Death by Powerpoint – Is this your Presentation?

I do a keynote called Perfecting Presentaitons with the 4 P’s which is on creating and delivering business presentations.. During the 2nd P of the keynote, I share an exercise with th group on the right and wrong way to create PowerPoint slides. They learn a lot by trying to find everything wrong with my slides before we discuss the right way to prepare a show.

Watch the very amusing video titled “Life After Deatch by PowerP:oint” (under 10 minutes) below by Don McMillan and ask yourself “Do my slides look like that? Do I talk that fast?” In the video, he shares many of the same tips I do but in a much funnier way. The basic information I share in my keynote and that you will also glean from the video on slide shows are these key points:

• Do not type every word of your speech, summarize in slides
• Do not use too many font types or sizes – find 1 style that your audience can read easily
• Do define your acronyms or technical terms
• Do not overuse animations and images
• Do not put too many bullets on the same slide (for more see Rule of 6)
• Do use graphs and charts but only if they explain data better than a table.

Team Decision Making

Recently members of the House and Senate appeared to be locked in a stalemate; unable to agree on the conditions surrounding when and how to raise the USA debt ceiling. The Republicans and Democrats each were looking at the situation from completely different perspectives and therefore saw opposing solutions to the issue. Although an agreement was finally reached before the deadline, the situation created anxiety and frustration for the members involved and the citizens of the USA.

Does that sound like something that has happened to you in the workplace? How would you rate decision making in your organization? Do you have different departments or functions that look at situations completely opposite thereby causing anxiety and an inability for your organization to make a critical decision and move forward?

I thought we could take a look at several ineffective and effective ways to make decisions in a group environment:

Railroading = Occurs when one or more team members force their will on the group. This will typically happen when one type of group represents a majority. The minority group’s voice is “drowned out” by the majority’s needs and interests.

Alliances = Occurs when a few team members form a coalition. Quite often there are tradeoffs and deals made where support is obtained for something one group wants in return for supporting a future option. This may work well for members of the alliance, but not always for everyone else or the organization.

Majority Vote = Represents the wishes of at least 51% of the group. This sounds fair however when 49% of the people do not get what they want, frustration can remain. You see this in politics when years after an election people are still complaining about how their candidate was not elected and how awful the incumbent is performing.

Consensus = Agreement among all members of the team based on what is best for the organization. This is the highest level of decision making. It is what we all want from our political and organizational leaders.

Tips for participating in consensus decision making include:

• Avoid arguing based on just feelings; use logic and facts.
• View differences of opinion as helpful.
• Put your opinions aside and truly listen to the benefits another solution could offer.
• Avoid changing your opinion just to "go along" with the group.
• Look at the long-term view of the issue, not just the short-term benefits of all opinions.
• After the decision is made, each member must visibly support the decision.

Marketing via Web and Social Media Networks

I attended 2 conferences last month, both included talks on how to use social media on the internet to market a business, product, or service. Media methods included the company website, blogs, and social networks. My intent with this post is to share some of the tips I learned on using social networks as part of the marketing plan. I will follow with another post later to cover blogs and websites.

Currently, the benefit of using social networks is if someone who friends, connects with, or follows you really likes something your share, they may pass it on to the people who a in their own list, which means your message is multiplied at not cost to you. It is a digital version of “word-of-mouth” advertising, which is the best you can get.

1. To start, you need to investigate how people use each of the different social networks before choosing the best for your purpose. You can actually hurt your reputation by selecting a network or method that has a different purpose from what you are trying to do.
2. After you investigate your network options, choose the best one to begin building a profile. Each of the social networks will allow you to add a personal photo and build a link to your company website. So be sure to take advantage of that to build links back to your site so people can find out details about your company that are not going to be on your social profile.
3. Do not try to connect with others on the network until you have at least the basic profile built. Many network site give you the option of loading your current email contact list to find people already on the network via their email address.

If you are thinking of using a Facebook page, remember this site is primarily a way to link up with family, friends, and associates you wish to better connect with on a personal level. Because your audience here is so diverse, you need to be careful what you post especially is you use photos. Something your family or old high school buddies might find amusing may be a turn-off for a work associate or potential client. The experts recommend separating your personal profile page from your business by setting up a fan page for your company or for each of your products (or product lines – as an example an author would have a fan page for each book that has been published). 

