Does Your Attitude Impact Your Life?

Part of growing up is realizing that we have control over our attitudes and that we CHOOSE to have the 'tudes that we do.

I love what this man says - I was raised in home of 'think positively' and it took! My own mantra has been: the differeence between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude.

Charles Swindol says:

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than an education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone

Question for you: How do you check your attitude?

Are You Making Effective Presentations? Part 1 of 2

This personal development skill has surfaced because I’m working with my sister on her commencement address for the special ed school at which she taught. She’s great on her feet in front of the kids, but has serious butterflies about making such a formal speech – got parents, peers, board members, etc. Very different from the classroom!

So I’ve resurrected a list of the basics in making effective presentations and remind her (AND myself) that: The man who believes he can do anything is probably right, and so it the man who believes he can’t. (Henry Ford)

But it doesn’t hurt to have a little help doing the ‘thing’, does it?

    

Part 1:

Key Factors for Successful Presentations
Presentation Myths

Part 2: (Thursday May 10, 2012)

Do’s and Don’ts of Delivering Presentations
The Message of Color

Presentation Evaluation Form for Assessing Delivery and Organization

(available online)

Key Factors for Successful Presentations

Key success factors that must be considered when preparing a presentation are:

Audience

The first step in preparing a presentation, the step that has to be completed before you even begin to do your research and a task that is often discounted or overlooked - knowing your audience.

The basic content of presentation can be customized for different audiences.  Consider how a new product launch presentation for your workgroup differs from the presentation given to customers or to a group of sales reps. 

Now think about the different types of audiences with which you come into contact.  How do you vary your approach to the presentation and the actual content?  How often do you disregard your audience because, “I’m only speaking to fill-in-the-name?”

Content

Having the content of your presentation organized in a logical order is critical.

If you build a well-structured speech, your audience will come to hear you and will stay to listen.  Your message is what’s important but, if your speech is disjointed, or in disarray, the audience won’t hear it.

How often have you dreaded going into a meeting because you know the main speaker is difficult to follow? Or you dread the meeting because you’ve heard the speaker before and walked out wondering why you wasted your time?

Format

After you’ve done your homework, know your audience, have your content organized, the next question is how to actually present or display the material.

Slides, flipcharts, and handouts are the choices we consider most often but what should they look like and how many should be used?  What are you comfortable using and do you use that medium even if it isn’t the most effective in a given situation? 

Practice, Practice, Practice

If there is a recurring theme in any presentation skills class, this is it.  You practice while you’re learning presentation skills but most importantly, and what you will see and hear emphasized throughout, is that to be an effective/successful speaker or presenter you have to practice.

Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect. Vince Lombardi

Presentation Myths

Here are the top ten myths most people have about making presentations along with a brief reality check.  As you read through these, honestly determine how many of these myths you hold true.  This quick assessment will enable you to quickly identify some of the areas in which you need to work.

1.      It should feel natural

Says who?  Most people come to presentation skills training because they want to eliminate nervousness.

Reality: You can control and manage your nervousness but you can’t eliminate it.  For most of us, the fear of making presentations never really goes away.  Some nervous energy is good - it keeps you dynamic.  The goal is to channel your nervous energy into a positive performance.

2.      Start with a joke

While humor is important, it’s different from comedy.  If you’re not a “natural” at telling jokes, you might alienate the audience.

Reality: Don’t do it.  You don’t have to be funny to be effective.  Use humor or irony instead of telling a joke or simply start with a story or quote.  Throw away the jokes.  More often than not, they backfire.

3.      I  just need to believe in myself and I’ll develop confidence

Confidence is a quality held by those lucky people who can walk into any room and look perfectly at ease in any situation.  We admire it.  We envy it.  We want it, so much so that we’ll go to great lengths to cover its loss or lack.

Reality: Confidence comes from three things and only three things: 1. Knowing what to do, 2. Learning how to do it, and 3. Doing it often enough so that you can do it with confidence (practice, practice, practice). 

