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Simple is Powerful
the quest for powerful communication skills for executives
By Mark Sincevich

Synopsis

"If you know yourself and know your audience, you will never fear the result of a 100 presentations." -adapted from Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"

When your message resonates, your audience will lend you their hearts because your messages are getting through. In your journey from being a good speaker to transforming into a great speaker, your consistent and powerful communication style will give comfort to your employees, your comrades and your peers. The clarity of your messaging is a clear sign of your leadership ability, for the better you speak, the more you will be asked to speak and to lead others. It's so often true that your greatest fear may be your greatest asset. There is certainly a powerful communicator hiding in each of us. It just takes practice and perseverance to get it out.  

This white paper will discuss the following,

·      continual speaking improvement
·      executive presence
·      how to resonate with your audience
·      getting your project approved, and
·      communication as a key component of leadership

I remember one assignment at a telecommunications company in Denver, Colorado. I had a hard time getting the executives engaged in both creating content and practicing the delivery of their presentation. The presentation to the customer was over two weeks away. The executives were getting scheduled into meetings or allowing themselves to be distracted by such non-essential tasks as E-mail or vibrating cell phones. It seemed in this high technology company everything was a priority unless there was a meeting at a customer site the next day. Is it human nature to put things off to the last minute?

I think it's a personality trait of a few individuals to put important tasks off to the last minute. The effect is compounded by technology and the constant interruptions that it affords. Some of the telecommunications executives and other managers 'thought' they could continue to 'wing it' or not put in quality rehearsal time into their presentations. I have even worked with executives who have chosen to reinforce a successful meeting or customer appointment by de-emphasizing the importance of proper presentation practice.

In other words, if the meeting went well, these executives will not think it is because they practiced their presentation or their communication skills. Can you follow this logic? Reinforcing the last minute mentality while putting less emphasis on preparation. They fail to realize it is their communication ability that got them to the meeting or appointment in the first place. And unless these same executives continue to nurture their communication ability, it will be the lack of its emphasis that will cause their careers to flame out.  

Continual Speaking Improvement
The most successful executives recognize the value in hiring a mentor or a coach to help them to improve. A keen way to illustrate this point is through photography. Each time I take a photograph, I ask myself how I can improve the final result. By asking this simple, yet powerful question, I can take small steps to improve my photographs every time. Self-improvements can be as simple as remembering to bring my tripod or making sure I allow for extra time to wait for the right lighting conditions. Other times I need to work harder over a longer period of time. I might recognize the need to work with a skilled professional from time to time to show me how to improve my lighting or how to be better positioned to make that brilliant photograph. There are some strategies that work as 'quick fixes' but the long lasting ones require more time and focus.   

I have taken the concept of working with other photography professionals and continue to apply it to my speaking. I work with mentors and coaches on a wide range of subjects related to my business such as marketing, sales, Internet marketing, public relations, accounting and the skill of professional speaking. I am an active member of the National Speakers Association and each month I work with other professionals in our meetings, over the phone or at speaker's showcases to improve my presentation content and delivery. In addition, I speak over 30 times a year on the subject of focused leadership. Focused leadership has three main segments much like the three legs of a tripod, creativity, communication and life balance.

One of the reasons why I value the work of other photography professionals is due to their active pursuit of their photographic talents. I believe in the importance of learning from others who have relevant knowledge and recent photography experience. The same applies to speaking. Are you hiring a mentor or coach who only mentors or coaches or one that mentors and continues to speak? The later is the most important combination, because relevant experience can be brought to bear back on your own situation. If the coach is very comfortable with himself on the platform, then this confidence is going to be conveyed to you, the executive being tutored. Another word for this self-confidence is presence.  

Executive Presence
Presence relates to the highest compliment a speaker can receive. The compliment often goes like this. "You were the same person in front of the audience or on the platform as you were talking to me one-on-one or with a small group of people." Truly this is what Stephen Covey speaks about in his concept of congruency. The person you want to be is, in fact, the person you are being right now at this very moment. The best way to increase your own presence is to work with a coach who has this quality. Also, wouldn't you want the added benefit of working with a coach who speaks on a regular basis? Besides successful executives like to work with other successful people. Success breeds even more success.  

Presence also relates to being comfortable with your subject matter and how you present your expertise. On one speaking assignment, I had to travel to Michigan. The major challenge on this particular assignment was my contact had written a script for each executive on the team. He wanted all four of the presenters to say exactly what he wanted down to where they should pause in their delivery. While a script or an article may be a good place to start in order to become more familiar with your material, it should not be used to continually rehearse for a presentation. Also, scripts written by somebody else have no room for the personal stories of each individual presenter. My contact was thinking of a misplaced theatrical component to speaking.

While 'knowing your lines' or knowing the content is a necessary component to speaking, presenting with power involves tapping into the uniqueness of each person. It's this passion for the subject matter that will pull in the audience. This is why one actor will elicit a powerful reaction from the audience while another actor will get a lukewarm response. As you continue to rehearse your material, you will know when to pause for maximum effect instead of being told to do so by somebody else.  