If you have a consulting business, you may want to use a networking service for professionals like LinkedIn. Here people link up to grow professionally and through groups that may share job openings in a particular field or where a need for a consultant or outside trainer exists. You can share your expertise via updates on your professional page, share data with groups you are a member of, and get recommendations for your work from others who are on the network that have worked with you in a professional or non-profit area. Remember this site is for professionals, so no cutesy stuff here – keep it professional!

Of course, everyone had to talk about Twitter. True it limits your updates to only 140 characters (less than the others), but you may be able to build a larger following on this site much quicker. However, a larger following may not necessarily mean the right people are following you. Who are the right people? They are the ones who care about what you have to say and potentially what you may be selling. If you plan to use multiple networking tools, you might consider linking them together – Twitter updates can go to or come from Facebook or LinkedIn depending upon how they are set-up. If you are thinking of using Twitter, you may want to read my blog series (links below) on the Twitter Journey which contain lots of links to great data:

• Getting Started the Right Way
• Following and Getting Followers
• Conversations, Etiquette, and Cautions
• More Great Stuff for Users
• List of Good Stuff on Social Sites

The above are the big 3 to consider.  However other sites were mentioned at the conferences too.  The key is to check out every site someone invites you to join to be sure it helps you promote your business and/or your expertise.  If it will not, then it probably won’t be worth the investment of your time to set things up and send regular updates.  Let us know of other sites you recommend by putting them in comments on this post.  Check back in a few weeks for another marketing method.

Post Author Info+

What, No Email?

I was listening to a podcast recently when one of the podcasters mentioned a new approach to improving communication and productivity. It seems there are a few individuals, many of them tech savvy, who are deciding to take advantage of the latest technologies to reduce their reliance on the old standard, email. In fact, some of them are going email free. With the emphasis on “Inbox Zero” and other methods for managing the daily barrage of email, it was interesting to hear that some folks have decided they could improve their effectiveness and thus their productivity by eliminating one of the hardest tools to manage. With the tools now available, it’s possible to communicate with the right people when and how you want to without resorting to email at all. With my recent research into better ways to manage my own projects and tasks, this process of reducing my email usage is very intriguing.

I decided to explore the possibilities. Could someone really lessen their reliance on email?

I began by creating a list of topics we typically communicate via email.

Here are some topics usually communicated through email.

• Instructions on projects and tasks
• Directions to events and locations
• Greetings to new team members
• Follow up to requests
• Collaboration on projects and tasks
• Access to documents and files (through attachments)
• Access to pictures and videos (through attachments)
• Links to web-based information and articles
• Links to virtual conference calls and meetings

Not an exhaustive list but enough to think through the next step.

Next, I thought about the places we usually access email. A few years ago, we needed to be at a computer to work with our email. We also needed to be near a phone line to make phone calls. Now with smart phones and tablet computers, it’s possible to access the above information anytime and anywhere. I, for example, routinely carry both my smart phone and tablet computer all the time providing access to multiple methods of communication anywhere I go.

I then made a list of the alternative methods of communication in use today. With the advent of Web 2.0, our communications methods have evolved dramatically. This evolution is allowing us to push email to the background.

In no specific order, these products include:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Facebook and Google+
• Instant Messaging
• Text Messages
• Blogging
• SharePoint

After reviewing my list of technologies, I matched them with the above topics. I found that communicating instructions, directions, greetings, and follow-up could easily be done via Twitter, Instant Messaging, and Text Messages. Collaboration could be done with SharePoint, Twitter, and Instant Messaging. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ could handle a variety of topics including daily communication, file sharing, pictures, videos, and links. Even in corporate America, tools such as SharePoint and Yammer, could provide the same communication possibilities. Finally, products such as Skype and GoToMeeting can be used to communicate via both voice and video. All in all, I could indeed use a multitude of new technologies to communicate with my world and not have to use email.

I did discover one reason I won’t be moving completely away from email anytime soon.

People.

All of the new technologies require that the people you want or need to communicate with, are using the same technologies. In my world, and in many corporations, this is not yet a universal thing. But stay tuned, it’s coming.

More on how to have a RARA meeting! Podcasts and Poetry

In a prior post, What is a RARA Meeting explained RARA as an acronym and it gave lots of references including the book RARA A Meeting Wizard's Approach.  In this post, I want to share links to four downloadable podcasts  (MP3 files) by Shirley Fine Lee (author) lasting around 5 minutes each on just the main four RARA components from the book.

