Leading by Presentation Archive - Page 2 of 5

Are you still using the carrot and the stick?

For our grandparents, the predominant leadership model was command & control. Leaders told their team what to do and the team was pretty much expected to follow. Teams moved when the leader pushed them.

For our parents, the carrot was added to the equation and the predominant leadership model was the carrot & the stick. Leaders used incentives to motivate their team to do what they wanted them to do – either by force or by candy. Teams moved when the leader managed to attract them. Yet, by attaching the incentives to goals it was still the leader who decided what was right and what wasn’t.

Today, leadership is shifting to a model that’s based much more on trust and inspiration. Leaders inspire rather than enforce actions. Rather than to incentivise goals, they light the path to make their team see what they see.

We see more and more leaders trust in the ability of their team to make the right decisions. Their tools aren’t carrots or sticks, but clarity, empathy, and trust.

New podcast: Leaders Light The Path

I’ve started a new podcast called “Leaders Light The Path”. It’s two minutes, twice a week that get you the influence and impact you deserve.

It’s a podcast about a more human way of communicating. One that skips the superficial and instead is grounded in work that matters. It’s in stark contrast to the default mode of the selfish communicators who care more for themselves than anything.

But if your work really changes things for the better, then it’s by definition not about you but about your audience. And because it is, you don’t need to persuade because they will be dying to know more. Instead make them see by telling true stories, saying words you truly believe in about the things you truly believe in.

This is what great leaders do. By making their audience see, by lighting them the path, they incite action and create movements.

I believe that this is in reach for you. If you truly believe in what you do. If what you do truly changes things for the better. Then, all you need to do is tell the truth. Make your audience see by lighting them the path.

If that’s important to you, please subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend.

The difference between bad and good leaders

There are good leaders and there are bad leaders. The thing to keep in mind is that good and bad leaders sit on opposite sides of a spectrum.

It’s not that bad leaders are similar to good leaders, just not as good or maybe less effective.

Bad leaders are the opposite of good leaders. They can destroy the morale of a team and frustrate the members to a degree that leads to struggles and fights, greed and envy.

Good leaders don’t do things similarly to bad leaders, just better. They do things differently.

Yet, there’s one thing that both kinds of leaders have in common: Both lead by example. By the things they do and in the way they communicate, leaders make or break a team.

The important thing to see is that that’s a decision. You decide what kind of leader you want to be. And then, when you have clarity about your vision of leadership, it becomes a skill that you can improve.

On our own

Not everyone considers themselves a leader. Many are happy to follow when others move first. Many prefer it when someone provides direction.

But hardly anybody likes being pushed in that direction. Neither being pulled.

Because it turns out that people like to walk themselves. Show them why it’s worthwhile, enjoyable, risk-free, fun, hilarious, responsible or whatever the motivation might be in your case. When it resonates, then people will choose to move on that path. By themselves. Without you having to push or pull them.

It’s amazing to observe the resistance that immediately kicks in at the moment you start applying force.

It’s so much more powerful to illuminate the path for people to walk on rather than push someone along that path.

How can you reframe your pitch so that people see the path in a light that makes them want to take the first step as opposed to you having to persuade them?

The indifference of PowerPoint

One of the big problems with PowerPoint presentations is how they are indifferent to their content so often. The bigger the company, the bigger the problem. It shows like this: Neither the presenter nor their slides provide any hint as to whether the presentation is about a trivial matter or something important. Whether it’s just pure information or a reason to celebrate.

Everything just always looks the same in that same boring corporate slide layout. Everything just always follows the same proven agenda. And everything is just always presented in the same monotonous style.

The worst part: apparently it’s just the way it is … and given the committee decision making process, there seems to be nothing you can do about it. When everything has to be approved by a number of departments and hierarchical levels, every divergence is quickly ironed out again (I mean: “what if someone doesn’t like it?”).

It’s just the way it is. Or is it?

Tell me about your strategies to navigate around the indifference of PowerPoint presentations.

