The Presentation Advantage

Dr. Stephen R. Covey with Elizabeth

during his famous LIVE “Big Rocks” Presentation.

Welcome back to week number two of our 3-week BusinessCommunication Series.  In case you missed last week’s session, The Writing Advantage, you can follow this link to read it now. 

Presentations have been a common form of business communication for some time.  We can give a presentation at an internal meeting, on a sales call or even in the class room.  Below are a few points for consideration. 

Meetings - Keep in mind that people are making crucial business decisions based on your information.  Make sure that your point is clear and welcomes input.  If you can provide a handout with key points and place for your notes, this will help them know what to focus on during your time in the front of the room. 

Sales Presentation - A good sales presentation should be interactive with the client.  If you have done a good job analyzing what the client needs, when it’s time to recommend your solution, you can ask questions that are checking their buy in along the way.  Be prepared to adjust on the fly if needed.  Continuing down the path as a talking head in the front of the room and not addressing their concerns will kill your opportunity.

Classroom Facilitation - This is usually reserve for experienced trainers, but even leaders can be put in this position from time to time.  Knowing your content well and connecting with your audience is key!

Regardless of which situation you are in, following these few tips below can help increase your effectiveness.

1.       Design - Taking time to design your presentation is key.  Remeber to "Begin with the End in Mind."  You need to identify the needs of your audience.  What points do you want to make?  What do you want them to do a result after seeing your presentation?

2.       Check point - If your presentation requires equipment, allow adequate time to connect everything and check to make sure everything is working (sound, slides, projector, etc.)

3.       Pictures - A picture is worth …. (you know the rest).  Using a powerful image to make your point is far more effective than writing out the bullet points of your speech

4.       Keep Moving - There is power in stillness … when making your point.  After you do so, keep the content flowing and feel free to move across the room and engage with your entire audience.

5.       Build Up - When you look at a tall building, your eyes typically take you to the top.  Your presentation should do that for your audience.  As you land key points, make sure they are guiding them to the one key takeaway you want them to know.

6.       Close - When it’s time to wrap it up, review your points, restate your purpose and close strong!

These are just a few helpful tips.  If you want to watch some great presentations, I highly recommend a website called www.ted.com.  You will see some amazing presentations and I’m sure you will laugh, learn and become inspired!

If your team needs better presentation skills, I highly recommend our 2-day PresentationAdvantage Program.  This is limited to 12 participants in the classroom.  Participants will bring actual presentations that they are currently working on.  They will draft their presentation and practice segments of it over the 2-day period.  More importantly, our consultants record their sessions for them so they can see their body language, eye movement, connection with audience, etc.  By the end of the 2-days participants have the mind-set, skill-set and tool-set to create effective presentations every time!

I attended this content a few years ago and I know that it made a significant impact on my capability to deliver a quality presentation.  For more information, please request a meeting using our meeting invitation tool on the right side of this page or simply call me at 214-387-9960.

Enabling greatness, one organization at a time,

John Vakidis

Can we get along too well?

Today is the first Friday in May.  You know what that means, right?  Another great blog from my friend and colleague, Mark Murphy.  Mark is a senior consultant with FranklinCovey and has worked with organizations across the globe to help them with everything productivity, leadership and team performance.  If you have ever worked in an organization where teams were “stuck” from achieving their potential, then this month’s post might bring back a few memories. 

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Within the last month I’ve had the opportunity of working with two very different organizations struggling with one very similar issue.  One organization was a small privately held resort company in Colorado and the other was the UK office of an Italian-based multinational organization.  The issue was trust…or more specifically…the lack of trust. 

I was fascinated by how different and yet how similar the teams in both organizations were.  Even though one team was struggling to grow beyond the vision of a single entrepreneur and the other was working to integrate new team members from various cultural backgrounds; they were both essentially stuck in what Bruce Tuckman calls the “storming” stage of team development.

 According to Tuckman, all teams go through a natural process of development that consists of 4 phases:  1) Forming 2) Storming 3) Norming and 4) Performing.  (Bruce Tuckman reference).  Looking at the behavior of small groups in a variety of environments, he recognized the distinct phases teams go through and suggested they need to experience all four stages before they achieve maximum effectiveness.  This process can be subconscious, although an understanding of the stages can help a group reach effectiveness more quickly and less painfully. 

The “Storming” stage is when, as the name suggests, members can become hostile and combative.  As goals and objectives are clarified, team members become aware of any gaps between reality and their initial expectations. They may experience dissatisfaction with the team’s objectives and may begin to question the ability of their leadership.  If these issues are not addressed quickly and openly with what Steven R. Covey in his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,  calls a “combination of courage and consideration”, the team may never get to the next stage which is Norming.  Norming is where members begin to resolve conflicts through increased cooperation and trust.  They settle in to norms on how to work together.  They rally around each other with common spirit and goals and get down to work. 

Norming is an essential step to the final goal of an effective team, which is Performing.  Performing is when team members work together productively and produce high-quality results. They prevent problems or work through them constructively.  They provide their own direction and encouragement and feel satisfaction in working with the team.  These high-performing teams are able to function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision.

I think the key work here is inappropriate conflict.  Not all conflict is bad.   In seeking the balance of courage and consideration required to get beyond the storming stage teams must be able to, not only experience conflict, but actually embrace it.  I’ve worked with teams and organizations that are overly courageous and frank in their opinions without consideration for the feelings of others. These highly courageous yet inconsiderate teams rarely get beyond the storming stage.   I’ve also worked with teams that are overly considerate and afraid to confront issues with any degree of honesty or courage.  I’ve found that these teams are just as likely to get stuck in the storming stage.   As Steven Covey states, maturity in an individual as well as a team requires balancing both courage and consideration.

 In his book “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team”, Patrick Lencioni states that ultimately teams fail to get results or Perform because of an Absence of Trust which leads to a Fear of Conflict. 

Notice (below) that the solution to a lack of trust lies, not in removing all conflict, but rather through embracing appropriate conflict with open, honest, thoughtful dialogue.  Steven Covey says the ultimate form of a Win-Win is to find agreement where both parties mutually benefit or to have both parties agree to disagree agreeably. 

So…back to the original question.  Can we all get along too well?  I believe we can.  If we want to create a high performing team that gets consistently superb results we have to create a high trust environment where people feel they can openly disagree.  An environment where differing views are not just tolerated, but actually celebrated.  An environment that understands how Storming can ultimately lead to Performing.  This is as true in the mountains of Colorado as it is in the UK.



- Mark Murphy, FranklinCovey Consultant             

Copyright © 2012 - Mark Murphy

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So it’s time for a little assessment.  Where is your team on the scale below?

1) Forming     2) Storming     3) Norming     4) Performing

If your answer was not 4, then we should chat.  Even if your team is Norming, what would it be worth to your organization if we could help you get to Performing?  For most organizations we visit with the financial ROI is huge.  If you are just Forming or Storming, them the ROI is even greater.

Be courageous enough to admit where you are at and contact me to set up a call with Mark and your FranklinCovey Client Partner.  I am confident to say that the time you give us will be well spent  to learn how we can help.

Helping increase performance one team at a time,

John Vakidis