In my book Talking Points: 25 Tips for Clear, Credible Communication, Tip #17 states: “Managers and professionals in positions of responsibility got there by finding solutions to problems. They didn’t rely on someone else to come up with the remedy. They worked to find solutions proactively.” Those of us in positions of responsibility can demonstrate our management fitness by looking for and adding a proactive step whenever we encounter potential problems. Adding that proactive step demonstrates our ability to take responsibility for the outcome of situations. Nothing speaks “management” more than this.

Finding creative solutions to unusual and routine situations
helps develop your management skills.

In addition to taking that proactive step ourselves, part of our responsibility as managers is teaching our staff how to do this for themselves. Most of us in our careers have worked for a manager who tended to monitor every detail of our work. The result is we felt no empowerment to seek solutions on our own and to find methods of handling problems without that person’s involvement. The problem this sort of micro-monitoring causes is lack of motivation on the part of the employee to seek out alternative, workable solutions.

Usually a micro-monitoring manager has an idea in mind about the best process or best solution when dealing with a problem. This “best process” generally comes from that manager’s experience of having had that particular solution work the last time on a similar problem; hence, the attitude is born that this one solution will work on every similar problem. This is where the rut begins. When managers rely on solutions that worked in the past for current situations, they are no longer open to new ideas. As a result, they tend to direct their staff to use those same solutions on every problem in the future. The staff, then, begins to lose creativity when they encounter problems.

This method of management causes problems. It doesn’t encourage creative problem solving among employees, nor does it encourage employees to try new ways of doing things. Instead, employees who have worked under this sort of manager previously will look to their next manager to “solve” their problems for them. And if these employees aspire to positions in management while relying on their managers to solve their problems, they will find their aspirations thwarted.

The staff members who are promoted above their peers to positions in management get there because they demonstrate their management fitness in finding solutions to problems and finding creative solutions to unusual and routine situations. When in management, these new managers run the risk of solving their staff’s problems because they enjoy problem-solving so much. But these managers are going to have to remember how they got there and encourage their own team members to be creative in finding solutions to their own problems and not solve them for their team.

One of the best ways to encourage staff members to find their own proactive solutions is to use a series of questions to help them realize you are empowering them to seek solutions. For instance, let’s say that your employee, Sam, comes to you with a situationperhaps a failure in a process. Sam presents the situation to you by saying the process failed and then he asks what you’d like him to do about it. Instead of telling Sam what to do, ask Sam what he thinks should be done. Sam may at first be hesitant to give you any ideas because he may be gun-shy from previous micro-monitoring managers. Be patient with Sam; build trust with him so he knows you are truly interested in his ideas and that you trust his ability to work things out.

You might try a process I call the “blue sky” thinking process. Consider posing a question to Sam this way: “If money and time were not an issue, what would you do to solve this dilemma?” In every wacky idea, a good idea is waiting to be developed. Through a series of questions and answers with Sam, you’ll discover that a good idea is just waiting to come out. And Sam’s confidence and creativity will be awakened. He’ll learn through this repeated process to start coming up with his own solutions. As his manager, you’ll set the appropriate accountability with him on implementing his solutions so that Sam doesn’t act without the proper authority to do so.

Following this process will not only increase Sam’s management fitness by learning to find proactive solutions, it will further demonstrate your own management fitness by growing your staff into creative problem solvers.

About the Author:

Dr. Tracy Peterson Turner works with organizations that want to turn their managers into leaders and with leaders who want to get their messages heard. She is an expert in both written and verbal communication and conducts presentations and workshops to help individuals and corporations meet their communication goals.

Visit Tracy on the web at http://www.Mgr-Impact.com. Email her at Tracy@Mgr-Impact.com

There are many factors that have been considered over the years which help people distinguish between good and poor presentation techniques. In the sea of information for preparing a great presentation, the focus is usually centered on visual aids, and speaking techniques. Certainly, the primary attention given to information and speaking quality is warranted, because so many times, one or the other is seriously lacking when efforts are unsuccessful. These principal elements are the first steps in achieving a style that will immerse the audience in what they are receiving, and cause them to engage or disengage in the process of absorbing what you have to share.

