Tag Archive for 'executive presence'

7 things to know about how new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella communicates in public

Published on in executive presence and The Engaging Speaker. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Satya Nadella is the new CEO Microsoft. No doubt we’ll be hearing more from him over the years. But how does he fare as a smart and engaging communicator? Here are seven points to consider:

1. He’s a subject matter expert. When you listen to his interviews and keynote talks, you’ll be left in no doubt that Satya is a tech guy. He’s knows his stuff. You’ll hear him talking a lot about the cloud.

2. He looks the part. Satya is very well dressed and exudes the look of a business leader without looking too slick. He has presence.

3. Good energy. While not at the over-the-top energy levels of former-CEO Steve Ballmer, Nadella certainly brings good energy to his public talks. He has a clear voice, a good physical presence and cuts a dynamic figure. He brings good energy to the room.

4. During keynotes, he tends to speak a little on the fast side. Added to his high energy style this can become a little overwhelming after a while. His delivery can seem a little one tracked and one paced at times. A few pauses to break up ideas would help the audience digest his ideas. A shifting between energy states to create difference responses from the audience would improve his delivery.

5. He falls into the trap of a technical professional. He leads with content and forgets to have a message. If you stopped his keynote speech after five minutes and said, “Okay, so what was that about?”. You’d struggle to easily pick out a message or takeaway idea without retelling his ideas. Without a headline message, all the data points, process and buzzing ideas will be quickly forgotten.  As he becomes the figurehead of Microsoft, this will likely change. Why? See the next point.

6. I love the fact that he describes himself as a learner.  Satya defines his motivations as “Family, curiosity and a hunger for knowledge. “  This desire will make him a quick study and I’d expect we’ll see a very different public persona from Satya – especially to general and non-technical audiences – over the next 12 months.

7. He loves cricket. And if he can explain cricket to people who didn’t grow up with it – then there’s nothing he can’t explain!

To learn more about Satya Nadella, visit my Scoop page with articles from multiple sources. Click here.
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The Engaging Speaker is aware of the changing energy in the room

Published on in Attention spans, Deliver with Style and interaction. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Surviving an Ironman race needs control of your energy

I’ve completed the grueling Ironman Triathlon which is a race involving a 3.8km open water swim, 180km bike ride and finishes with a marathon, back to back all on the same day. The race has a cut off time of 17 hours and I finished my last one in around 12 hours 30 mins. Needless to say, it’s a long day and your energy levels change throughout the day. Nervous excitement before the swim. Steady rhythmic effort to complete the swim. A burst of energy on the bike before settling into a long ride with ups and downs, trying to hold on to your pace in the final 60km while holding back enough for the run. The marathon starts at a lively pace. It’s the final segment and if everything falls apart, you can always walk. You hold a pace, keep it ticking over. Everything seems good until half way through, muscles start to cramp, pain comes. Your pace drops a bit, you fight it to keep going. From 30-38km, you’re in complete pain, you think about quitting or walking. Somehow you keep your body moving forward quietly encouraging yourself and feeding off the energy of the crowd’s cheers. Finally you hit 38km, you realize that in 2km it’s only 2km to go. You perk up. Your pace rises. You find a new wind. You’re going to finish. The final one kilometer, you’re hitting euphoric levels as your endorphins kick in. You finish the marathon practically sprinting, fall over the line and break down into a heap. Before standing up with a warm painful glow of completion. Success.

 

Energy levels change through a presentation

The Engaging Speaker is aware that energy levels change through a presentation. Shorter presentations are easier to plan. Longer full day sessions require more detailed mapping. Remember people are fresh in the morning so get right into the content. Keep things moving along. Set the tone for starting and ending breaks on time. Plan your afternoons particularly carefully. Participants energy levels tend to dip around an hour to two after lunch, especially if they’ve had a big hotel buffet lunch. During this time period, move towards more physical exercises. Add higher impact team activities. Move things around. Shift venues. Keep things moving, changing and adapting. Finish strong. Have a clear conclusion to the day. Keep a couple of short energizers in your pocket in case the energy plunges. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Ask the participants what they’d like to do to pick up the energy.

 

Be aware that you create the energy in the room, not the audience

If you looked at your last talk or upcoming presentation in terms of creating energy, what would your energy chart look like? Would it be high at the start and then gradually falling away to nothing? Would it be low at the beginning, peak in the middle and drift off? Or would it look like a read out of a healthy heart with regular peaks and troughs. A good presentation should start and finish strong but should allow time to reflect, time to pick things up and a time for interaction.

