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How To Speak “Management”

For most people, picking up a new language is a challenging task, no matter how smart they are.  Gaining proper eloquence, learning the nuances – it can take years of practice.

However, there is one language you can pick up in a matter of hours, and while it may be most relevant for only a select number of people, it may have more to do with your professional development (and possible promotion) than any other language you could acquire.  What language is this? “Management.”

    Yeah, those people   
    “up there” have their
    own language… 

 

This article will attempt to offer an introduction to the language called “management,” by presenting some of the key words in this language’s vocabulary. Remember, language is more than just a means of communication; it’s also represents mindset, and effective management is all about being in the right mindset.

This language can be picked up in a matter of hours and used fluently in a matter of weeks. Why? Because it doesn’t have tens of thousands of words, like regular language do, and there are only a few single grammatical rules. There is only a short list of key words you need to learn and fully internalize in order to gain ownership of this language.

Your new vocabulary list:

  • Asset
  • Burden
  • Objective
  • Milestone
  • Bottleneck
  • Force Amplifier
  • Early Indicator
  • Assumption
  • Problem Oriented
  • Solution Oriented
  • Reactive
  • Proactive
  • Descriptive
  • Analytical
  • Recommendation
  • Alternatives

Let’s get started with the most important words on this list:  Asset.

The standard definitions of the word ‘Asset’ are:
–noun

  1. A useful and desirable thing or quality: Organizational ability is an asset.
  2. A single item of ownership having exchange value.
  3. Assets,
    • Items of ownership convertible into cash; total resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable, securities, inventories, goodwill, fixtures, machinery or real estate (opposed to liabilities).
    • Accounting. The items detailed on a balance sheet, esp. in relation to liabilities and capital.
    • All property available for the payment of debts, esp. of a bankrupt or insolvent firm or person.
    • Law. Property in the hands of an heir, executor, or administrator, that is sufficient to pay the debts or legacies of a deceased person.

In Management, the definitions of the word “Asset” are slightly different: 

–Value

  1. The degree of your contribution to your manager’s ability to make better decisions.
  2. The enhancement you bring to the overall resources your managers have available.

Management is about a whole list of challenges that relate to vision building, resource allocation, team building, and more.  But at the heart of all of these challenges, there’s one fundamental core-challenge: decision-making. 

If you want to speak fluent management , you need to understand that your message has to be directly related to the most pressing decisions that decision-makers are facing at that time, in context of the Objectives “they” are trying to achieve.

When your message does not relate to these pressing decisions, you will quickly be tagged as a Burden, a vocabulary word you want to avoid. However, if you consistently ensure that your message is directly related to the pressing decisions they are facing, and if you construct your message in a way that helps them make better decisions, you will quickly be tagged as an Asset.

Remember, being an Asset is about enhancing other people’s ability to make better decisions.

The first thing about being an Asset, has to do with your own orientation.  Which has more of your attention: the problem at hand, or the possible solutions to that problem?

When you are Problem-Oriented, the nature of your message is likely to be Descriptive – offering endless details and facts about the current situation as well as the path that led up to this current situation, without any suggested solutions.  Problem orientation is about looking back, searching for excuses (and in many cases, people to blame).  Being Problem-Oriented is the fastest way to become a Burden.  Until humanity finds a way to travel back in time, the past cannot be altered, making this mindset a total waste of your manager’s time (and your time, too).

Effective managers care more about the future than the past.  When they do look into the past, it’s only in order to better shape the future. 

To ensure that you are perceived as (and are in fact) an Asset, you need to discard the Descriptive approach, and adapt a Solution-Oriented mindset, usually indicated by Analytical messages that focus on possible solutions to the current problems in a way that is based on clearly defined Assumptions, Alternatives, and Early Indicators.

Forward Framing
The fastest way to becoming Solution-Oriented and adopting an Analytical approach when speaking Management, is to always begin your message with a reference to the future, specifically relating to Objectives you know the person with whom you are communicating needs to achieve.

This is called Forward Framing – when your entire message is framed in context of the future (rather than the past).

For instance, when questioned by their managers as to why they need the extra resources they’ve recently requested (bigger budget, additional personal, etc.), most people offer Descriptive answers that relate to their current workload, and the list of problems they have due to lack of resources.  From their perspective, these problems are what they face on a daily level, so it’s understandable that they are preoccupied with them.  Their managers, however, need to keep their eyes on the bigger picture, understanding exactly how certain extra resources they approve will help meet the overall objectives they are committed to. Therefore, when you speak Management, you need to always use Forward Framing, ensuring that you always incorporate into your message an answer to the question: “why?”  Why should you be given extra resources?  Why should your recommendations be approved?

