Challenge

Beyond job descriptions and organizational charts, strong leadership, communication, and presentation skills are critical for business success. In an era when there can be four generations within your company, the old model of corporate communications is changing and challenging.

In order for companies to tap into the knowledge and expertise of all stakeholders, it is imperative to provide training and experience for them to lead now and in the future.

Follow the Money

Every organization wants strong revenue and growth but it begins with your internal customer service between each person within the company. This is as important as ensuring there is a healthy sales funnel and strong external customer engagement.

Skip Weisman, a workplace communication manager, conducted a survey of 200 executives from large corporations to small business owners. They were asked specifically about their communications skills. Seventy percent believe they need to adjust their approach to how they communicate to improve motivation of their teams.

Inside and Out

Infrequent communication from leadership can have an adverse reaction to your customers as well. If employees are unclear about your company’s story, clients and partners can receive mixed messages which may negatively affect enterprise health. Some may think this is only necessary to sales, marketing, and public relations’ roles, but it’s imperative for everyone on your team.

Consistency can go a long way to improving leadership and communication within your culture. If you remain open to suggestions, make clear decisions, and speak in plain language, your internal customer service will thrive.

Check the Survey

Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind recently published an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Changing the Conversation in Your Company” where they discussed the results of a survey they conducted with about thirty leaders of various sized companies ranging from manufacturing to health care to financial services.

Respondents outlined where they wanted to grow. One of the key areas is narrowing the gap between leadership and employees and rethinking the traditional top-down approach. Another element leaders outlined in the survey was promoting a two-way dialogue with everyone in the organization.

Boss Says

All too often, the manager will send an email which outlines a new initiative. This proposal may be beneficial to all involved but without that ongoing conversation, adoption may be less than optimal. Keep everyone in the loop as much as possible.

An additional opportunity to improve communication within your organization is delivering sharper and clearer presentations. As I often outline to teams, you’re not doing a slide show but rather presenting your ideas.

Slide Shows Begone

Think about how many meetings and presentations you attend on an annual basis and now earmark the memorable ones. When a great idea is presented to us well, we may make time for it. But if we present all of our ideas with the same tone and message, they will all be weighted the same and progress can suffer.

Strong communication and presentation skills help leaders serve internal and external customers more effectively, become better listeners, and provide exemplary service inside and outside of their organizations.

I can help, let's chat. 

Kneale Mann

istock

Humans and Technology Collide

As our world shrinks and advancements make it easier for us to connect without geographic or physical boundaries, there are some drawbacks. If you’re like me, you spend a considerable amount of your time on the phone or on conference calls.

These events can take the form of audio, video, file sharing, teleconferences, telepresence, webinars, and collaborative spaces. Last week, I was on a call with more than twenty people from over a dozen countries. This is great stuff but there can be some issues to deal with when coordinating the tools.

Leadership is not an office

We must be mindful of language and culture, the mix of in-person and virtual teams, and old fashioned phone etiquette. Dave Grady succinctly outlines the real world of global communication. This video remains just as relevant as it did when it was recorded a couple of years ago. You may want to share it with your team.

Please mute your phone and enjoy.


Kneale Mann

Dave Grady

How Do You Present Yourself?

Whether you do professional speaking, facilitate workshops, coach professionals or attend conference calls – which makes up a lot of my work time - or you simply navigate regular business relationships, there is one common element we all share. It is what makes us similar and vastly different. It is something that we can implement or destroy.

From our constant human interaction – through technology, the social web, email or in-person – this is one element that we carry with us all the time. But the question remains whether we activate it or not. We all have the potential to use it but it’s not as simple as taking it out and showing it to the world. Action and perseverance are required.

Nancy Duarte has been studying this topic as well as what makes a great presentation for many years and she explains both in her 2011 TEDx Talk.

If you do presentations, speak in front of an audience or simply navigate everyday life, this video is 18 minutes well spent.


Kneale Mann

visual credit: Nancy Duarte | TED