Talking big - reach out and communicate powerfully
When times are tough people need to ‘up their game’. Here Clive Lewis of Illumine highlights how leaders and managers can develop the ability to reach out and communicate more powerfully .
What’s your natural reaction to economic uncertainty? Do you take fewer risks, delay making the big decisions, keep your head down?
In business such a reaction may be a big mistake. Your employer may rightly want to run a tight ship but that doesn’t mean you have to play small. Indeed at such times it is the opposite that is required. What managers and leaders have to do more than ever when times are tough is be able to engage their colleagues, their clients and their teams more powerfully than ever.
A recent example of a leader who has demonstrated this ability to reach out and talk more persuasively is David Cameron at his last party conference. Instead of standing behind his lectern and delivering a well-honed script he went off-piste, came to the front of the stage and spoke to his audience without notes. His reason? He recognised that he needed to get rid of the obstacles that stood between him and his party so that he might become more visible, more spontaneous and more inspiring.
Now whether or not you support David Cameron isn’t the point here. The issue for you is how you can similarly ‘up your game’ and become much more engaging.
Don’t blow it
Can you imagine yourself standing in front of an audience without powerpoint, without notes, without a script? Just think back to the last time it was vital to get your message across. Did you succeed?
The problem is that many people have a small but insistent voice in their heads at such time telling them ‘not to blow it’. That’s why they prepare so hard, why they spend hours and hours on graphics and typefaces, why they hold on so rigidly to their presentation props. They desperately want to get it right and ensure they don’t make a fool of themselves.
But what does your audience want? They don’t care what’s in your head. They want to be entertained or informed or taken on a voyage of discovery. And that’s your real job; to break out of the conventional mindset that suggests communication is all about what you have to say. It isn’t. You need to recognise that it’s your job to help people hear, understand and act on the message. And in simple terms this means you need to:
• find the right theme for your audience
• structure your talk so that it delivers that theme persuasively
• monitor and adapt to listeners’ reactions as you speak
Free thought
This all sounds very straightforward and it is. Whether you are making a speech, running a meeting or talking to people on a 1:1 basis your communication can be powered up in the following way. First by cutting to the core of your main theme by highlighting the key issues at stake. Second by tackling each of these key issues one at a time in chunks which your audience can easily digest. And finally by linking your ideas in a sequence that gives them force and energy. And it is this structure which makes your communication so persuasive. It ensures that you impose order on the mass of information you have at your disposal and it allows you to get your proposition across by focusing only on those issues that matter most.
And the great reward is that once you have a clear structure to follow that you can then start improvising, being spontaneous, engaging the audience. Be in no doubt that this is exactly what Cameron achieved. He knew what key points he had to hit - he had a plan he was following - but he used this plan as a framework to then go out and engage his supporters.
This ability to ad-lib or improvise is the magic that makes you and your speaking compelling and memorable. And it can be learned. You may have to take a risk or two but be in no doubt you can do it but first let me give you a couple of ways to plan or structure your talks.
Remember first of all you know an enormous amount more about your subject than your audience. Second remember that you don’t have to tell people everything you know. On the contrary you need to ask yourself what will interest them - and then give them that information in a way they can grasp. This is why the so called ‘clock’ plan is so effective. It packages a topic into chunks of time which are sequenced so that the audience can see exactly what is at stake. For example your clock plan might start with
a) Where are we now.
b) Where will we be in x months time when the project starts.
c) Where will we be when we’ve completed the project.
You can adapt this sort of plan to all sorts of situations e.g. buying new services, planning a career, implementing a change project. The point is it gives you and your audience a structure to follow.
Another equally simple plan is the ‘globe’ plan which chops your topic into chunks of space. So for example you might have
a) The view from HR.
b) The view from IT.
c) The view from sales.
And whether you are talking about working practice, customer feedback or doing business differently this sort of plan can provide you and your audience with a framework around which to converse.
Of course there are all sorts of plans to use which are effective in different situations (see more at www.illumine.co.uk/communicate/verbal-communication.html) but let me conclude by talking a little more about how you can then build spontaneity into your talks and presentations.
You are the pilot
The easiest way to think of how your plan helps you is by thinking of a plane which is on autopilot . You are the pilot who has set the course and the heading and who has confidence in the direction in which you are going. You know what speed you are travelling at and at what altitude. You’ve given this information to your passengers and now you can relax.
Here’s your opportunity.
Exactly how you interact with your audience is up to you. You may invite questions; you may tell a story or you might find out more about the people in your audience. There is no right way to interact but be in no doubt that this interplay between you and your audience is your big chance to impress. Why? It gives you the time and space to build a big relationship. If you want to make a powerful impact through your speaking then this ability to interact must be practised. It’s my encouragement to you to let yourself go a bit, have some fun, try out what it’s like to wing-it whilst knowing, of course, that you have your plan to get you back on track if you start wandering off course.
Indeed it’s in your interactions with your audience that you can find out all sorts of information about what they really want. You might pick up by observing their body language that they are more interested in some topics than others. You might ask them questions about whether your topic meets their expectations. You might check in with them about other topics that they’d like to hear more about. Don’t be concerned about what they might say. There may be some questions you can’t answer or which you can’t deal with today. Listen to what they have to say and answer where you can. Maybe you will be able to make mid-course corrections and maybe you wont. The point is to engage with people and be as flexible as you can.
And it’s easy to learn how to do this. It’s a cinch. You simply need to learn the essentials and then commit to practise them. The results are well worth it. Increased confidence and increased impact - guaranteed.
Find out more about the Think On Your Feet® programme here. Or if you are interested in Presentation Skills Training take a look at our Professional Presentations course. Alternatively take a look here to see the whole of our communication skills training course range.
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Tags: Formal communication, Informal communication, Think On Your Feet® (Training), Verbal Communication
Tags: Formal communication, Informal communication, Think On Your Feet® (Training), Verbal Communication