Example:

  • Question: “WHY do you need extra personnel?”
  • Problem-Oriented: “We are extremely understaffed and we’re already running behind schedule.  We can’t handle the current work load without extra personnel.”
  • Solution-Oriented: “With the extra personnel, we should be able to guarantee meeting the deadline without falling behind on the rest of our workload.”
  • Fluent Management: “If we want to secure future contracts with this client, it’s imperative that we meet the current deadline.  We can either delay some of the other projects we are currently working on – in which case, I would like to discuss prioritization with you when you have a chance – or we need to extra personnel to stay on schedule with all the current projects.”

The ability to speak Management is an extremely important tool to have in your arsenal. These few simple tricks can help you to close a big deal with a client, help decision-makers come up with the best possible solution, and maybe get you a promotion. Take a few days to learn this language; it’ll be worth it.

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Starting on the Right Foot

There is an old tradition that says you should always enter your house with your right foot first. That first step, where things are fresh and undetermined, makes all the difference.

Much like that old saying, conveying a message has a lot to do with the beginning; you need to figure out how to open on the right foot in front of your audience in order to set the tone for the entire session. The beginning, in this case, is the first 30 seconds to 4 minutes on average, depending on the length of your session. This is your window of opportunity to create a powerful first impression on a new or even a familiar audience.

So how do you start off on the right foot and experience “good luck” (at least for the duration of the session)? Start with anything that’s interesting and memorable, relevant (related to the topic and your agenda), and fits the time frame. It could range from a personal story, joke, historical anecdote to a piece of data, a quote or a visual aid, like a video or a picture.

In order to make your opening—or “grace period,” as we call it at VAYOMAR—effective make sure you match it to your audience, your comfort zone, and personal style and the kind of image you wish to portray.  For instance, an unconventional joke might not be the wisest choice in front of a conservative audience. If you can, find out who your audience is ahead of time and adjust accordingly.

Next time you begin your presentation, speech, or other form of message, make sure you start on the right foot and choose a strong opening. It could make all the difference.

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8 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Giving a Presentation

By: Dafna Cosidoy

You’re giving an important presentation to your boss, it all goes very well and your boss is pleased. He later informs you that an important client is arriving from Singapore the following day, and he wants you to show him the presentation. The common mistake people make in such cases is the “copy paste,” basically giving the exact same presentation to different people. Even if your boss was enthusiastic, there is no guarantee that the client will react in the same way, especially since they are two totally different people from different cultures with different interests and goals.

We tend to prepare ourselves before presentations or meetings; we go over the important points in our heads, we review the presentation, and we even think about what to wear. But we rarely focus on the main purpose of our presentation: the audience. Whether it’s a one-on-one meeting or a lecture given to hundreds of people, the audience is the target of your message. The following eight questions will help you analyze your audience in advance and ensure that you transmit your messages in the correct way:

  1. What is the common denominator of the audience? What do they all have in common? Are they all on the same level on the business hierarchy, or experts in the same field of knowledge? Figure out the common denominator and appeal to that.
  2. Why are they there? What is the goal of the meeting, and what is the desired result from their perspective? What is the KPI that they would rate from the meeting or presentation? Make sure the audience feels like this was a good use of their time.
  3. What is expected of me? Try to think what your audience wants from you based on your status and theirs. For example, if you’re new to the job and you’re presenting to the organization’s decision makers, remember they are examining not just your presentation, but you as an employee. If they are senior decision makers, they probably expect you not to reach a conclusion, but to present them with a subject and give them the honor of reaching a decision.
  4. What will be the most common questions? Try to anticipate your audience’s questions; what are some potential things they might find confusing? You can  try to make some extra slides just for yourself with the answers to some of these questions.
  5. What will be the strongest objections? There are those who call this “frequent and explosive questions,” but objections aren’t necessarily through questions. Rather, they are reactions, comments, or expressions. You can anticipate them based on previous meetings you’ve attended – what was most objected to: Budget? Damaging the time schedule? Potential downfalls? Identifying objections has great value in solidifying your position and softening any opposition.
  6. What are the points of sensitivity? There are some sensitivities that we should know about in advance so as not to embarrass ourselves or to cause tension among the audience. For instance, you should probably avoid topics like organization politics, someone getting fired, a recent failure etc. Be sensitive to these things, as well as physical sensitivities, such as someone in the crowd who has hearing problems.
  7. Who are the key people? Preparation can help you with lobbying before the presentation, preparing the ground, as well as during the presentation itself. If there is someone whom you know to carry a lot of weight, you can give him more of a “say,” or even ask for his opinion. If he has a question and others do as well, you can call on him to ask first, or give his question more attention.
  8. How does my audience like to acquire information? With or without PowerPoint, videos, etc.? This doesn’t go for just presentation tools but also the substance. Maybe you’re speaking to an administrative team that prefers the “bottom line” – short and focused – or maybe your audience are managers who prefer micro-management and want to hear some background, understand all the data. Knowing what your audience likes and what they’re used to is an extremely important tool in your arsenal.