4.      Memorize your speech

Memorizing your presentation increases your nervousness.  What happens if you blank out and forget a word?  You’ll have to quickly skim your text or tolerate long, embarrassing silences.

Reality: It’s more effective to memorize concepts, not words.  If you forget a word, you can make your point another way or go on to a new point.  Your audience will not know the difference.  Avoid using manuscripts.  Notes and outlines will more helpful in keeping you on track. 

5.      It’s the content that counts

The content counts, but in today’s world, style all too often holds the advantage over substance.

Reality:  Audiences remember approximately 7% of what you say, 38% of how you say it, and 55% of what your body is doing.  This means that if your body is doing something just a little out of the ordinary, your audience may not even retain that lowly 7%.  Appearance, body language, and posture all play a part in your effectiveness as a presenter.

6.      I must appear professional

In trying to appear professional, presenters fall into the trap of using language and acronyms that only an expert on the topic can understand.  Presenting material in an  incomprehensible way usually appears stiff.

Reality: A professional is someone who has expertise.

A presenter is someone who shares that expertise with others

A professional presenter makes certain the audience gets the information

A pseudo-professional presenter is someone who wants to show off

Unintelligible presentations do not transmit information; information that is not transmitted cannot be bought or bought into

7.      Look over the heads of the audience

Stare at a spot on the wall instead of looking at your audience to decrease your nervousness.  Actually, this technique increases nervousness because you begin to feel alienated from your audience.  Would you meet a person and stare over their head while you’re being introduced?

Reality: Look directly at key individuals.  We connect through our eyes.  Look at a few people in different areas of the room, one at time.  This creates a relationship and it’s less scary to give your message to each person than to a large crowd.

8.      Rehearsing makes me stale

Most people hate the rehearsing as much as they fear doing the presentation.  One of the main reasons for this fear is the same one that causes most people to avoid public speaking – the fear of exposing inadequacies.  The dread of rehearsal has to do with exposing oneself to oneself and this causes people to put off rehearsal as long as possible

Reality: Rehearsal is not memorization, nor is it going over what you want to say in your mind.

Rehearsal is a process during which you:

Learn and internalize that material

Develop and internalize complementary facial expressions and body language

Create and internalize interesting vocal inflections

Develop and internalize vocal patterns (where do you speed up/slow down, speak softly or loudly, etc.)

Only after you’ve done all of the above can you pull everything together and keep your focus on the audience.

Practice - Practice - Practice 

9.      Easy for you

We all have watched professional presenters, trainers, speakers, etc., and it looks so easy it’s difficult to believe that we could ever be that good.

Reality: Professional presenters make it look easy, but not because they do this for a living.  The truth is that even the most experienced presenter is nervous going in front of an audience with new material.  What they learned to do is avoid falling into the myths and pitfalls discussed on this list.  What any successful/effective presenter does is take the time to:

Learn who his/her audience is and what they need

Make sure the content of the presentation is organized in a logical sequence

Use the best possible format for the situation (e.g., it does no good to develop a set of slides or transparencies if there’s no way to show them).

10.  Practice, Practice, Practice.


Adapted from Knockout Presentations, by Diane DiResta

It's All About Your Relationships

Everyone…wants the same thing life: to be recognized, to be cared for, and to be given an opportunity to grow.  And, if you’re authentic and trustful, people will realize that and they’ll respond.

Fast Company Magazine

“A Leader’s Journey” (Issue 25)

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone

But is SMART enough?

DIVE into GOAL SETTING

Personal growth and professional development depend heavily on the goals we set for ourselves and others. We look for something to achieve and set the plan in motion – whether we work in our own business or for someone else.

Goal setting has become equated in so many places with the SMART process - I think of it as Goal Setting 101 -  that is, goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Oriented and Time-Framed; this is an excellent start. You can tell when you’re making progress.

But is SMART enough?

I’ve been participating in a LinkedIn group discussion about stretch goals – are they helpful or harmful? Opinions are diverse, but I believe goal setting has to begin with the straightforward SMART approach AND go on from there.

