I thought it was a good idea to to start a business blog to supplement the journal articles I write on change management.
(PDF Articles) I trust that some of the issues raised here may be of interest to you to pursue away from this blog of ideas and thoughts. The blogs run in date order with the most recent at the top of this page.
Presentations & Speech Writing: You Only Have One Opportunity to Make a Good First Impression
Because I spend so much time standing up presenting, I am often asked to help others who have a major presentation to give them tutoring including restructuring their message. Just recently I was asked by s senior executive of a retailing business to help him with a presentation he was giving to the network of over 230 comprising retailers and their senior teams. It was to be a two day event. My client had only 15 minutes to get the audience singing and dancing to the tune of "customer retention". He was a good presenter anyway, but he wanted to ensure that his presentation would be memorable and assessed as exceptional. He wanted his audience to leave the conference with the key ideals that acquiring new and retaining existing customers must be the forefront of their retail strategy.
Focus & Energy in Speech Writing
We focused on the original speech and then rewrote it to get the right message in place. In this instance, he was focusing on the changes which would impact the retail network. He decided to restructure his speech to sell the benefits in the changes in detail so that his audience received good news - rather than just a rota of how things are to change to create a customer focused business.
Selling Benefits
When presenting, too many people focus on getting all the ducks in a row and outlining the sequence of events and activities. This is informative, but not very inspiring. The reality is that people buy benefits. But what I hear from some people is they find it hard to find benefits in the messages they have to convey - especially if the message is bad news.
But even when delivering bad news about performance or lack of growth or decline in customer retention, there is still good news to be found. For a start, bad news implies that there has been a "wake up call" that something is seriously wrong. Further, it means that the management group are taking action. Thirdly, this information is important enough to share with others and win their support to turn things around. Finally, this requires the individual efforts, energies and creativity of others to take action, so the benefits accrue even if they are not apparent at first glance.
"There are no benefits……." Reject Limiting Beliefs
Reject that limiting belief with this - "go back to the original situation, re-appraise it, and don't do anything until you have identified and developed at least five benefits that will accrue to your audience."
I believe that when you start looking for benefits they will present themselves and once you pick up the first two benefits, more will flow from your thought process. The reason is, when you look for positive ideas and benefits, you find them.
Rehearsal, Rehearsal, Rehearsal
Getting back my client's presentation. As well as restructuring the written content, we also rehearsed the speech using a DVD camera. Because of this busy schedule we only had short time frames in which to meet, but what is important is the intensity and the quality of the rehearsal not devoting hours on one session - rather, working on improving areas of the presentation bit by bit.
15 Minutes to Change an Audience's Thoughts
The presentation was only to last 15 minutes and we both wanted this 15 minutes to be unforgettable. We wanted to create vibrant visual images in the audience's mind, to inspire them, to win their support to commit to new processes in the retail network. We wanted them to view my client as the person who would promote their business and add bottom line-value for them. We wanted for the audience to identify success, profitability and positive change with the presenter.
Languaging Positivity
We used language patterns to ensure that people not only heard what was being said, but could also see and visualise the great outcomes, and indeed the setbacks if they did not follow the advice and content of the speech.
Using 'away from' and 'towards' Motivation
We restructured the speech to include 'away from' motivations, painting the black picture of what would not happen to them if they did not commit to the changes. We also used 'towards motivations' to help the audience create a compelling future. We enabled the audience to see clear causal links between events and results - "If you action this you are 40% more likely to retain the customer"……….
Supreme Self Confidence
The presenter was always a positive optimistic guy by nature. What he wanted to do was to get even better - and the more he practised the better he became. He practised and used body language which was suited to his personality to help reinforce the spoken word. He introduced long pauses when he wanted to gain attention, when declaring points of intense interest from the audience perspective. We used light humour and, more importantly, we obeyed the most important rule of all.
The Most Important Rule of All
He ensured that he did not take himself too seriously! The rule is "never let your ego and you get between the message and the audience". Dump the Ego. Leave it at home. Never get into the "I am……" …This never works, it just turns people off.
The Result
The retail teams loved the session and many introduced themselves and talked with him afterwards. I understand his session at the conference drew greater favour and approval than any other presentation.
The Key Learning
The more you practise the better you become. Most people do not devote enough planning and rehearsal to their presentations. Don't be one of them! Remember, there's never a second chance to make a good first impression
I am a cycling fan and this has been another great week and another opportunity to follow the great marathon of the Tour de France. For sporting fans the Lance Armstrong era is over. Last year saw some unfortunate doping scandals with many of the favourites being barred from enrolling for the event. All these people had in common was a Spanish medical adviser who was accused of using EPO to enhance performance through the practice of blood doping.