Different audiences grasp messages in different ways. We have to do some fine-tuning to our presentation before bringing it to different audiences, just as we change our CV before submitting it to different workplaces. We emphasize various qualities and values that will suit each company to which we submit. It’s the same with presentations – the basis will remain the same, but the specific audience should be taken into account. This way, your messages will be transmitted in the best possible way.

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All About Body Language

Studies have found that only 7% of the messages we send are verbal – the other 93% are sent in some non-verbal way. This percentage probably shocks you. The bottom line is this: people first pay attention to your body language, and only afterwards do they hear what we’re saying.

Much has already been said about the importance of body language in sending messages and its basis on our status as speakers. But the question that frequently arises is: what can we do to change this? How much of our body language is innate and how much of it can we acquire?

Every individual has his/her own starting point, some finding body language more natural while others struggle. The key is to become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of our body language. Through this, we can learn to elevate our strengths and improve upon our weaknesses. This awareness will help us succeed in dramatically increasing the quantity of the messages we send, as well as the understanding of those messages.

Up until now, studies have mainly dealt with just one of the three aspects of body language.

1. How We’re Perceived – This relates to the audience, and how we succeed in transmitting our message. It applies to how we can improve our status before an audience and transmit our message, as well as using techniques like voice, eye contact, movement, etc.

Today more and more studies are dealing with the two additional aspects of body language, and if we relate to them, we can significantly improve the transmission of our messages.

2. Reading the Audience – Body language can help us to read the audience, to understand and to identify the small nuances that will help us make the right connection (an audience can be anything from one person to an entire stadium). For example, if someone in the audience slightly raises or lowers an eyebrow, we can assume that he/she has a question to ask or that he/she doesn’t completely agree with what we said. Before they are able to interject their question or opinion, try to ask that person, “Did you want to add something? Do you have a question?” The immediate message will be “they understand me, the speaker is reading me before I even said a word.”

The more we are aware of the small nuances in the audience’s body language, body movement, facial expressions, and eye contact, the more we will succeed in creating a better connection, and our message will be transmitted in a much better way.

3. Effect on Ourselves – This is the most innovative aspect: body language not only influences how we are seen by the audience; it also affects how we perceive ourselves. It can succeed in influencing us and how we succeed.

Amy Cuddy, one of the leading researchers in the field of body language, performed many experiments and found that if, just before a job interview, we take two minutes to ourselves in the bathroom or in the car and we stand in a “super power position,” we will walk into the job interview with more self confidence, and our chances of receiving a position reply are that much greater.

Cuddy claims that this isn’t a “fake it ‘till you make it” situation, but rather “fake it ‘till you become it.”

This principle answers the question concerning innate body language as compared to acquired body language. At the beginning, it may seem a little false or forced, but later on it becomes part of our DNA. It will influence not only how we are perceived by others, but also on how we perceive ourselves, and it will help us succeed in business, in our personal lives, and beyond.

In the next few weeks, we will carefully examine each of these three aspects of body language more carefully, so that the next time you present in front of a crowd, your body language will help to captivate your audience and let them connect with you easily!

To hear all of Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on body language, CLICK HERE.

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Charisma: How to Match Your Verbal and Non-Verbal Messages

If you look up “charisma” in the dictionary, the definition will say something along the lines of: “a person with personal charm, persuasive and possessing high interpersonal skills.”  Clearly, charisma is a quality that one should want to possess, particularly in the communications field.

But how can we truly become more charismatic?