Increasingly, many of us find something lacking in SMART – each year in early January, I encounter articles that theorize there’s more to goal setting than SMART.

And I do so agree. It seems like we ought to be up to Goal Setting 201 in the business world by now. SMART is the basis for a clearly identified goal, but where’s the real motivation, the passion we need to OVER-ACHIEVE the goal? Isn’t that really what you’re looking for?

I’m thinking in terms of Advanced Goal Setting now and I call it DIVE™ - see what you think:

D – Difficult – we’re talking about a goal that’s not just attainable (A), but has stretch to it – that really challenges someone. The goal is not impossible to achieve, but after discussing with a team member how he/she may extend themselves and gaining agreement to the importance of the goal, why not add a degree of difficulty? People do rise to challenges.

I - I CARE - there is certainly no point in creating any goal if the team member is checked out of the job, has no commitment to the work. “I CARE” says this goal matters, it’s important and I understand how it fits in the overall scheme of business results here. My work and the achievement of my goals complement the larger organization’s achievement – that makes me valuable to the enterprise – I’m glad to be recognized for the work I do and the contributions I make.

V – Visionary – this is a characteristic we usually ascribe to leaders, but we also underrate team members’ abilities to see down the road. Helping a team member envision where the achievement of this goal could lead is opening doors he/she never imagined they might get through. I’ve used a great technique: use stickies to have team members post different thoughts in a central locale about how things will look once this goal is accomplished, what will be different, how will things work, what will it mean for our customers? This is a powerful motivator.

E – Extra Effort – If the goal has some stretch to it, extra effort will naturally be required. But because your team member can see the gain behind this goal, because he/she says “I CARE”, they’re willing to give that bit of extra – maybe it’s reading, maybe it’s taking an online course, maybe it’s tutoring someone else – you and the team member can think of many ways to reach the goal.

So DIVE™ sums up what I consider the next level of goal setting – and it’s worth diving (sorry!) in to the depths of goal setting – this is where it all begins with your team members, where you have the opportunity to set the stage for the year, to engage their ownership and buy-in to what needs to be done, to begin developing that all-important relationship that makes such a difference in everyday work life.

No need to rehash all the studies that say “people don’t quit companies, they quit their managers”. The managers who work to create strong business relationships, who involve team members in goal setting, who work with team members to achieve goals, always have the edge - and they have the most loyal team members.

Just DIVE™!!!

D = Difficult

I = I CARE

V = Visionary

E = Extra Effort

Question for you: What standards do you use to set your own goals?

Five Communication Skills Questions

The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.  Edward R. Murrow

We say communication is all-important and, of course, it is. But couldn't most of us do a better job? Aren't there times when you feel you're just not making yourself clear?  Why doesn't anybody understand what I say???

Check yourself – here are five questions to determine if critical communication skills are regularly being practiced in your organization or in your life:

1. Do you or your managers see that communication is a two-way process?

2. Do you and your managers construct clear, concise messages in the interest of the listener?

3. Are nonverbal behaviors handled in a way that will reinforce the intent of the message?

4. Do you or your managers use active listening to improve communication?

5. Do you or your managers create a climate of open communication to increase team members’ motivation and commitment?

Need communications skills help in your life or business? Many of us do!
We've found success with the Leadership Series ESSENTIALS online courses.I like this series of personal and leadership development courses – they’re focused on the basics and not just for new leaders. Individuals working with ANYONE could sharpen these skills - and it’s surprising how many experienced leaders could use a refresher in the basics!

Essential Skills of Communicating helps team leaders and team members learn effective techniques in developing strong communication skills. Practice the skills taught in this online course and you’re creating a culture of improved performance and increased productivity for the team, as well as the organization.

Learn more here – you can even preview the online course for FREE.

Question for you: Got 1.5 hours to invest in improving communication skills?