 

What energy map are you creating?

Map your presentation’s energy chart. Is it in line with your message? A rallying sales meeting will start high and finish higher. A senior management crisis talk will have moments of low before building up momentum towards the end. The Engaging Speaker sets the tone for the talk and creates the energy, the enthusiasm, the experience for the audience.

Big mistakes executives make while communicating

Published on in executive presence, produce your message and speaking with purpose. Closed Tags: , , , .

Speak without a clear message

Executives from technical disciplines, such as finance or engineering, often have a misconception that technical ability is more important than communicating effectively. The very skills that make technical experts successful actually prevent them from being promoted to senior management. They focus too heavily on process and small details when the situation requires something more concise. Unlike junior managers, a senior executive’s main role is to communicate a clear and compelling message.

Executives with presence understand how to tell the story behind the numbers, correctly balancing big-picture with small details. The best executives, such as Steve Jobs, communicate effectively using simple and concise language that conveys powerful and memorable messages. Jobs has honed this skill over the years and his product launches contain such gems as, “Today, Apple reinvents the phone” from the 2007 iPhone launch. This ability to express a situation in its simplest terms is often overlooked by technical executives. However, all effective executive communicators have mastered this art.

Here are some examples of four word messages which can be used as an “umbrella” message or overall message for a pitch, presentation, change initiative or campaign. Once you have an umbrella message, each supporting section would also be given a short message to summarize that section of information:

“Better city, Better life” from Shanghai Expo 2010.
“The best-run businesses run SAP”from SAP Advertising campaign.
“Stay hungry, stay foolish” – Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford, 2005.
“Real Estate for Your World” from Century 21.
“The Ultimate Driving Machine” from BMW.
“The Company for Women” from Avon Products, Inc.
“Expect More. Pay Less.” from Target Corporation.
“Photonics in the Fast Lane” from Thor Labs.
“The Miracles of Science” from DuPont.

Taken from the book “Speaking with Purpose: “How to present ideas that matter in 18 minutes or less”. Learn more about the workbook here.

About the Author

“Warwick helps C-level executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, who need to become more confident and effective in their spoken communications. Warwick helps the executive project a clear message allowing them to express their opinions powerfully and gain respect from senior managers even when under pressure.”

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.

Buy The One Minute Presenter here.

Why are technical presentations so boring?

Published on in Create Your Connection and executive presence. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Well it depends who’s listening.

Obstacles when giving technical presentations to non-technical people:

  • Don’t adjust to audience’s level of understanding
  • Fear of exposure
  • The presenter’s style
  • Lack of skill in showcasing numbers
  • Forgotten storytelling skills

 

Don’t adjust to audience’s level of understanding

Giving a technical presentation to fellow technical people is easy. They see the world in a similar way to you. They understand your thinking and your acronyms. They know the context of your explanations. In short, they are much like you. It’s easier to be understood by people like us.

But what happens when you’re presenting to senior managers? I’ve seen this happen countless times. The technical presenter – whether from IT, engineering, quality assurance of finance – assume that the senior executives understand them. In fact, they often assume that because they’re senior managers they know the material BETTER than the technical presenter.

This is mostly not the case. Often the higher you go in an organisation the more distance a manager is from the heart of the technology, or techniques. A good presenter will adjust their content to match the audience’s level of understanding.

 

Fear of exposure

After ten years of working around Asia with technical professionals, I’ve come to believe that a trait of a technician is “I say too much because I know too much”. I think that these very intelligent people suffer from a fear of intellectual exposure. If they don’t show how smart they are on their subject matter expertise then they will be judged.
Often the opposite is the case. The reason why we like TED talks so much is because very intelligent people are talking on very technical topics and making them so very accessible for everyone. I think to use the analogy of you should be able to express what your presentation is about to an intelligent ten-year old. In today’s world you’re rewarded for saving people time and energy. Don’t worry we know you’re smart!

The presenter’s style

In my experience as a presentation skills educator, I’ve observed thousands of presentations from technical executives. I’ve noticed that they tend to be very process-driven. They start at the beginning and they end at the end, often going into excruciating details along the way. They tend to be deliver with a very steady and on-the-low-side energy level. They’re often completely focused on the data. This is largely due to the style of the presenter. Technical presenter’s love this style. Most audience’s don’t.