There are many qualities that can make a person charismatic. On a practical level, however, a person is thought to be charismatic when his verbal messages and his non-verbal messages are consistent.  This means that your words and your body language have to correspond with one another, and have to work together to create a stronger impact.  It may seem simple, but how exactly do you effectively do this?

5 tips for achieving correspondence between verbal and non-verbal messages:

  • Voice and tone – 38% of our first impressions are based on our ability to use our voice correctly.  What is considered the “proper” use of your voice?  Simply put, you should use a moderate and changeable variation of: volume (high/low), pace (quick/slow) and style (decisive/authoritative/soft/containing).
  • Facial expressions – it’s very difficult to listen with interest and gain a connection with someone who has an expressionless face.  We must ensure that we use varied facial gestures according to message we’re trying to convey and of course, we can’t forget to smile.  As a rule, people have an easier time connecting to and having a positive perception of people who smile at them.
  • Eye contact – in order to radiate credibility, honesty and intimacy with the person standing before us, we must ensure to make eye contact with all the people in the audience.  Don’t stay fixated on one person for too long though; make sure you are making eye contact with the entire audience.  Additionally, try not to look at your notes or presentation too much.  Keep engaging the audience to make sure not to lose them.
  • Shoulders – studies have shown that something that radiates high self-esteem is the shoulders.  That is, erect and straight shoulders send a message that a person can be counted on; strong shoulders give the impression that a person believes in himself. This, in turn, makes it easier to believe in this person and in his message.
  • Use of attention grabbers – in order for our message to be memorable and to create an experience as a derivative of the interaction with us, we must spice up our content with concrete examples, personal experiences, anecdotes, surprising data from recent studies, videos etc. As much as we might want our presentation to stand on its own, using extras can really help our message stick with the audience.

Charisma can be something that comes naturally to people, but it can also be taught and learned very easily through these simple steps. If you want others to be excited about what you’re saying, you need to be excited while saying it. By being passionate and energetic, your message will grab hold of an audience and make them feel the same way you do.

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Enhancing Your Influence

Every person is looking for a way to maximize his input, whether it’s in a big or small way.

One of these ways is becoming an asset to the big decision-makers at a company.

How can you be sure that your suggestions are helpful and not hindering? CLICK HERE to take a look at our infographic on Enhancing Your Influence and learn more!

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Are employees snoozing through your meetings? Here's the solution

In most organizations, team meetings are perceived as useless and boring.  No matter how hard you may try to make it interesting, your employees still seem restless.  How can we make these meetings effective AND engaging?  Before we try to understand how to do that, let’s ask ourselves the following question: what are the classic problems managers run into during staff meetings?

  • Employees show lack of interest and are busy chatting.
  • Employees arrive late.
  • Employees walk out to take phone calls.
  • There is no internalization and implementation of the points raised in the meeting.

However, this is not a one-way street.  If we were to ask your employees the exact same question, they would probably say that:

  • Meetings start late.
  • Meetings don’t end on time.
  • They are boring.
  • They are ineffective.
  • The message isn’t clear.
  • There’s information overload.
  • The topic doesn’t pertain to everyone present but only to some departments.

The following model attempts to tackle some of these problems:

A Model for Constructing Staff Meetings to Motivate Employees

  1. Present the meeting objectives in a precise and concise manner.  A clear objective and vision instill commitment among employees.
  2. Present the rationale behind the objectives (for example: other ruled-out alternatives, examples of past experiences, your position in relation to competitors, case studies that led to developing such a procedure, simulations, roll switching, etc.) – the “what” isn’t enough; it’s also important to understand the “why.”  The more an employee takes part in making decisions, the more committed he is to perform his tasks in the best way possible.
  3. The implications (value, benefit) of meeting objectives on any level (individual/group/school) – what do we gain by achieving our goals? It is important for employees to see the end result of their hard work and effort.
  4. Predicting and presenting possible resistance – when a manager knows how to detect and bring to the surface possible backlash before his employees do, he’s able to minimize the degree of resistance and show that he knows the situation up close.
  5. Holding a discussion about the working methods to achieve the goals – a good manager should encourage creative thinking and teamwork.

When a manager builds his staff meetings based on this model, the message he is sending is a positive one.  It shows he’s truly invested in his employees, that meeting them is important to him, that he doesn’t want to waste their time, that he understands their motives, and that he knows how to appreciate their hard work.  Above all, a manager should serve as a role model and set a personal example for his employees (a factor that has been found to be key in motivating employees in the long run).