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone

The Beauty and The Beast of Recognition Part 1 of 3

This month has been loaded with posts about developing your personal and professional self - especially with regard to leading others. And I know that one of the most over-looked, under-developed and under-utilized areas of leading is the ability to effectively recognize and reward team members. (The best part of this practice is that it works as well in your personal life with kids, other family members, committees you work with, etc. as it does in your professional world).

The Beauty and The Beast of Recognition

Can you recall the greatest recognition you ever received? Maybe it was in a work situation, possibly at home or for a volunteer effort? Was it money? If it was, do you even recall the amount? Most likely, you do not.

In leadership classes when I’ve asked this question, people cannot recall a check amount, but they do cite specific acknowledgements they received – they remember something personal that called attention to their unique accomplishment. And they were most appreciative of the recognition – they remember it for a long time.

Today, if you ask some one what they’d LIKE to receive as recognition, the first thing they’ll say is “Money” and they mean it. No problem. But that isn’t always an option is it? Great to hand out checks, but funds aren’t unlimited in most places, so you have to get creative about the kinds of recognition you provide.

Let's start with the purpose behind recognizing someone.

Ideally, recognition is not something reserved just for unusual or big achievements. It’s day-to-day; it's a way to acknowledge the value of each person as a unique contribution to the business/committee/community/team, etc.

What Is Recognition Supposed to Do?

This is The BEAUTY of Recognition because it should...

Acknowledge the contributions and special efforts made by individuals, teams, groups - call out what's unique or above the standard

Reinforce the those work behaviors you want to see more of; teamwork, attention to customers, innovation, etc

Create a positive work environment - and that adds to team member job satisfaction (which is notoriously low if measured)

Enhance your team members' sense of value to the organization

All excellent reasons for taking the opportunity to recognize a team member or a group of team members.

On the flop side, I’ve seen people react very negatively to recognition- why would that be? Often because of the way the recognition is handled.

This is The BEAST of Recognition because sometimes...
(Think about these effects at HOME and at WORK)

The same person gets recognized repeatedly until it seems no one else has a chance of ever being recognized.

Someone so shy that he/she is embarrassed by a public presentation of an award.

An award is given that was excessive to the accomplishment.

Steady, constant, dependable and reliable work is overlooked for a splashy performance from another team member.

Recognition is distributed so that every team member gets recognized over the course of a year and it just looks  like the “expected” reward that everyone would eventually receive – nothing special.

These can all become such negative factors in recognition that many managers would prefer to leave it alone or handle it in a perfunctory manner – they just get too many complaints; they don’t have a good program in place to provide meaningful recognition.

One of the purposes of recognition is to create a positive work environment. A well-designed and delivered recognition process can help that a lot. On the other hand, a poorly handled recognition program will create more dissatisfaction than no program at all!

Question for You: Have you seen particularly effective or ineffective recognition programs and what have been the effects?

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone

Inspiration and Motivation for All Ages

Don't we all collect the things that will inspire us in some way - some of these things sit around the house as visual reminders, others are stuck on the edges of our monitors or mirrors, lots of stuff is stored in notebooks or on our desktops? It's all part of our personal and professional development - lessons from others, tips to remember.

But there's STUFF isn't there? And it's important to us even if we only come back to it now and then.

That's what happened with this collection - lots of special writings that I've held on to for ages.


Then this spring we had a female family reunion - it seemed like a good idea to put the best items in a binder, haul them to the beach and give each woman her own edition.

We were ages 83 down to 11 – and the collection was a great success. The "saltier" items didn't make the cut because of the 11 year old, but there's humor, stories guaranteed to tear you up and lots of words to remember and inspire or motivate. The binder became Inspiration and Motivation for All Ages.

So I wondered, why not share this with others who would enjoy the variety of entries?

Just click there, get your own copy and then add to it the treasures you collect.

Hope you enjoy this
AND
I'd really like for you to let me know your favorites.

“You’re hearing, but you’re not listening.”

“You’re hearing, but you’re not listening.” Ever heard anyone say that? It’s true that lots of people don’t actually tune in to what’s REALLY being said – they may nod (while looking at their smart phone), they may make fleeting eye contact, but do they hear the underlying message being delivered by the speaker?