On a higher level, successful presentation is actually centered on the art of sensory orchestration. No matter what you are presenting, or how well prepared you are to get the point across, there will always be a percentage of the audience that does not come along for the ride. In order to increase the number of people who do identify with you, there are some little known areas of skill that merit consideration. Historically, there have been some people who have applied these elements with great success, either consciously or unconsciously. Effective sales presentations incorporate many of the same elements that can move people to support a political agenda.

As a speaker, it is important to understand how to use the advantages presented by your environment, how to appeal to the needs of the audience that your subject or product offers to resolve, and how to engage people with the use of familiar imagery that allows them to identify closely with what you are telling them. Appropriate sensory orchestration of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste can be interwoven with your message to reinforce participation and acceptance of the concepts you are presenting. Most speakers are familiar with engaging the audience through sights and sounds. People use these senses when they listen to your speech, and look at the various forms of media that you employ. Many presenters do not understand the increased benefits they can obtain by intentionally engaging aspects of the remaining three senses; smell, taste, and touch. The influence on learning and acceptance which each of the three remaining senses have are worth examining individually.

1. Using Taste - How often do you find yourself recalling a situation or circumstance associated with a past experience that is triggered by something you are eating? This experience can be good or bad. Maybe you get a sense of comfort and love from recalling the taste of your grandmother’s apple pie, or a sense of dread from being forced by your patents to eat cold spinach as a form of punishment before you were allowed to leave the table. Have you ever found yourself recalling a particular social function you attended during a meal that includes an item from the menu presented at that event? Does information you heard during a meeting at work come flooding back to you when you taste a particularly bad cup of coffee?

When you focus on the association between tastes and learning, it is not a great leap to recognize how these same processes can be intentionally used to create new connections. During a presentation, a speaker can introduce common elements like sweets, drinks, or other snacks to engage and reinforce the information being absorbed by the audience. You can use food to reward people for response, or introduce food items during particularly strategic portions of the informative session . As the audience members partake in eating, they will also be physically reinforcing what you tell them on an autonomic level. Have you ever wondered why speakers begin their presentations while the audience is finishing up their dessert?
Taste is a powerful tool for including in the presentation arsenal.

2. Using smell - Like taste, the sense of smell can create powerful associations in the learning process. Again, the effect of odors can be positive or negative in establishing these connections. The smell of popcorn, cologne, scented candles, or other pleasant odors create autonomic connections to the events which take place when these are introduced into the environment. With a little imagination, you can reinforce the learning process by incorporating scents along with segments of information you have to share. When people smell these things again, they will be more likely to remember portions of your own information, whether they realize the connection or not. In earlier times, film makers experimented with the power of smell by incorporating smells from “scratch and sniff” cards that were used interactively with portions of the movie. Whatever level of success this practice demonstrated, the very thought of “scratch and sniff” cards brings back a flood of memories to those who participated in viewing these films.

3. Using touch - It is a well researched fact that in the process of human interaction, the sense of touch plays a significant role in establishing more effective communication. A handshake, or a touch on the shoulder, or any other sort of physical contact can initiate a more powerful sensory orchestration between people. The sense of touch transfers a level of intimacy that is not possible to capture by sight and sound alone. A good speaker can make an extra connection with the audience by shaking hands with them as they enter, or spending time after the presentation meeting with the people who have listened. You can use participation as a tool, bringing people from the audience up to assist with some portion of the demonstration, and making physical contact with them as they come to the stage.

If you make no other connection, you will find a closer association being established with the members of the audience you have physically touched. How many people have you seen at a live concert whose greatest and most memorable thrill was being able to touch or be touched in some way by the performer? This impact is effective whether the event is big or small. Touch can also be used and reinforced through a reward system. You can give people something in return for their participation in your presentation. This reward can range from a special document, to a trinket of some kind. No matter what you choose to personally give them, the act will go a long way in gaining their positive response to your message.

