If you want others to view you as a leader in your organization, you first need to define your Ideal Image.  Your Ideal Image is the image that you want to portray.  It’s your best self, or the way you want others to see you.  According to James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge, the best way to determine your Ideal Image is to write a tribute about yourself.

Imagine that you are being honored as the Leader of the Year.  What would you want people to say about you?  Some questions to ask are:

• What do I believe in?
• What makes me jump for joy?
• What keeps me awake at night?
• What do I want in life?
• What do I really care about?

When you understand these qualities about yourself, you can then live those qualities in your business and personal life.  That’s when others will view you as a leader.

Aside from the image you project, you also need to exude key qualities that outsiders perceive as traits of a leader.  Over a twenty-year time span, Kouzes and Posner surveyed 75,000 professionals.  They asked participants one key question:  “What are the qualities required to successfully lead?”  The answers the surveyed professionals gave revealed the top ten traits of successful leaders.  Following are the top four:

1. Honesty (88%): Honesty means telling people what you know and not keeping key information to yourself.  People can tell if you’re withholding something from them, no matter how small or trivial you may think the information is.  As you reveal information, you need to be open and let people respond. Therefore, ask open-ended questions to facilitate discussion and let people air their feelings about the topic.

2. Forward-Thinking (71%): People within the organization view true leaders as those who encourage others to go to their own next level.  When you’re forward-thinking, you foster an environment of creativity.  In order to instill such a culture in your company, have everyone participate in monthly brainstorming sessions regarding the organization’s future.  Keep these sessions fun so that people can be open and playful about potential new ideas.

3. Competence (66%): People view you as a competent leader when you’re willing and able to seek out experts on various topics.  This lets others know that you don’t see yourself as the smartest person in the company.  You can promote this by scheduling regular knowledge-sharing meetings so that others within various departments and groups can share their expertise and information.  Not only does this help educate others, but it also allows everyone in the organization to appreciate others’ various levels of competency.

4. Inspiring (65%): People like to be around others who display a “can-do” attitude and who use positive language.  So when you’re responding to challenges, don’t begin by stating the challenge or hurdle.  Rather, make the first few sentences positive statements about what you’re trying to achieve.  Yes, it’s a different approach than what you may be used to.  But from now on, provide positive solutions first, followed by an overview of the challenges.

By firmly projecting your Ideal Image, and understanding the importance of each of these four qualities and displaying them on a regular basis, everyone in your company will view you as a true leader. You will attract positive attention, garner support for your ideas, and reach new heights of success more quickly than you ever thought possible.

If you were hoping that online meetings or web meetings would fall by the wayside, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Global markets are in distress. Budgets are cut. Travel isn’t an option. More companies are turning to web-based communication to stay competitive and productive during these difficult times. If your company is conducting web meetings, you’re likely going to have to learn to adapt.

Unfortunately, a lot of business professionals I talk to find web meetings challenging and unproductive, which is the exact opposite of what business leaders hope to accomplish. Whether you’re using WebEx, Citrix, Live Meeting or Adobe Connect, the functionality is similar. We have discovered that it’s not the platform that determines the success or failure of web meetings; it’s the communicator.

Hosting web meetings poses many challenges and requires you to communicate differently. If you thought you could take your face-to-face meetings and use the same format in an online format, it’s not going to work very well. But don’t fear, there are strategies that can help you make the most of your web meetings. Here are three tips you can implement today:

1. Stay on Track: It is true that online meetings save you time and travel dollars. However, you’ll need to allocate more time to preparing for your online meeting. In order to make your meetings effective, keep attendees engaged and accomplish your desired outcomes, you need to plan more aspects of the meeting than ever before. You need to plan for interaction. You need to have more slides and more animation in your presentation. You need to spend more time thinking about your attendees, what they need to accomplish, and how you can make the process easy for them. When you develop your agenda and presentation, be sure to think of your audience first. Never before has an audience-focused agenda been so important.

2. Stay on Topic: Within the first two minutes of your meeting be sure to state your audience’s goal and the value the information you are presenting brings to them. This will help everyone stay focused and leaves no doubt about what’s in it for them. Within those first two minutes you should also state the agenda including timeframes, who will be speaking, when they will be speaking, and on what topics. Create the agenda and stick to it! If you’re known for sticking to your agenda, your audience will log in to your meetings anticipating an informative and productive session.

3. Stay on Time: The days of two-hour meetings are over. It is simply too long to expect people to pay attention while sitting at a computer. Your web meetings should run no longer than 45 minutes. If necessary, schedule shorter meetings that occur more frequently. Believe me; it is more productive to have four 30-minute sessions than one two-hour session. People will be interrupted by colleagues, check e-mails, surf the web or just zone out after 45 minutes.

