Leadership Lessons Blog

Leadership and Presentation Skills

 digg it |   delicious |   StumbleUpon |  reddit 

No matter where you are in an organization, at some point you are going to have to face the reality that you need to speak in front of other people.  Books have been written about the topic and many of us have been involved in many classes.  Suzanne Bates has talked about how presenting yourself with confidence and skill can make a huge difference in how you are perceived as a leader. 

For many of us, presenting in general causes our stomachs to hurt and sleepness nights.  Others of us find presenting invigorating and influencial.  How do you begin to make the switch so that you are seen as confident and prepared.  Here are some quick tips to help you on your journey toward delivering a better presentation. 

1. Express Enthusiasm.  Nothing is worse than a speaker who simply drones on without any emotion.  The more energized and excited you are about your topic the greater the likelihood that your audience will find you engaging and interesting.  Be physical in the environment.  Use the whole space and make eye contact.  Make it a point to meet your audience before you start speaking.  Those friendly "hellos" act as an ice-breaker and gives you common ground with members of your audience.
2. Speak Clearly.  Sometimes when we're nervous we have a tendency to swallow words.  Audiences become very frustrated if they can't understand what a speaker is saying.  Practice out-loud, use a tape recorder so that you know how you sound.  Practice difficult words if you have too!  By speaking out loud you eliminate hearing the words for the first time in front of a live audience.  The more you practice, the easier it will be when the actual presentation takes place.
3. Know your topic.  It is so much easier to present information to a group when you really understand your topic, can draw from experience or can quote other experts.  The information becomes more powerful and you become more powerful as an expert in the field.  Study your topic.  Don't simply wing-it.  Audiences are very good at spotting an unprepared speaker or presenter.  If you don't know the anwer to a question--be honest.  Get back to the audience with an answer once you've had the time to research the correct response. 
4. Speak slowly and Watch Tempo.  We've all been to presentations when the speaker races through the material and you are left wondering what you were supposed to get from the presentation.  Ideas are lost if you speak too fast.  Remember your audience is hearling the information for the first time.  You have been living with the subject for a while. 
   

Leadership Lessons--The Leader as a Trainer

 digg it |   delicious |   StumbleUpon |  reddit 

One of the most important activities you perform as a leader in your company is the role of the trainer.  If an employee feels secure in the role that he is performing for you, he is more likely to succeed and contribute at a higher level.  Oftentimes, we leave the training to another member of the team and although this is a good way to augment training, the employee should feel that their manager is invested in helping them to succeed.  Remember also that regardless of how long an employee has been in a job, anytime you introduce something new in the way of products and services, the employee needs time to LEARN how best to position the product or service, how to answer questions and most importantly how best to feel comfortable fielding questions.  Please keep the following in mind to ensure that you meet your most vital task as a manager:

1. Be Patient and Be Available:  Employees require time and energy when learning a new product or service or when they are new to a job.  Give them the time to feel comfortable.  Repeat instructions if necessary, cater to how the employee learns.  Some would rather read a book of documentation, some would prefer hands-on training and other need a bit of both.  Whatever the style, the manager must ensure they are willing to devote energy to the learning. 
2. Have a Plan:  One of the most frustrating parts of learning from someone who is disorganized is that the facts become jumbled and the learner gets confused.  As a leader, you owe it to your employee to be organized and to have an agenda or an outline of what needs to be taught and in what order.  If you are training an employee on a particularly difficult tasks with many steps make sure you break down the steps in to bite size pieces so that the employee feels comfortable swallowing the information.
3. Teach By Doing:  Many employees are also visual learners.  It really helps to watch someone performing a task in order to pick up the nuances, ask questions while they are in the process of performing the task and then letting the employee take notes.  Make sure you give the employee ample time to practice, while you are watching them.  In doing so, you are there to help them avoid errors or small steps you might have forgotten  a long the way. 

Whether we are adept at training in small groups or large groups, our employees expect us to be their guideposts for successful transitions in their work world.  Part of your on-boarding process needs to include a training plan for both new employees and seasoned employees especially if you are introducing new activities, products or services.