From a photography perspective, having a script is akin to taking photographs at a sign that says 'Best Photograph Here.' While you may get a good photograph by standing on the spot with a big red X, there is no room for individual expression and the interesting stories of how you made your photograph. This uniqueness is what will get you remembered. When executives present, the delivery can and should alter the content. This makes both the content and the delivery more congruent and increases the chances of the key messages being remembered. I will spend more time on this concept later in this white paper, but remember the more time you spend repeating key themes in the appropriate places in your presentation, the higher the chance your audiences will have of remembering exactly what you want them to remember.  

Why is this so? An hour after your presentation is over, your audience will remember about 60% of the material. After one day the material remembered drops to 40% and after one week all that is remembered is about 10%. What happens after two or more weeks is anyone's guess, but the percentage of the material remembered drops into the single digits. All your audience is really going to remember are 3-5 key points, the passion you brought to your program and if they liked you.

Now back to expertise. Each presenter has some sort of technical, marketing, product or institutional knowledge that makes him or her an expert in such areas as finance, operations, project management, strategy, etc. The people in these positions have been at their respective organizations for a long period of time partly because they are very good at what they do. These executives continue to get promoted because they can deliver results. However, results alone can only go so far. The ability to be remembered in a positive and powerful way is extremely important to building solid relationships.

The best speakers are able to take their expertise, combine it with presence and deliver a program that is both well received and gets them remembered. Being remembered is really a marketing campaign in and of itself. The more you are remembered in a positive light, the greater the chance your audience has of taking positive action on your behalf. And delivering a great program might just be the 'tipping point' to get you promoted. Taking this concept a step further is to bring up resonance.  

Resonate With Your Audience
Resonance refers to how well you know your audience; their hot buttons and what will spur your audience to action. When you introduce your creative vision, it is your ability to resonate with the audience that will determine how well they will take action. If there is a higher the degree of resonance, then there is more potential for positive action to take place. Before I started my freshman year of college, I attended an information session for the U.S. Air Force ROTC.

The main speaker was the commandant of the ROTC program, a 'full bird' Colonel Noble. Here was a man who at the time had been in the military for over 20 years. He spoke with a powerful voice, but not too powerful. His voice told you he cared about you while at the same time challenging you to be more than you ever thought possible. He used his position not to tower over others, but to connect with others in a simple way and on the same level. He really tapped into the patriotic spirit present in many people including me. I was 17 years old, impressionable to a point, and his message of joining ROTC really hit home with me. I signed up for ROTC on the spot along with many others! Colonel Noble's message had a high degree of resonance.  

Colonel Noble became a surrogate father figure to me. He spent extra time to teach me navigation, inquired about my grades, and made me feel appreciated. At the end of my first year, all of my hard work paid off. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the 'Cadet of the Month' during parent's weekend before the end of the semester. You have the ability to make a powerful difference just as Colonel Noble did for me each time you speak. Paying attention to your speaking one time will help a little, but it's more important to continue to improve your speaking consistently over time.

Let me give you another photography metaphor. After taking a photograph, I often ask myself, "What did I learn from taking this photograph?" If you ask this simple question each time you speak, you will definitely improve. And if you listen, your audience will tell you how. It's contained in the questions they ask, the looks they give and the feedback or lack thereof after your program is over. The best way is to start sharing your talents and revealing more about yourself. The more you reveal about yourself, the more your audience will be engaged. This will cause some audience members to want to reveal information to you. Remember we all have a desire to be heard and understood. It's time you tapped into this fact.  

However, it's more than just telling your personal stories; it's really sharing how you felt about them. If you want to be a great storyteller, you need to relive your stories. Tell your audiences how you feel and felt. If you are bit nervous, don't worry. Speaking in front of others is definitely in the top three in terms of most fearful activities. I think the fear of death is number three. Public speaking and having your cavities drilled and filled are in a shoot out for the top spot! To be a great public speaker means to relive your personal stories while giving your audience a theme or themes to follow with a healthy dose of passion. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "All the great speakers where bad speakers first." The thing that separates the good speakers from the ones who continue to be uncomfortable is how you confront and then overcome your fear.  

If it's been 7 years since you spoke in front of a group, you should seriously consider volunteering your time to speak in your community on a regular basis or creating opportunities at work to speak. In Ancient Rome, there were three activities emphasized over all others, reading, writing and public speaking! Obviously, the Romans didn't have E-mail, television or the US Postal Service. They had to rely on their wit, intellect, and powerful communications skills in order to have their messages resonate with as many people as possible. Remember this the next time you hear the line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."

And when your audience lends you their hearts, you will know your presentation resonated. In your journey from being a good speaker to transforming into a great speaker, your consistent and powerful communication style will give comfort to your employees, your comrades and your peers. The clarity of your messaging is a clear sign of your leadership ability and the better you speak, the more you will be asked to speak and to lead others. It's so often true that your greatest fear may be your greatest asset. There is certainly a powerful communicator hiding in each of us. It just takes practice and perseverance to get it out.  

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Mark Sincevich works with organizations to develop leaders with more focus and creativity. He does this through a unique photography angle in his speaking programs and writing. Mark is the chief perspective officer of his company, Leading with Focus, and the executive director of the Digital Photography Institute. He can be reached at 301-654-3010 or www.LeadingwithFocus.com .