Lack of skill in showcasing numbers

Technical presentation need numbers. Often in detail. But does this mean that all the numbers should be shown all at once on one slide!

No. But why do so many presenters do this? I think it’s risk-aversion (another trait of technical presenters!). The thinking is “if I put all the numbers up, the audience will work out which ones are important”. But the presenter needs to shape the meaning. When working with numbers the law of contrast and comparison needs to be used. Presentation of numbers need to be simplified so that the data supports a particular message. This is simple to understand once you know the techniques. By judging from the amount of slides I see crammed full with charts and data tables, it’s not yet fully and widely understood.

 

Forgotten storytelling skills

What do stories have to do with technical presentations? Well, a lot. If you want to engage and hold an audience’s attention these days, you better learn story telling skills. Learn how to pace and adjust your voice and your energy levels. Learn the flow of a story. How to create tension or curiosity. And importantly how to have a morale (or message) to your story. You have to tell the story behind the numbers. That’s your job!

 

Ask us about “The Technical Presenter” Workshop which helps technical professionals communicate concisely, engagingly and memorably to non-technical audiences. Your meeting productivity will shoot up!

Warwick John Fahy and The One Minute Presenter Team

 

About the Author

“Warwick helps C-level executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, who struggle to get their point across and influence their key stakeholders. Warwick helps the executive project their message with confidence allowing them to express their opinions powerfully and gain respect from senior managers even when under pressure.”

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com

Wise Words to become a more influential presenter

Published on in Influence. Closed Tags: , , , .

I was recently delivering a workshop in Kuala Lumpur and over the course of the three day workshop, a few insights became clearer on how to be a clearer, more influential communicator:

1. How to learn soft skills. “Play it. Don’t tell it. Get inside the character or role. Act it out.”

When it comes to soft skills like communication, leadership and management, the best way to learn is to become an actor and step inside the role and try out the skills in real time. Most people tell you what they would do. They don’t learn the skill. They know the skill but they can’t use it. Take a situation and become the character and play with the scenario. I use improvisational activities to help manager develop these skills. It’s fun and effective.

2. Attitude to learning. “The way you do one-thing, is the way you do everything.”

People are quick with excuses. They justify their actions by saying that if the situation was different, or the audience more high profile or the presentation more important, they would do it differently. In reality, they will do it the say way. One of the challenges in a workshop is a closing presentation or role play. Even after a day or two of trying out skills and learning new tips the majority of people go back to their old habits. My role as a trainer is to intervene so that they shift from old skills to new skills. The people who perform the skills in a workshop are often the ones you will apply them in the workplace.

3. Learning by re-doing. “Step outside your comfort zone by making small adjustments.”

By definition, to learn something, you have to try out something new. This involves stepping outside your comfort zone and feeling uncertainty. This is a not a nice feeling and most people avoid it. The best learners realise that they only have to make small adjustments on a continual basis to really see a big improvement. Don’t look for massive changes. If you are looking for something mind-blowing and totally new, you will probably spent most of your time disappointed. Take action now with the things you do know. Chances are you not implementing all the good tips and techniques you know. Pick a focus area and target small – and ongoing – changes.

4. Expertise is not enough. “It’s not only what you say, it’s how you say it.”

I have talked before about the trap of technical experts. They know too much, so they say too much. Another trap with subject matter experts is that they believe the content is all they need to shine. Unfortunately, it’s not. You are not unique in the world. There are many other people doing exactly the same thing you are doing somewhere else in the world. And that’s fine. The world can accommodate this. So what this means is that you need to inject your own personality into your communicating and influencing. Be yourself, and always look for ways to better connect and relate to your audience.

5. Influence is precise. “Use precision tools, not blunt objects when communicating”

Being precise and specific while communicating and influencing is tremendously difficult for technical people. They are great when it comes to being precise about numbers, statistics, processes and standards. To achieve mastery in soft skills needs taking this precision and transferring it to the field of human behaviour. You need to be an excellent listener and observer to see what impact and change your presentation or speech is having on the audience. Learn how to test their level of engagements. Is that person bored because they are looking at their watch or do they just want to check the time?  Drill down. Being “confident” is a destination not a process. What does a confident person project? How is their posture, they voice and gestures. You can learn these micro-behaviours and add them to your arsenal to becoming a more proficient influencer.