If you have traditionally found yourself giving presentations by appealing to only two of the five available senses, you should make an effort to experience the benefits of adding sensory orchestration techniques to the mix.

Director of Software Concepts
BHO Technologists - LittleTek Center.
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Your attitude determines your altitude - in business and in life. You can’t change someone else’s attitude for them. But this powerful adage is a great reminder that you can put in front of anyone who needs an attitude adjustment. I want to talk about a few of the many ways each of us can develop a winning attitude every day. It’s what leaders do.

Marcus Aurelius, the great philosopher who ruled the Roman Empire, said it simply: “Our life is what our thoughts make it”.

Dale Carnegie, speaking to that quote said: “Yes, if we think happy thoughts, we will be happy. If we think miserable thoughts, we will be miserable. If we think fear thoughts, we will be fearful. If we think sickly thoughts we probably will be ill. If we think failure, we will certainly fail. If we wallow in self-pity, everyone will want to shun us and avoid us”.

Am I advocating a Pollyanna attitude toward all our problems? No. Life isn’t that simple. But I am advocating - in the strongest terms - that we assume a positive attitude instead of a negative one.

Mental attitude - the power we hold in our heads. Reality can be changed dramatically by a single thought. In nutrition the adage is you are what you eat. In terms of leadership, it’s more likely you are what you think. Contrary to what people want to believe, outside influences don’t usually determine your happiness or success, rather it is how we react to those influences - good or bad. So how do you change your reactions to those outside forces?

Make how you react a conscious priority, which means practice daily.

Humor is vital. When things aren’t going your way, keep everything in perspective and relax. I laugh. Others throw up their hands. Whole industries get very cynical.

Positive self-confident feelings not only help you achieve more; they also make others want to be associated with you. People are drawn to others who have an upbeat outlook, who have a can-do attitude. Constant complainers don’t collect an easy following.

Positive self-confident feelings not only help you achieve more; they also make others want to be associated with you. People are drawn to others who have an upbeat outlook, who have a can-do attitude. Constant complainers don’t collect an easy following.

One of a leader’s most important jobs is to set a positive and self-confident tone, exuding the attitude that failure is not an option. A positive attitude is the cornerstone of leadership. It’s the same confidence that a quarterback, a golfer, or a tennis star projects every time they come out of the locker room.

To gain strength from the positive and not be sapped by the negative, here are a few ideas:

Focus on the 90% of your team who will run with your vision and your plan - don’t let the “negative nellies” drain you or poison your team.

Tap your spiritual essence at work too - use your spirit and your heart to move you and your work forward.

Break the negative energy cycle - if you see yourself spiraling down or in a rut, mix it up, breakup the routine and do something fast that lifts you up. When you see one of your team members in a rut of unproductive or unprofessional behavior address it, don’t let it fester.

Active listening - takes time. Work at it, to hear what your team wants. Often just by being heard, problems can go away and people really make a big turnaround.

You must be the emotional manager of your office - not your assistant, not the new hotshot you just hired. In a family, parents must be the emotional managers or chaos rules the home. In your business, you must wear that mantel, albeit reluctantly at times. It’s part of your leadership role and power. Hone it, as well as your reactions to external events, and you’ll see the culture around you shift to the positive.

Jim Collins points out in Good to Great: When in doubt, don’t hire - keep looking. You can’t grow revenues consistently faster than your ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company. So unless candidates for the open position have that can-do attitude and are a strong fit for your company in who they are - don’t hire them. The skills can be taught; the and-then-some positive attitude cannot.

As my friend Doug Emerson (doug@profitablehorseman.com) put it recently: “The prerequisite is attitude. Attitude is the one thing we can’t change in employees. You’ve got a good attitude or you don’t. Given adequate ability and desire to learn, everything else can be taught to employees with good attitudes. I have tried many times to teach good attitudes and have come to the conclusion it is about as easy as making a mud fence.”

