Last month we wrote about 50 ways you can betray your message. This week, we’ll take a deep dive into what happens then everything goes wrong. No matter how hard we prepare for an event, no matter how many contingency plans we put in place, and no matter how many times you’ve been through the same routine, eventually things will go awry. Wifi goes down. Computers crash. Videos don’t load. Speakers’ flights are cancelled. The event organizer quits. The customer is a no-show. Shipments don’t arrive on time. Hotels and flights are overbooked. Print collateral has an error. You might … Read More
Presentation Skills: 50 Ways to Betray the Message
Effective presentation skills are almost as important as the material you are presenting. After spending weeks crafting the perfect presentation script, slide deck and handouts, it is devastating to receive feedback that the audience failed to receive your message because your body language was disengaging. Or your hair was messy. Or there was a stain on your shirt. Anyone who has received anonymous feedback from a presentation knows how fickle an audience can be. While you’re entitled to complain about the insignificant issues the audience focuses on, the reality is we have thousands of ways to betray our message by … Read More
For Effective Communication, Ask Three More Questions
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge”—Thomas Berger In our fast-paced world of virtual meetings and overly packed calendars, communication for most managers involves an endless rut of “report and update” meetings. In these meetings, each party is responsible for reporting out updates on their progress, results, issues, etc. One by one, each person delivers prepared status updates that may or may not be the exact same updates they delivered a week ago. The meetings are usually so packed with updates (or the façade of new information) that, in the interest of allowing everyone … Read More
Leaders Must Provide Honest Answers: Beware of Open Wounds
We all carry around a certain degree of baggage with us daily. Relationships that went awry, painful life events, and regrets haunt us on the inside, in spite of the smile we show to coworkers and colleagues. The most innocent event can trigger all the old emotions we’ve stuffed deep down and hoped to forget. Recently, I spoke with a friend who experienced a full anxiety attack at the mere mention of a team meeting to discuss roles/responsibilities. In spite of the leader being very clear that the goal of the meeting was to reduce the extraneous activities that had … Read More
Successful Leaders Return Their Carts
I was scrolling through LinkedIn recently and came across this image. The image stuck with me—it says so much about what it takes to be a successful leader. Successful people go the extra yard. They finish the job. And they don’t cut corners. Leaving the cart in the parking lot is lazy, rude, and disrespectful. A person who leaves the cart in the middle of the parking lot doesn’t care about the impact on others. They put themselves first and ignore the consequences. They make decisions based on their current situation without regard for the future. These are not the … Read More
Beware of the Bad Apples You Keep
Why don’t you just fire her? That’s the first question any leader hears when they complain about the bad apple on his/her team. It’s so simple, really. If someone’s behavior is disruptive and is distracting the team, they should be released so they can find a better mutual fit. But, in the real world, it’s often much more complicated than that. There are hundreds of reasons why leaders choose to keep a bad apple. At worst, some managers keep bad apples because they lack the courage to confront the behavior. There’s no excuse for this scenario. Period. Managers who overlook … Read More