Warwick John Fahy runs workshops around Asia which help managers and senior managers from technical backgrounds to become more influential in business situations.

Warwick is author of The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world. Read Warwick’s blog and download an e-version of The One Minute Presenter at http://www.oneminutepresenter.com/

Warwick is Asia’s leading business presentation coach working with business leaders who need to influence clients, investors, shareholders and team members. His results-driven approach and deep cross cultural understanding make him a sought after business presentation coach throughout Asia. Download a free report “10 Warning Signs Your Leaders Lack Executive Presence” at http://www.warwickjohnfahy.com/

Two warning signs that executives need help with their public speaking, communication and presentation skills

Published on in executive presence and speaking with purpose. Closed Tags: , , .

I work with many senior executives from CEOs and CFOs to Presidents and Country Managers. Many of these executives are from technical disciplines like finance, engineering and IT. Regardless of their culture or language,they often share some bad habits which I suspect is a result of what it takes to be successful in their technical roles. Firstly, they know too much so they say too much. A presentation of 20-30 minutes is not the time to download your complete knowledge on the audience or to bamboozle them with a stream of facts and figures that are not put in a clear context. These executives are too process and detail-oriented when it comes to delivering a high level executive presentation or conversation.

Secondly, if you believe that a successful leader is an accomplished communicator, do you agree that a business presenter who stands and reads word-for-word from the slides is reducing their credibility as a leader? You wouldn’t turn your back on someone when you are having a one-on-one conversation and expect them to think you are sane. So why do so many business presenters think it’s okay to turn their backs to an important audience?The audience can read faster than you can narrate the words on the slide, so what value are you adding? Many senior executives are painfully unaware about how they are coming across and – clearly – do not know how to rehearsal productively for important speeches and presentations.

These two symptoms are often a sign of deeper communication issues. I suspect – from working with many executives around China and Asia – that these are warning signs like a beacon being lit into a dark night. When I see these behaviours I start to notice other communication issues holding these executives back.

I help technical executives to overcome these types of problems that are holding them back from being more influential and effective. In fact, with some pointed advice and application of a few simple techniques these executives- who are generally very smart and very competent in their field – are able to sharpen up their spoken communication and come across as more engaging and – importantly – to speak with a message. They have a point to what they are saying and they are able to make it more persuasively. And let’s face it, if you are a senior executive in a multinational company in a complex market like China, communication is your job. I help executives acquire the skills so that more effective communication becomes a learned skill – they don’t need to think about it too much – so they can get on with their real job of leading their company through change.

If you have an executive who is important to the success of your organisation and they could do with a boost in confidence, self awareness and polish in their communication and public speaking ability, why not give us a call? We can assess the situation and if we feel we are not the right solution, we’ll let you know. We have a very clear idea of the type of clients we can help. And we only want to do our best work with all our clients.

Warwick John Fahy is author of The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world. Read Warwick’s blog and download an e-version of The One Minute Presenter at http://www.oneminutepresenter.com/

Warwick is Asia’s leading business presentation coach working with business leaders who need to influence clients, investors, shareholders and team members. His results-driven approach and deep cross cultural understanding make him a sought after business presentation coach throughout Asia. Download a free report “10 Warning Signs Your Leaders Lack Executive Presence” at http://www.warwickjohnfahy.com/

How influential are your leaders and managers?

Published on in executive presence and Influence. Closed Tags: , , , .

You can download this article as a PDF file here.

We have designed a one-day or two-day hands-on workshop that show leaders, managers and service professionals how to use, apply and combine influencing techniques

Influencing is :

  • Situational; you need to adapt your approach for different people at different times

  • Needed in combination; no single technique will work in every situation

  • Value based; you need to offer something of value to the people you wish to influence. No value. No influence.

  • A catalyst; influential people are able to get more things done quicker.

  • Dynamic; things change. A technique that worked last year may not work this year if everyone is exposed to it.

Influencing is not:

  • Manipulation; your intention and purpose should be as transparent and ethical as possible

The Influencing Matrix:

We have researched 15 key influencing approaches that have been tested to consistently work over time and across cultures. They are:

  • Scarcity

  • The Force

  • The Vision-caster

  • Walk your Talk

  • The Connector

  • The Rules

  • The Give-and-Take

  • Silent Allies

  • Do me a Favour

  • The Vulcan

  • The Coach

  • The Robin Hood

  • Dr Feel Good

  • Be Likeable

  • The Pharaoh

To learn more about The Influencing Matrix…

We conduct workshops which are tailored to your industry and leadership challenges. To learn more about how your leaders can apply The Influencing Matrix, contact Warwick at warwick@warwickjohnfahy.com or call on 021 6101 0486.

the-influencing-matrix2

If you never fail, you’re not pushing your comfort zone enough.