Surrounded by great people

Good leaders surround themselves with great people. What sometimes keeps them from becoming great leaders is when they stop there, believing that their team of great people will somehow figure it out. (Which they probably will. Or not.)

What separates a team of great people from a great team is the “team” part. The feeling of “us”. The feeling that as a team we can achieve much greater things than any one of us could on their own.

Why do we exist – as a team? Where are we headed – as a team? What is the impact that we’re here to make? These are the lights that great leaders shine on the path of their teams.

Great leadership is not about figuring things out. That’s what the team is great at. Great leadership is about lighting the path. So that the team figures out the right things in the right way.

Preaching to your tribe

… only works for as long as the tribe is willing to listen to your messages.

Times change. Preachers not so often.

The problem is that preaching is about making others believe what you believe. So, ultimately it’s about what you believe.

Which might be wrong. Or outdated. Or irrelevant.

If the tribe decides to move along – e.g. because a new preacher comes along whose message resonates stronger in the new times – you preaching the same messages over and over again won’t bring them back.

That’s why great leaders aren’t preachers. Great leadership requires understanding what others believe. And then building paths from there to here. And illuminating these paths so the tribe may decide to take the first step. And then the next.

Be a leader rather than a preacher!

The double meaning of status updates

Monday is status update day in many teams.

Sadly, the name has grown to carry a double meaning. Because too often it’s not only about the status of the project anymore but also about the status among the people in the team.

Too often, status updates are about “look how much I did last week”, or “look what I’m up to”, or “look, I’ve got everything under control”. In too many teams, the purpose of the status update meetings is rather to ensure that the boss sees how well people do than it is to actually discuss the actual project status.

How about a shift this week? What if rather than about status you made it about enabling? Instead of “What have you done to support the team?” you asked “What can the team do to support you?”

That way, the purpose of the meeting itself becomes to raise the status of each member as much as possible. It’s about making each member the best member they can be. A team member that creates better because we – as a team – enable her to do so.

Monday could be team enabling update once a while.

A world without fear

For many, the preferred solution to deal with fear is to get rid of the fear. That’s why we hide from showing up, run away from stepping up, or delegate the task when we ourselves should be speaking up.

And we find good reasons for it. Because the meeting isn’t all that important. We’ve got urgent business to do that calls for our attention. Next time, we’ll be showing up. Promised!

As if next time would be less scary …

It isn’t. And that’s the point. Courageous can only be she who has fear. What would courage even mean in a world without fear?

The point is in finding the courage to do the things that not everyone will want to face. To seek out the situations where we do things differently. That’s what leaders do.

Instead of hiding, they turn on the light. They provide us with a sense of purpose, with a sense of being in there together – as a team. They are leaders because they light the path so others don’t need to be as frightened.

Your team needs your leadership to find the courage to follow.

(PS: On Thursday, I’ll launch a free five-part series on leadership communication and how to light the path. Please subscribe.)

Communicating to your team

The reason we all gather in a room (no matter if it’s online or offline) is because you are adding something that can’t be put on a slide. That’s especially true when you communicate to your team.

A presentation is not about the transfer of information but about the transfer of perspectives.

Information is much more efficiently – and usually also much more effectively – transferred asynchronously. Send me a document, point me to a link or book and I’ll take the info from there. I can read faster than you can talk. I can skip back or ahead. I can compare with knowledge I already have. I can take notes. All at my own speed.

The value of a presentation is in providing your perspective on the subject. Why does this matter? How are we affected? Why is this good news? How can we make best use of the info? Where do we go from here? As a team? How do you – as a person – handle the tough situation that follows from the info?

Communicating as a leader means more than providing info. It means showing up as a person who cares. It means lighting the path. It means making your team feel seen and heard.

And when they do feel seen and heard. And when they get your perspective. And when they align with your perspective because they get why it matters. Then they become more than the sum of their brains. They become a team.

PS: Next week, I’m launching a free five-part series on leadership communication.

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