A negative attitude will pull you down and with it your professional results. A positive attitude will pull you over the rough spots and energize you to lift your results to new heights - to match your vision. Whether you need an attitude adjustment a couple of times a day, once a week or only occasionally, never forget that your attitude determines your altitude. Don’t let outside people or events bring yours down.

Kerri Salls, MBA runs a virtual business school to train, consult and coach small business CEO’s and entrepreneurs in 10 key strategies to make more profit in less time. Learn more at www.breakthrough-business-school.com/products.html or sign up for a free weekly newsletter at www.breakthrough-business-school.com/newsletter.shtml

I use PowerPoint. I use it sparingly. People do not want to listen to someone narrate slides rich in text and details. People want to be engaged by a speaker’s words, charisma and delivery style. If I can make the complex, simple, I use PowerPoint. If I can make the theoretical, empirical, I use PowerPoint. If I can save a thousand words by sharing a picture, I use PowerPoint. The simple can have more impact than the complex. The PowerPoint Myth: PowerPoint enhances any presentation.

Many years ago, people brought a prop to a presentation to illustrate a point. Soon we were showing overhead transparencies in a darkened room. They were standard tools of the trade until PowerPoint was introduced–every presenter’s dream technology.

The purpose of PowerPointas with similar technologyis to simplify, clarify or render your point for the benefit of your listener. You could deliver a ten minute presentation about how car engines work and, until you project a cartoon graphic on the screen, it was difficult to conceptualize. Thank goodness for technology that illustrates concepts that previously were drawn on a chalkboard, flipchart, or distributed in a sea of handouts. But then we got greedy.

Too Much of a Good Thing

The occasional need to present a slide when speaking became a slide presentation with the occasional need to speak. People grew dependent on the convenience of hitting a button and having their presentation projected on the ten foot screen. Why memorize anything or have command of your material when your information is in plain view? People use PowerPoint not only as a spice, but it’s become the food itself. It’s more than a crutch; it’s the means of transportation.

Roger Ailes, President and COO of Newscorp, wrote a wonderful book entitled You Are the Message. He believes your words, tone and body language become part of your entire communication repertoire. The moment you turn your back to your audience and search your PowerPoint slides for guidance, you are a narrator and no longer a presenter.

According to Aristotle in his Art of Rhetoric, communication is achieved with ethos, pathos, and logosthe speaker’s ability to appeal to his listener(s) by establishing character, and creating emotion in the context of a logical presentation. This can be achieved with the help of PowerPoint, not because of it. Use your personal style and character, not software special effects.

I have coached scores of executives who want to ensure that their years of hard work are reflected when they stand before their piers. Many ask me how to begin a speech with a joke, be funny or use a combination of notes and slides. I share the same advice each time: establish your purpose, flesh out your ideas and rehearseand, of course, be yourself. People try to compensate for poor communication skills with PowerPoint’s sound, motion, and color.

Sound, Motion, Color

These are wonderful additions to most presentations as long as they are used intermittently. Studies tell us that color accelerates learning, retention and recall up to 78%. It can be beneficial to reveal a pie chart or a graph. Maybe your sentences “dissolve” away or sub-points appear in alternating colorsbut use a balanced approach. Think of these attributes as pillars to a building: properly spaced and you’re safe; too many too close together and it creates clutter.

I recently witnessed a presenter relegated to the back of a darkened room narrating a 50-slide PowerPoint presentation. There were sound clips that accompanied animation in slides, so when information was revealed, we heard breaking glass, a bullwhip, and a cash register’s ka-ching. This is mildly entertaining if your audience is in the fourth grade. You will never compensate for a “thin” presentation with PowerPoint’s bells and whistles.