Published on in executive presence. Closed Tags: .

Effective leaders play a bigger game by pushing their comfort zones. This stressful cycle involves facing a zone of uncertainty, which once mastered, becomes comfortable. For each change, set three targets with the SAS acronym: a survival goal, an acceptable one and a superb target. A single target risks you feeling like a failure if it’s missed. But in reality by working towards a target, you expand your comfort zone. Remember, if you never fail, you’re not pushing your comfort zone enough.

Speech Analysis by The One Minute Presenter on Susan Cain, the power of introverts

Published on in Speech Analysis. Closed Tags: , , , .

Susan makes a case that while much of Western society favours the extrovert, introverted people contribute a lot to the world. This well supported talk explains that contribution and makes a call to action.

You can watch a video of this speech here.

Here is my breakdown of the speech. The things that are great about the speech are:

  • Steady confident delivery with clear voice and pacing

  • Mixture of evidence to support ideas (anecdotes, examples)

  • Good soundbites dropped in

  • Clear call to action

  • A metaphor that unfolds throughout the talk

The areas that could be improved include:

  • A tendency to qualify statements

  • Repetitive gestures

The things that are great about the speech are:

Steady confident delivery

Susan is well prepared and delivers a very confident talk with a clear voice and pacing that is comfortable to follow along with.

Illustrated the problem of introverts with anecdote

Opening anecdote about going to camp.

1:00-1:30 Camp cheer example got a good laugh. Message behind anecdote: Being quiet and introverted needs to be changed

Personal anecdotes

14:00 Grandfather anecdote

15:30 Published book. 7 years.

05:00 Examples of how our environment does not support introversion

Schools designed for extroverts. Classroom has pods of desks. Lots of group work – even in maths, creative writing. At work. Open plan offices. Leaders more likely to be extroverts.

Good soundbites dropped in

3:30 when it comes to creativity and leadership we need introverts doing what they do best

07:00 Examples of introverted leaders. Everyone is a mix of introvert / extroverts.

10:30 There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.

11:20 US favours man of action over man of contemplation

13:10 Let introverts be themselves

Humour points

1:00-1:30 Camp cheer example got a good laugh

15:55 Talking about introversion

Clear call to action

Susan concludes the speech with a clear call to action

16:45 Three calls to action

  1. Stop the constant group work
  2. Go to the wilderness
  3. Take a look at what’s inside your suitcase

A metaphor that unfolds throughout the talk

It was only at the conclusion that I really got the metaphor of the suitcase and it’s a good one. The idea of showing other people what’s inside your suitcase can be interpreted as sharing with others your passions and deep seated motivations which may not be obvious from the outside.

Prior to this I wondered whether the suitcase prop was impactful:

First minute of talk, Susan was holding the bag packed for camp. My impression at this stage was that it didn’t add much impact or value.

13:30 Call back to suitcase. Takes out three books. Which transitions to story of her grandfather. I felt that this was low impact again.

It was only in the conclusion did I see the idea that Susan was driving with the suitcase prop. Be conscious when using props, always ask yourself “Is this the best way to illustrate this idea?” “Is this the most memorable way to express the idea?”

Areas that could have been improved:

A tendency to qualify statements

When you have a point of view, you need to support it in a way that sways the audience to your view. I found the repeated qualification of statements to lessen the impact.

07:30 I actually love extroverts. Some of my best friends are extroverts.

I find the “some of my best friends” phrase to be a particularly poor choice of words. The history of this phrase is often found in divisive discrimination cases around race, religion and sexuality. You can find an interesting background to this phrase here.

While I don’t think Susan made this connection consciously, the frequent usage of the phrase as a defence to discrimination takes away from her impact at this point in the speech. As a former corporate lawyer, I would expect her to be aware of its connotations. I believe that there is no need for Susan to say that she loves extroverts because I don’t believe anyone was thinking she was out to attack extroverts. She is simply making a case for introversion to be given its space and this does not need to be qualified.