Required Roles
Action-based Agendas
Relevant Records
Assigning Actions

** NOTE:
The website here these podcast titles below were is no longer available.  Email me the title you want to hear and I will send it to you.

Podcasts MP3 recordings of less than one minute poems from the back of three books are also available upon request.

• Meetings - Madness or Sanity? (Poetry Reading from RARA Meeting Management)
• Where Is My Priority? (Poetry Reading from TAPP Time Management)
• How Goes The Project?  (Poetry Reading from OPIE Project Management)

Find The Work You Were Meant to Do

Do you wake up in the morning excited about going to work? Is your job utilizing your strengths and talents?

“Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it. Every time we have seen a person on this stage who is a success in their life, they spoke of the job, and they spoke of the juice that they receive from doing what they knew they were meant to be doing.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

The economy has caused many people to lose their jobs recently. Although a job loss can be devastating, some folks have seen it as a “blessing in disguise.” Many of us just drift into an occupation or an industry for a number of reasons. It could be that you were following in your friends or families “footsteps” or it was a job that seemed convenient. When you face a job loss it is a terrific time to reassess just how satisfied you were with your last job and what you would change.

Maybe you love your chosen occupation but would like to now utilize your skills in a different industry. I spoke to one person who decided to seek an accounting position with a non-profit organization where she could continue to utilize her expertise but with a company whose mission she felt was worthwhile.

Another person realized that to follow his passion he would need to take a major salary cut which would impact his family’s financial health. So he stayed in the same industry and occupation but found volunteer work where he could be doing, at least part-time, what he was “meant to be doing.”

It is not just about your strengths, there may be many things you can do but do not actually like to do. So how do you know what you were meant to be doing? Here are a few idea starters:

• What Makes You Smile? – Think about the activities you have done in the past that brought you happiness. What did you look forward to doing?
• What Energizes You? – When we feel motivated to do something we feel energized, when we do not be feel drained of energy. What motivates you and what drains you?
• Look for Patterns – Examine your activities starting with childhood and see if you can find the patterns that made you smile and energized you. Is there a common thread?

I am at a point in my career that I finally have some time for volunteer work. I chose an organization that assists women with barriers to finding jobs by offering workshops and a boutique for a free interviewing outfit. What better fit for a former human resource professional who loves to speak to audiences and to shop!

What do you love to do? Can you utilize your passions to find the work you were meant to do?

“…carry whatever you're supposed to be doing, carry that forward and don't waste any more time. Start embracing the life that is calling you and use your life to serve the world." ~ Oprah Winfrey

Four Step Performance Management Model with Employees

In the new book “Solving Employee Performance Problems” by Bruce, Hampel, and Lamont, a 4-step performance management model is explained in Chapter 2. Then follow-on chapters provide detail how to and templates for different aspects of each step. Here I will attempt to summarize the provided model.

1. Assess the situation before deciding on action or judging employee. To do this gather information about the employee such as work samples, project results, and co-worker comments to validate the assumption before going ahead with a plan for improvement. If an issue truly exists, then proceed to next step.

2. Set expectations for the employee by going over the expected work output and associated deadlines with them. They will not meet management expectations without clear guidelines on what they must do. This process of setting expectations should start with on-boarding and continue through the employee’s career by including personalized SMART goals for the individual as well as communicating the goals of the team they are part of.

3. Coach and correct to help employee through the performance improvement process by providing corrective feedback and reinforcement of positive behaviors. This will build employee confidence and create a better relationship with their manager. (Note: chapters 4, 6, 8 provide excellent examples of 19 common behavior problems, 30 ways to begin a conversations with the problem employee, and 14 examples for a coaching and development plans.)

4. Measure results so that both you and the employee know how they are doing towards their performance goals. This way you can meet regularly to adjust goals or set new goals as needed, rather than wait until the employee has completely missed a goal which means the manager did not help them avoid failure.

In chapter 8, the book also provides a link to HumanResourcesSources.org where a 15-minute podcast interview with Stephanie Montanez in available. Managers and Human Resources may find that interview helpful for step 3 above. The podcast is titled Problem Solving Toolkit for Employee Performance Improvement and contains 7 steps for management and HR.

Learn more to earn more

The author of Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want -- Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, Mr. Brian Tracy says “The more you learn, the more you earn!”  On Tracy’s YouTube channel, he also offers these 2 to 3 minute business and sales tip videos:

• Time Efficiency
• Create and Keep Customers
• Listening Wins Sales
• Consultant vs. Salesperson
• The Power Of Asking