Have you ever been put on the spot to deliver a business presentation? I often hear from people who have been given no time to prepare, no time to present and too much information to cover. For example, you may have ten things to discuss in only fifteen minutes. Many people make the mistake of trying to cover too much information in the allotted time. In order to get through all of the material, they talk too fast, rush through the information and leave the audience overwhelmed, confused and downright bored. That’s hardly the result you want!

When preparing for a presentation or meeting, take a few moments to really think about your audience’s goals and what you want your audience to get from the meeting. Be decisive about these points. The following four tips can help you better organize your content so your presentation inspires and informs.

1. Who is attending? Before you write anything, first determine what your audience wants from you as it relates to the topic. To do this, list two to four goals you know your listeners would like to accomplish as a result of your meeting or presentation. Ask yourself: Why do they care about your topic? What problem are you going to solve for them. Give them a good reason for being there.

2. Be concise. Most communications, whether they’re 30 minutes or three hours, should have an outlined agenda. We recommend you discuss from three to five key topics. Most people walk away from a presentation or meeting and are able to recall only two to three key points. In other words, if you try to cover a lot of different topics, you’re not going to be able to focus on anything important and you’ll lose your listeners. You’re better off to have shorter meetings with fewer points then one long meeting covering everything.

3. State your goals. In the first minute of your presentation or communication, state the two or three goals you’ve identified for your audience. Make it clear why they should listen to you and how you’re going to help them accomplish what they want to do. Don’t go into detail yet; just state their goals.

4. Be repetitive. At the conclusion of each slide or key point of your presentation, you will want to restate one of the goals back to the audience. Yes, this is repetitive, but your listeners need repetition for the information to sink in. Remember, they don’t know the topic as well as you, so they need to hear the key points and goals often to get the full impact of your message and to remember why it’s important to them.

By now we all know about the physical disconnect that occurs with Webinars and Web meetings. There is a way around it. Watch my video blog for tips to use the webcam effectively.

Make Every Presentation Great!

Sheri Jeavons

Ever wonder how to cover a tough question and answer session? Use these tips from my video blog to improve your public speaking skills:

Before you start a webinar, there are a few things you should think about to make sure everything runs smoothly. Check out my video blog to learn more:

Whether you loathe or look forward to delivering presentations, your goal is the same. You want your audience to walk away with important information. The phrase “actions speak louder than words” applies to your presentations more than you may realize. How you behave has as much to do with how people perceive you as what you say. If your body language does not match your content, your audience may question what you are saying, or possibly dismiss your message entirely. For example, if you stand in front of a group and talk about how excited you are about a new initiative, but you look down, read your notes and don’t smile, your audience likely won’t be very excited about the news and may miss the point entirely.

It isn’t enough to say the right thing; you must be able to confidently deliver your message. In our live programs, we teach the six key physical skills that will help you look and sound confident and dynamic. Even if you’ve heard this information before, it is important to keep it in mind while presenting. Following a few guidelines will put you on track for a successful presentation.

1. Eye Contact:  Eye contact is the number one skill to help you look and sound dynamic. To really connect with your audience, look at one person for a complete thought. Avoid looking to the ceiling or to the floor. Instead, look at an individual for three to five seconds. Once you have connected with one person, slowly move your eyes to another person and repeat the process. Take your time moving your eyes from one person to the next. Slow, decisive eye contact communicates confidence, helps you think clearly, slows your speaking pace and allows your body to gesture naturally.

2. Square Up & Stand Tall:  As you’re looking at someone, physically address that person. This means that your toes, hips and shoulders should all be facing the person you are looking at. You want your body to be in total alignment with the person you are addressing. When you first attempt to square up, it may feel a little robotic and stiff, but as you practice this new skill it will become more natural and will enhance your overall physical presence. This stance sends the message that you are confident, strong and in control. When you are squared up to the person you’re looking at, it also make it easier to gesture naturally.

3. Pause & Breathe:  Slow, deep, diaphragmatic breathing is the best way to control your heart rate and minimize excess adrenaline. Remember to pause and breathe after every important sentence or when looking back at your slides to remember what to say. Pausing will help you remember your next thought. It indicates that you are considering the needs of the audience and not racing through your material. It will relax you and conserve your energy.

Demonstrating strong body language indicates confidence in your content. Practice these guidelines and watch your audience’s perception of you improve dramatically. Once people see that your body language is confident, your message will have a higher impact and move your listeners to action more quickly than ever before.

Sheri Jeavons
President

If you’re ever in a bind and have to rush to put a presentation together the morning it’s due, here’s a trick that will help you remember all the content and deliver it smoothly…

When you conduct Webinars, you want your attendees focused on your message. It is up to you to keep them on track. Check out this week’s video blog for tips to keep your webinar attendees enthralled:

Have you ever struggled to get through a tough question and answer session? Use the tips in my video blog to improve your public speaking skills: