Is it the time for new year resolutions or making good on old year ones?

It has been said that if you continue doing what you have been doing, you will get the same results you've always had. So, even as many take time off to enjoy the festivities and religious aspects of Christmas 2007, many are also taking time to think about what will be their resolutions for the new year.

However, if the resolutions of the outgoing year were never kept, it’s futile to list another set of resolutions that are unlikely to be kept -unless there's a change in attitude to keeping and/or revising resolutions. Some use end-of-the year as a time for review and reflection. They seek to understand why they achieve the level of success they had and try to apply lessons learnt from areas of no or low progress BEFORE deciding on key resolutions for 2008.

For some employees, recent annual appraisals serve as a useful starting point as they highlighted the skills required to improve their success in meeting Key Performance Indicators for their team or company. The usefulness of this exercise was highlighted in recent discussions with a few managers who indicted that 2008 promises to be a year when their profile is raised not only in their own organisations but in their respective sectors. Therefore, they needed to invest in their communication skills, especially for speaking before large audiences.

You are unlikely to be surprised by my view that effective communication skills are integral to improving performance -whether it's to strengthen team relationships, develop stronger interpersonal skills, increase client retention, win larger contracts, expand your contacts/network, improve service to internal and external clients or improve your skills in making business presentations. Communication begins with the thought –unless you can create the idea you will be unable to plan and/or implement the action.

You’ll do well, therefore, to assess the past year, identify your successes and weaknesses and the factors which helped you in achieving –or not –your level of success. Unless, this is understood, it’s futile to make another set of resolutions that you are unlikely to keep because you are neither motivated nor supported to take action.

It seems timely, therefore, to ask yourself the following questions:

• What resolutions did I keep or goals I achieved over the past year?

• What factors contributed to my success? Was it a result of circumstances, influence of others, team support and/or my own personal commitment?

• Which areas could I have had greater success or impact?

• Who have I asked about assessing my level of performance? Have I asked my manager, team/colleagues, friends or family?

• What can I do better this year that I did not achieve in the last one?

• What areas of my communication skills do I need to improve in the new year? Is it for client relationships, customer service, business pitching, team building and bonding or public speaking?

Best wishes for a new year that is enjoyable - personally and professionally! May you create a stimulating and success working environment and be supported by meaningful and supportive teams and clients.


Veronica

PS. Keep abreast of the evolving training calendar at Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd.

www.executive-solutions.co.uk

Manage your time wisely -it yields dividends!

Many think of time management as necessary for overworked executives and overstretched executives. Fewer, however, consider the importance of time management when making a presentation. How often do you think about the time allocated as soon as you have identified the key messages you want to share in your presentation?

I was reminded of this recently when I witnessed a five-minute presentation evolve into a 15-minute one. What made this quite overrun of time even more apparent was that while the presenter allocated the least time on the programme took the most. The other speakers managed their time wisely and in one case finished ahead of the time allocated.

Some suggestions for managing time wisely:

1. Develop your presentation and subdivide it into time blocks.

2. Be clear about how much time should be taken to present each section.

3. Decide which are the ‘must share points’, i.e., supportive of your key messages. Ensure you make those.

4. Be alert to realising when you are behind your planned time-frame for presenting, adjust the number and/or length of the examples you give or stories you tell during your presentation.

5. Be realistic in your use of visual aids. For example, if using Powerpoint slides, do not include more than one slide every minute unless the graphics are essential in explaining specific points. The slides may then be best viewed as a slide show.

6. Respect the Chair. Wrap up your presentation in the time allocated at best or at least soon after.

7. If sharing a platform, be respectful of other presenters. Do not force others to shorten their contribution because you are inconsiderate and speak long after the time allocated.

8. Ensure you give your close/conclusion. Do this even when you are forced to exclude one or more points from the main part of your presentation.

9. Reduce distractions towards the end of the meeting as people leave the gathering because of another engagement, as your presentation took much longer than scheduled.

10. Err on the side of caution and finish ahead of allocated time –if you must. You may then take questions (if the event allows) or give the Chair an opportunity to make relevant remarks.

Best,

Veronica

If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four sharpening the axe. Lao Tzu

Another question about cost...

How much money does poor customer service cost your organisation?

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the branch of a High Street bank in the UK to do some business for my company. Not unusual you may say. I agree. But the experience highlighted for me how much companies -even established brands- loose when their frontline staff, the first point of contact with customers, do not have the best skills set to make the customer experience enjoyable.

The employee, seemingly new to the role, had only been provided with rather limited information. Ask the customer to complete the form, leave it with you and someone will call. He could not answer how long it will take for his colleague to follow-up, how long the process with take or even when next his colleague will be at the branch. Although I have had a long association with this organisation, the experience left me NOT IMPRESSED. Then I leave to attend a Canary Wharf networking event and our conversation highlighted the poor customer service and limited communication skills of many employees in public facing roles. One Manager even shared that she called one of her offices and was greeted only by 'Hello'. She then had to go on to enquire which organisation she had reached. She was rather surprised to find out that frontline staff in her organisation was delivering the quality of service she considered consistent with her organisation's values. Back to the drawing board she went to review the training provided to new staff.

Getting back to my experience with the High Street institution. Outcome, I did not do business with them, but had a discussion with a competitor who responded readily to my query, was experience and had been well-trained to treat all queries with respect. By demonstrating Courteous Attention Required Everytime (CARE), the employee was able to win a new client for her organisation.

So, think about your organisation today. How much have you lost and continue to lose from frontline staff who are not well trained? Do share your estimate.

Veronica

Executive Solutions (Training) Ltd
Small enough to be flexible, experienced enough to deliver.

How much does team conflict cost your business?

Trying to control teams rather than managing them in a way that recognises the enormous personalities and talents of team members is a recipe for intra-team conflict, backbiting and tension. Ingredients for a disaster!

Team building to convert anger and feuds into positive energy for team success is often helped when teams are allowed to discuss issues and share views, when the leader understands the personalities of team members and demonstrates leadership skills by bonding a team that shares common values and goals and demonstrates this by playing from the same score.

Read: Hamilton gives us all feud for thought, article by Sathnam Sanghera in the Business Life section of in the October 6, 2007 edition of The Times

Communicating about The Rock –Northern Rock

Recent statements and interviews by officials associated with the crisis in the financial sector in the UK did little to reassure customers all was well with their deposits. Statements made by officials and actions taken by customers was a classic case of ACTION speaking louder than words.

Customers voted with their feet –they did not accept what they heard. So, initially, official statements aimed at reassuring them had the opposite effect as depositors rushed frantically to get their hands on their funds/investments –hard earned. It was only after more than 96 hours and a commitment given by The Chancellor himself AND –and aimed at depositors- that there began to emerge a return to what customers considered to be business as usual.

What went wrong? The message! In the first 24 hours everyone received the same message, all’s well with Northern Bank, despite the fact they approached the Bank of England to borrow directly from them, should the need arise. While that message may be reassuring to financial analysts and investors of major funds who understand the workings of financial markets, to depositors, small investors and ordinary members of the public, the message was ‘company in trouble’.

Not surprisingly, depositors in their hundreds acted swiftly on the message they received –something was wrong. Both online and off, they rushed to get their hands on their funds. A message about ‘the bank being open for business as usual’ seemed rather inappropriate and misleading to customers. Customers knew that the scenes at their local banks and on their TV screens were anything but close to what they would consider normal. Highly inappropriate choice of words for what was anything but a normal situation!

Many of you reading this living in the UK may have been like me and first heard about the recent turmoil in the financial market and implications for the mortgage market towards the week end –seemingly about the same time that customers did. One message about the institution’s position was sent to the public, investors, mortgage holders, deposit account holders –all of whom needed to specific messages aimed at their concerns.

One message could not target the concerns of all interest groups –one size did not fit all.

So when deposit holders received the same message as the financial analysts –the result is panic. The opposite reaction to what was intended.

Three key principles of effective communication and customer care were ignored:

- WHO are the intended recipients of your message?

- WHY this message (purpose), i.e., is it to inform, reassure or persuade?

-What information will be relevant to them?

Hopefully vital lessons about communication principles were learnt by the official spokespersons and those with similar businesses.

Veronica

Speaking with Confidence

http://www.executive-solutions.co.uk/

Not my words Mr Speaker……

In an earlier blog, I highlighted the importance of choosing words appropriate for the presentation and audience. I was reminded of this while listening last evening to ‘Not my words Mr Speaker’, a programme on BBC Radio 4. Although the programme was about activities on the other side of town, at Westminster, rather than Canary Wharf, it lived up to its billing of being “A caustic and hilarious indictment of the way many politicians descent into cliché whenever they make a speech in the Commons.”

If you too had listened to the programme and would like to share your view, just add your comment to this blog. For those who would like to hear what Matthew Parris said in the Sunday Supplement feature (9th September 2007), just log on to the BBC website and make use of the listen again feature at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

Hopefully, after listening you’ll be even more aware of any ‘canned language’, jargon or empty fillers that creep into your presentation.

Veronica

Seen any 'lectern wrenchers' recently?

Below are some don'ts or do's for anyone prone to lectern wrenching.

Feel free to share with others who may find it useful -and they don't have to be working or living at or near to Canary Wharf.


Don’ts
Don’t press your palms on the lectern or gripping the edge of the lectern.

Don’t become glued to the lectern
Don’t slough your upper body over the lectern –it’s not a body rest.


Do’s
Do stand upright behind the lectern and maintain eye contact with all sections of your listeners.

If using a microphone fixed to the lectern, maintain a suitable distance between your face and the mic. Too close will muffle your words, too far will reduce your audibility.