Kennedy and King moved millions with their words and delivery. Aristotle would have applauded “let them come to Berlin!” and “I have a dream today!” Aside of the audience size and length of presentation, we have similar opportunities to impress any audience provided we don’t become a slave to the wires, remotes, and delicate laser bulbs of today’s technology. The tail should not wag the dog.

Determine how you can accomplish your task with the spoken word in place of words on a slide, and you will identify the expendable slides. Thin the slide show and you will have a dynamic presentation free from PowerPoint baggage, shining with personalityyours.

Ken Lodi is a professional speaker, author and consultant to Fortune 100 companies and a coach to executives on the topics of communication. He is the author of Front & Center, Tapping Potential and The 4 ACES of Communication. He can be reached at ken@kenlodi.com or 323-932-1026.

We need to engage our listeners and transform them into excited, willing and committed supporters of the vision - for the duration of delivery!

Logic, our intellect, doesn’t know how to do this. It knows how to present the facts. Facts are important but they don’t excite others, or attract them.

Our limbic brain - the part that remembers and stores emotionally charged events does and, can cooperate and deliver! It’s all about emotional excitement. You want them committed as much as you are. This is the most challenging and sort after achievement.

Imagine if we could use the tools of accelerated learning when we showcase our vision!

Accelerated learning creates an environment that provides relaxed alertness, trust, belief in the people, interactive play and rhythm to rapidly access the emotional learning centers and enable appreciation of the vision!

George Lozanov founded the principles of this form of rapid learning and it has since been adopted in full or part by many wise institutions. It enables us to be excited and contribute to our environment from our limitless talents rather than our limitations or resentment.

The factors that create an environment of accelerated learning are:

1. Acceptance of our self imposed limitations:

All of us have assumptions about what we can and can’t do. Many have been learned in emotionally charged environments, such as our childhood, and are not true.

We were taught to look after the tribe, then the family and then ourselves. Many of us have taken this so far we don’t know our own needs.

We were taught to pay everyone else first and ourselves last. The most prevalent teaching of creating wealth is to pay yourself first. When we invest this payment we create capital to make more money.

Once so we let go of our assumptions we no longer have limitations and are open to all possibilities.

2. Development of Calm Anticipation or Relaxed Excitement:

Leaders create an environment of anticipated success; they communicate the results and benefits of the success, and, the contribution of each individual in the success.

In a team sport, the leader - either the captain or the coach, has to communicate the vision of winning the game such that all can participate. If they identify the contribution of each individual they gain the commitment to winning. This creates a coherent environment of team spirit that is relaxed excitement.

3. Trust:

The leader shows trust that the project can be delivered and that they will be able to handle all the issues as they arise as a result of the process of delivery.

4. Offers praise and encouragement:

A leader shows their trust in each individual that has been selected for each role. The leader has constructive faith the person can and will deliver their contribution, even though they may not know the steps now.

5. Playfulness and Humor:

What gets in the way of a lot of projects is the emotion committed to an individual’s ego, the way we go beyond this and put the emotional focus back on the vision is to use humor or fun. The purpose of this is to diffuse those tense moments that pull us away from this focus.

6. Rhythmic structure:

When we have known structures we can deal with the chaos of the unknown and remain focused on the vision.

The weekly meeting has the same agenda items each time, what fills the slots varies. It is familiar and reassuring. Within this familiarity we can deal with the chaos of the unknown, and our reaction to it. We can then quickly come back to resolving the situation in favor of the vision.

Leaders use some or all of the above to enable others to enter this state of accelerated learning. Once they are there they can get excited about the vision. From here they can choose. Do they want to contribute to the vision? Are they in it for the delivery? What contribution do they wish to make and own?

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Rosemary Johnston is a professional corporate and personal coach. Working with executives from some of Australia’s largest and most successful companies for over 15 years.

Rosemary’s new book, “How To Develop Your Leadership Style and Skills to Take Charge of Your Career and Life” is now available to download at her web site. Read about how you can share some of the success Rosemary has had coaching leaders in Australian blue chip companies. http://www.leadershipfirst.com.au