In yesterday's post about customer needs, reference was made to active listening - this of course is one of those people skills that we all need to master as leaders, friends, family members, community participants...everywhere!

Here are some terrific reminders about active listening.

Guidelines for Active Listening and Reflection

(Also known as Empathic Listening) by Don Sharp

As Studies from over twenty-five years of experience with non-directive interviewing in industry have produced a series of guides for emphatic listening. For a manager the most useful of these guides are:

 1. Listen patiently to what the other person has to say, even though you may believe it is wrong or irrelevant. Indicate simple acceptance, not necessarily agreement, by nodding or perhaps injecting an occasional "mm-hmm" or "I see"

 2. Try to understand the feeling the person is expressing, as well as the intellectual content. Most of us have difficulty talking clearly about our feelings, so it is important to pay careful attention.

 3. Restate the person's feeling briefly, but accurately. At this stage you simply serve as a mirror. Encourage the other person to continue talking. Occasionally make summary responses such as, "You think you are in a dead-end job", or "You feel the manager is playing favorites." In doing so, keep your tone neutral and try not to lead the person to your pet conclusions.

 4. Allow time for the discussion to continue without interruption and try to separate the conversation from more official communication of company plans. Do not make the conversation any more "authoritative" than it already is by virtue of your position in the organization.

 5. Avoid direct questions and arguments about facts; refrain from saying, "That is just not so", "Hold on a minute, let's look at the facts", or "Prove it." You may want to review evidence later, but a review is irrelevant to how a person feels now.

 6. When the other person touches on a point you want to know more about, simply repeat his statement as a question. For instance, if he remarks, "Nobody can break even on his expense account", you can probe by replying, "You say no one breaks even on expenses?" With this encouragement he will probably expand on his previous statement.

 7. Listen for what is not said, evasions of pertinent points or perhaps too-ready agreement with common clichés. Such an omission may be a clue to a bothersome fact the person wishes were not true.

 8. If the other person appears to genuinely want your viewpoint, be honest in your reply. In the listening stage, try to limit the expression of your views since these may influence or inhibit what the other person says.

 9. Do not get emotionally involved yourself. Try simply to understand first and defer evaluation until later.

 10. BE QUIET. Let the other person talk. Actively listen to what THEY have to say.

Question for you: Are you an active or passive listener?

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone

How do we "sharpen the saw"?

In Day #17 Blogging Ideas, Michelle Schaeffer suggested writing about, “What is something that many people assume about your business?” Great idea and here's the first on the list:

Because we work with the development of leadership skills for your personal and professional worlds, I’m reminded of something people tend to assume in this business; many people think someone who has been a manager/supervisor/leader has all the answers – that they’ve experienced it all.

Well, of course, no way! If you’ve led people at work, on a team, on a committee, you have certainly seen LOTS of interesting "stuff", but not everything. And all the training in the world can’t equip you for the range of “unexpecteds” you’ll encounter in situations and peoples’ behaviors.

That’s why our mantra is “You Never Stop Learning”. For each of us, growth and the need for development go on. We can constantly renew our abilities to work with those unexpected situations and behaviors.

My ProStar Coach FOCUS Page

What helps me? I spend time each week in my online personal development workbook/system: ProStar Coach. 


My FOCUS for ACTION & REFLECTION this week and last has been on three Personal Strengths: EFFORT, SELF-CONFIDENCE AND COMMITMENT.

Many of us have worked with all three throughout our careers, but don’t you sometimes just want to “sharpen the saw” as Covey taught us in Habit #7?

That’s what I do with ProStar – I work reflection activities each week that force me to go a little deeper into personal strengths and people skills that we all need for success. And many of the postings on the Ultimate Challenge Blog have been things I incorporated into my reflection activities. They've been a great help.

Strong Relationships + Solid Leadership = Success for Everyone

Question for you: What specific personal strengths and people skills have you targeted for yourself?