Prep work. Leadership seminar. Small group. Common interests. Looking for common ideas, great leadership thoughts, specifics and inspiration. To the books. Category, leadership. I found some common threads I was looking for, and surprisingly, some major threads which especially apply to speaking. Here are some quotes and observations which I gleaned from classics of the genre called “success literature”…
“When people protest that they can't lead, or don't want to lead, they are usually thinking of management and giving speeches.” On Becoming a Leader - Warren Bennis
"I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated mechanism - man." Andrew Carnegie
"If you do not change, you can become extinct." Who Moved My Cheese?, Spencer Johnson
“Instead of trying to use long words, use positive language, and see how it transforms your mood and the perceptions of others.” The Magic of Thinking Big, David J. Schwartz
“Believing in people before they have proved themselves is the key to motivating people to reach their potential.” John C. Maxwell
Instead of my notebook, I'm going to start carrying around a book by a smart person so that I look smart. These philosophies and insights helped to expand my view of leadership skills, which I summarized this way: Leaders exercise three sets of skills - individual skills, environment skills, and people skills. I suggest this is especially true for speakers.
First, there is the individual skill set. These skills are both learned and innate,
natural and normal. It is what we know,
and what we do. It is your who. This is also the creative space,
opened by unique experiences, insights, knowledge, and methods we bring to the
moment. Physical traits are included
here. Backgrounds are important. Our exposures and interests, along with our
way of learning have developed our values and our value. Ideas are developed here, motivations are
adopted, and the persona is rooted here.
It’s personal ups and downs which make the best stories for convincing
others to act on our messages. Self-awareness skills are what carves out a unique space in the universe. After all, the projection of value for the
audience must route through that irreplaceable object known as you.
Second, environmental skills. It’s the entire process of how to engage any target group, whether
they are employees, learners or clients.
These skills are all about how
you make the most of your website, written materials, the auditorium, the
classroom, the one-on-one session, etc.
The dreaded and beloved Blackberry and sites like Twitter and Facebook fall
into this category. Environment skills
are what companies tend to hire. Think
of an organization and its goals as environmental - we must constantly adapt
our skills to the rules in which it operates, and usually that’s a growth
exercise. Don’t know how to manage a
database… prepare to grow a skill. Many
of these skills will come and go as the environment changes. I really like the application of the phrase,
“We are not pushing against our comfort zones, we are expanding them”, to
describe what happens when we learn new environments.
Then, there’s the people skills. Any group's predominant needs are usually rather obvious, but, everyone brings a unique human need into the room – the personal why. Listening skills are paramount to empathy. You may want to think, “I don’t get into that touchy-feely stuff”. Ignore feelings though, and you may find yourself speaking to a full room, but without an active audience. In a forum, it can be difficult to not leave behind the shy, the un-knowing, those seeking sincere first-stage growth, (not to be confused with the clueless). Empathy is the skill to understand the why. Remember, most audiences share something in common, which also means biases. Feelings are undeniable elements of human participation. They can tell people to follow your guidance or to throw out your ideas. When there is a challenge to be discussed, a growth to be undertaken, enabling people to embrace change requires an attitude of support which speaks directly to peoples feelings. This skill sets leaders apart – they show that they care about people.
Comments