Cheating
It became a big Joke when the official winner Floyd Landis from the USA had his title taken from him, because his level of testosterone was significantly higher that it should have been as he romped to a stage victory on a Mountain stage. What was incriminating was the day previous to his superhuman stage win he had seriously limped right off the back from the leaders.
Amazing what a good nights sleep did for Landis! He miraculously become superman overnight and stormed away from the field, creating much consternation and puzzlement with the cycling fans. A drug test taken on the evening of his win proved positive, but this became public knowledge only after he had received his overall race victory in Paris. This really puts cycling in the limelight for the wrong reasons.
Drug Free
Let's hope that this year we see some discipline. Rassmussen, the current race Leader has already been barred from the Danish Team which finishes his chances in the next World Championships and the Olympics because of his failure to turn up to random drug tests. It also ruins his chances to win the World Champion Mountain Bike Championships (which he has done in the past).
German Media Takes Action
More controversy on the Tour. This week, the German TV has pulled out of recording and screening any of the Tour because one of their riders was sent home after proving positive for a banned substance.
I think the Germans are right. They say that if they, and others, stop reporting any event that condones the use of performance enhancing drugs, the sport will have to get its act together.
The Brits
It's good to see David Millar and Bradley Wiggins doing so well. Let's hope that both finish in good positions. Millar was punished some years ago for owning up to taking EPO. Now he is proving that riders can ride clean and still do well. Let's hope this becomes the culture in all sporting events,, so that the London Olympics in 2012 are drug free.
19 July
Harry Potter's Leadership Secrets
The new Harry Potter book is due out on Saturday 20 July and I am pleased to say they are bringing out an adult version - so that people older than 12 can sit on the tube and read the text without looking foolish.
I am thinking of getting on the back of this new publication and writing something for a Journal that may get attention. How about "Harry Potter's Leadership Secrets?" or "Harry Potter's Strategies for Cultural Change in Schools" Does it strike a chord? Do you think it would catch on?
"Male, Pale & Stale" : 'Board or Bored' Directors?
This is how a colleague described her senior management team. Exhilarating isn't it? No, she was not bitching, just highlighting that some things don't change. Her team or Board of Managers are all male and many have been with the company for too long. All are either in their mid 40's or early 50's and have nowhere to go except the CEO. They all do a good job but if the money that pays their salaries and bonuses came from me - I'd want more energy, purposeful action and a lot more emotion focused on motivating people. (Hey, did you know that the word 'motion' is a great indicator of intent in the word emotion.)
Underneath this group of de-energised individuals are disillusioned middle managers with no hope of promotion to Board level - so the only way for top talent is out and into another business. What a huge shame, losing top talent.
Does it have to be like that?
No, it does not. One of the best businesses I worked with was CMG before their tie up and creation of CMGLogica. In those early days of CMG's growth, one could witness elevation of individuals up to MD of the many of the CMG niche targetted businesses and at the same time MD's then going back to the floor to return to their role of excellent sales and account managers.
CMG's Culture: Vibrant and Flexible
The point is there was always a fact based, business reason for the elevation or return to the front line. It was based on logic - working closely with the people who were going "up or down" and no evaluation or judgment was made. Everyone knew it was in the best interests of the company, and the people in the company, to change roles and to better fit personalities to changing challenges and demands.
There was no shame for MD's who went back to a more tactical role. The strategic impact on the many CMG companies changed, and with it the required change in company structure and personalities. There was a culture of natural flex and flux where "who is the best person to deliver results" was the watchword.
In my mind they were a superb client committed to quality and always on the lookout for doing things better. I imagine that the new business retains many of those features because it certainly has a great reputation and dominates the market.
So which company is it?
You decide. So "male, pale and stale" is not a normal state of affairs. Please note, my colleagues have read through the draft to today's Blog and said, "I know who that company is". And they are all wrong! I wonder if you uttered those words to others and asked them which company it portrayed - the list would be interesting to peruse.
Silverstone is a tough circuit and Lewis Hamilton did a cracking job coming third in the British Grand. In the next few years I am sure we will read about How Lewis sets goals and motivates himself to win. There are some valuable business lessons to be learned here - especially about humility in Leadership and modelling the process of winning. Blogs posted in June highlight the key motivational equation that Lewis harnesses.
Why synchronicity? Because two colleagues who have never met each other, and work in completely different industries, and live 500 miles apart, told me about the change equation in the same 24 hours!
A simple congratulations for winning the senior lectureship Ann. Your innovation, organisation, experience and training ability for working in corporate change and development has at last been recognised.
Business Blog