Warwick’s coaching tip: When you are presenting your ideas to influence people, focus most of your energy on making your case and supplementing your message and point of view. If you deliver in a sincere and confidence manner, there is no need to argue the other side too. However, in your preparation and research stage, it is prudent to learn as much as you can about different opinions and perspectives so you can consider them while formulating your own message.

Repetitive gestures

04:45 Susan tends to use the same gesture over and over even when it’s not linked to the message. Gestures are best used when they add impact to a message or idea you are expressing. Most of the time speakers have a favorite gesture they tend to overuse, it starts to become an issue when the gestures distracts the audience from the message being delivered. Interestingly, this type of over-gesture is something I often see with extroverted speakers!

Conclusion

This is a well built presentation that makes a case and supports it with a range of evidence. While a couple of areas disrupted its flow, the overall metaphor of the suitcase was good. I would rate this a 7 out of 10.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“Warwick helps C-level executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, who struggle to get their point across and influence their key stakeholders. Warwick helps the executive project their message with confidence allowing them to express their opinions powerfully and gain respect from senior managers even when under pressure.”Learn more about who I help here.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com

Are you an influential executive?

Published on in executive presence and Influence. Closed Tags: , , , .

Key point summary:

A. Influence is the number one skill a high performing executive demonstrates

B. Leadership teams need to set and cascade the “story” behind strategy and change initiatives

C. Individual executives must be able to express the message in different formats and lengths

In John C Maxwell’s book “Becoming a person of influence”, he says that “if your desire is to be successful or to make a positive impact on your world, you need to become a person of influence. Without influence, there is no success.”

For today’s executives who project influence and confidence, this means getting more done through their teams. As companies move towards global and matrix organisations, being effective means less command-and-control and more encouraging, advocating and inspiring. The best executives are able to attract people and resources by defining and expressing a purpose. Much like Steve Job’s famed “reality distortion field”, the most influential executives can create an environment where people contribute more, are willing to see things through and ultimately care more about the outcomes.

Challenges are plentiful. The business world is fast moving and complex. Change is hard to predict. While it’s relatively easy to set strategy and announce a new vision, making this a reality takes much more work. The leadership team needs to play an active role in cascading the benefits of change and selling it to the company. Obstacles like resistance to change, confusion over the reason why change is necessary, reluctance to adopt new working styles all play a role in slowing down the implementation of important change projects across global organisations.

Executives need to play a more active role in communication. Today people are looking for a combination of management and leadership from their managers. To fully engage the talents, energy and commitment, a good executive not only delegates a clear package to her team but also articulates the “why” – the importance of the project to the organisation as a whole. Setting the context and connecting it to the individual project gives the team a stronger reason to buy into the project. It also acts as a guiding star for the team as they move forward and handle project challenges.

Degrees of separation reduce your influence. While many leaders like to think that the fact they said something once will engage the whole company to act, often the reality is very different. From my experience, working with leadership team very often there is no clear shared understanding of the direction of the company in terms of how the individual executives talk about it with their peers, subordinates and partners. If there is no shared clarity at the top, how can we expect middle management to be confident in expressing a consistent theme to their reports?

Even a charismatic CEO is not enough. People are most influenced by their line managers and while the CEO may engage his leadership team and inspire them. Unless these executives are also rolling down the same message, it’s impact is lost. What is needed are executives and middle managers who are equally proficient at influence. In large global organisations where a change initiative is planned worldwide this is essential otherwise all the effort into creating a strategy is lost once it drops below the leadership team.

Use this checklist to test how influential your leadership team’s messaging is:

1. Does the leadership have a clear vision and strategy for the next three years?

2. Has this message been refined and talked about so everyone is on the same page?

3. Is there consensus among the leadership team?

4. Has everyone agreed to share this message regardless of their personal resistance or objections?

5. Has the leadership team gone through a simulated media-style interview where they are put on the spot and asked to deliver the key message?

6. Can the leadership team deliver the key point of the message without slides?

7. Have the top executives committed to cascading the message to their line managers?

8. Acid test: If you asked five people in your organisation about the strategy or change initiative, how consistent would their answers be?

This polishing and refinement is often overlooked by leadership teams and executives are left to their own devices. This leaves too much up to their own personal opinions. Once the CEO and top executives have committed to the strategy, everyone needs to get on-board. By ensuring that their story is aligned, the change has a higher rate of success. How well are your executives influencing?

All the best,

Feel free to contact us at any time.

Warwick John Fahy and The One Minute Presenter Team