Another PowerPointless presentation –well, not all of it

A presentation aimed at a room of 25 business owners and managers that filled many slides with 8 to 12 numbered/bulleted points. That means the text was not evident to those beyond the first three rows –provided they had 20:20 or corrected vision.

While the practical sessions helped to make the workshop more meaningful for the participants, a golden opportunity was lost by limiting the extent of the learning outcomes. Promises to send the slides later may seem ideal –but could in fact be just another promise. As one delegate, who had attended an earlier workshop by the same team said in an aside, "well, sending the slides didn't work on the last training workshop, so I doubt they will arrive this time around”.

Maybe the facilitators preferred to achieve a 50% rather than 95% success rate of learning outcomes –actions that delegates take later.

Here are a few suggestions to avoid embarrassment to yourself and irritation to your listeners:

• Use visual aids appropriate to your presentation. Choose from photographs, flip-charts, sample materials, PowerPoint slides.

• Despite research showing that an audience cannot read the slides and listen to the speaker saying the same words simultaneously, too many presenters continue to use PowerPoint slides as notes to be read to the audience.

• When used skilfully, PowerPoint slides can take an average presentation up several notches and make it truly memorable. –for the right reason.

• Do not spend the time apologising for not being skilled in using your visual aides. Instead, prepare beforehand how to use the equipment or have a skilled operator do these tasks for you.

• If your visual aids irritate, confuse or bore your audience, you won’t succeed in giving a stunning presentation, gain the attention of your audience or create a desire in then for your message.

Murphy’s Law about if anything can go wrong, it will, often seems applicable to using visual aids in presentations. So, always check and recheck your visual aids before your presentation. Ensure you have an alternative/ backup way of delivering your presentation in the event Murphy’s Law kicks in and the equipment malfunctions.

Beat Murphy at his own game....

Veronica

Subject line and content at odds with each other?

Have you had the experience of receiving an email message in which the content of the message had no bearing on the subject line? In speaking, some people share content that is very different from their subject line. The result is mixed messages -or none that brings clarity.

Just a few days ago, I listened to a sales presentation in which the presenter devoted much time to telling about what’s wrong with a competitor’s services rather than focusing on what was good about his. I was interested in hearing about advantages of using his service and any feedback he had received from satisfied customers -which would have confirmed the benefits of using his business.

What the presenter did not take on board is the fact that my reason for coming -and of the others in the room -was not to hear about competing businesses –for that we would have chosen a different venue. It is in fact, we wanted to find out more about his/her business and to consider how using his services would benefit our own businesses. He missed the opportunity to persuade, inform and educate his listeners.

Today’s GEM
Even before you decide what to say, consider: WHO will be listening to you and WHY.

Veronica
Speaking with confidence

Do you need a resident Wordsmith?

A recent discussion caused me to reflect again on the importance of choose words suitable to the occasion and listeners.

Quite irritating for me is listening to speakers who litter their presentations with ‘stuff’ and ‘ting/thing’. What this says to me is that the speaker is either too lazy to choose words that are specific and accurately describe the item or situation they are referring to or is being evasive and is reluctant to share information. Worse than using this in personal discussions, it’s a hundred times worse when these vague words –irritatingly so, are used in business conversations. On the other hand, I cannot help but be impressed when the speaker use words to paint a clear picture, even in the absence of any supporting visual aid. So here are my suggestions for making clear, easily understood and powerful presentations.

* Avoid using vague, non-specific and unimaginative words such as: thing, stuff, something, nobody/none.

* Apply ‘Word Power’. Choose simple yet powerful and persuasive words. For example, use horrendous instead of rather high to describe an extreme situation.

* Choose words that will not cause offence on grounds of religion, gender, culture, ethnicity
or disability. Unless it’s a specific request from your audience – do not use bad language during your presentation.

* Always choose words and give examples that will aid your listeners’ understanding of your messages.

Veronica

Dispelling the myths and facts

From our Canary Wharf training room, we share some tips for more successful outcomes when pitching for business, networking, introducing yourself or your business and other speaking situations. Both the spoken and non-spoken aspects of presentations are shared.

Try and tell!
Make your comments on how the tips have helped your and other tips that you have developed yourself.

ENJOY.....

• Prepare your presentation so that you have three to five key messages.

• You can have a similar number of subheads. In this way not only
  is your audience likely to recall the main points of your presentation, they will find it easier to remember details associated with each key message.

• Do not force your audience to recall a long list of points – you are guaranteed to lose them along the way.

Public Speaking myths and facts

Myth: You are born with the talent to be a public speaker, you cannot learn to become one.
FACT: People can be trained to become great, indeed exceptional, public speakers.

Myth: Frequent use of ‘Ahms’ or ‘Ahs’ when speaking shows you are intelligent.
FACT: At best, use of ‘Ahms’ or ‘Ahs’ in speech shows that you have not clearly thought out
your response. At worst, it irritates listeners.


More useful tips in '77 Key Tips for Public Speaking', 'Speaking with Confidence' and in the quarterly newsletter 'Winning by Speaking'