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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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Dare You To Move: Appearance and Movement in Body Language

In this last chapter on body language, we’ll talk about the body itself. This topic is divided into two parts:

  1. Outward appearance and presentation
  2. Movement in an open space – posture, sitting position, stability, and hands.

It is important to understand each of these things individually in depth. But the last analysis, the final result, and the way our message is transmitted, depends on the integration of both of these elements.

Outward Appearance
A cell phone company did a research project in which they asked their sales and service representatives to come to work for one month dressed in tailored clothing, but to continue to give exactly the same service as before. They didn’t learn any new service techniques and no new “sale” projects were approved. The only thing that changed was the way the representatives were dressed. When the month was over, the research showed two main findings:

  1. Customers reported that the service was more courteous and pleasant.
  2. The representatives themselves felt that the customers respected them and the work they did a lot more.

In conclusion, all the communications and proceedings between the service people and the customers were more pleasant for both sides.

It takes people just three seconds to form a first impression of the person facing them and file them into a certain category before they even open their mouths or shake hands. The way we dress, our appearance, and our presentation are cardinal elements in the way we are seen and others’ first impression of us. Appearance doesn’t only relate to the way we dress, though. It also includes complementary elements that create a particular image.

A common question is: how should you dress if you don’t know the dress code?

The best recommendation is to dress one level above what you think the dress code will be. It’s preferable to dress up than to dress down.

In the movie “Legally Blonde,” the character Elle (played by Reese Witherspoon) accidentally shows up at a fancy party dressed in a bunny costume (image shown above)! In some cases, it is just better to ask the dress code, rather than do some guesswork.

Movement In An Open Space

Posture when facing an audience – When we stand facing an audience, our instinct is to stand in one place. And if we have a podium, we almost always choose to stand behind it. We at VAYOMAR conducted an experiment in which we placed a chair or table in the center of the stage and asked our workshop participants to present. Over 90% of those tested chose to stand behind the chair/table and even to lean on the chair back or on the edge the table. The leaning expressed more than just a physical leaning, but also a mental one. The chair and the table acted as ”security blankets,” a kind of divider between the presenters and the audience.

The more we use the space that we have before our audience, the better we will succeed in transmitting our message. The message is that “we are in control of the stage,” and the audience’s first impression is that we are also in control of the message itself. A nonchalant and dynamic use of the open space before our audience gives the message of our control of the content, as well as our expertise.

If we are showing a presentation, it is obvious that we won’t stand and block it in a way that would have a camera on our body and would make us look ridiculous. We can stop the presentation occasionally, while continuing to speak. Use of the open space in this way keeps the audience’s attention and gives them the feeling that we control the content of our talk at a very high level.

Stability – The way in which we sit or stand (depending, of course, on the situation) greatly influences how we are perceived. There is a correlation between how we hold our shoulders and if we are perceived as people with high or low self-esteem. It is very important, when sitting, to sit straight – the message you transmit is that of a person with confidence in himself and in his messages.

Hands – Of all the non-verbal elements of body language, the use of hand movement is the most dependent on cultural background. There are cultures that make great use of hand movements; however, there are Far-Eastern cultures where hand movements are considered blunt and disrespectful.

On the other hand, in Western cultures, hand movements are very acceptable and are often very natural. They can help us realize the message we want to transmit. For example, if we want to actualize direction or size, it is natural to use our hands to demonstrate this. However, there are also well known errors using hand movements; for instance, standing with our hands in our pockets or behind the back. But one of the most frequent hand movements, to which we pay little attention, is touching the face or hair. Studies have shown that a person touches his face and/or hair about seven times a minute.

When we stand before an audience the area around the face must be clear so that it will be easier to understand what we are saying and our movements can be mimicked. The face should be hidden as little as possible. Touching the hair broadcasts a lack of confidence and touching the throat broadcasts hurt. But at the same time, a hand touching the heart shows that we are speaking honestly and from the heart.

Reflecting – A situations that happens very naturally is how we appear and reflect those around us.

We have a tendency to imitate the body language of the person opposite us. This is a natural situation that happens without our noticing it. For example, if someone opposite us is sitting with their legs crossed, it’s generally only a matter of minutes before someone else crosses their legs. If there’s a rhythm to someone’s speech, or a staccato way of speaking during a discussion, or even hand movements that characterize the person opposite us, in a very short time, the person opposite us will adopt some of these nuances and will communicate in the same way. People who are generally more communicative will reveal the gestures of the person opposite them easily and quickly. The techniques of reflection exist unconsciously in all of us.

Reflection permits approach. As soon as we behave in a way similar to the person opposite us, we automatically feel closer to each other and feel that we’re speaking the same language, thus making our basis of communication more effective.

I am like you.

I like you.

Like = “similar to” as well as “fond of.“ It’s not by chance that these are the meanings of this word and this is a good example of the reflecting effect. We won’t always know how to explain the reason for a better feeling, but we will know that there was good chemistry. As soon as we become more aware of this, we try to be more proactive with this chemistry. The chances are better that we’ll intensify communication and cooperation with the person opposite us.

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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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It's All About Your Face

Rarely do we think about the impact facial expressions have when giving a presentation. However, as they are a big aspect of our body language, the faces we make can influence others to think and feel certain ways, merely depending on which muscles we choose to move.

The video below shows sets of identical twins sitting side by side. Their only difference? One is chewing gum. Particpants were asked a series of questions based on which twin they thought fit certain criteria. Watch to see how the experiment unfolds.

http://youtu.be/Ueg33qiCq9Q

While this was interesting to watch, chewing gum is not the best way to show movements in your face.

Our suggestion is that you don’t chew gum when you go on stage or go to a job interview or to a business meeting. What you should do instead is take advantage of facial expressions.

Facial expressions are one of the major tools in the body language game. We express the entire spectrum of feeling, whether consciously or subconsciously, through our facial expressions.

Below are a few central aspects through which you can increase your use of facial expressions and your ability to identify the facial expressions of other people. In 2014, the University of Ohio found that there are 21 facial expressions that we, universally, use in our daily lives. Next to the six dominant facial expressions—which demonstrate feelings of anger, fear, disgust, enjoyment, sadness and surprise—another 15 expressions were found that were integrated into the first six, such as: surprise in anger, disgust in fear, etc.

When you stand before an audience and want to transmit a message in the most attractive way, you need to try to integrate as many facial expressions as possible. Your facial muscles should be moving as much as possible. This might be very difficult to do, as every person has 43 muscles in their faces and only uses two to four of them. The more aware you are of the impact of facial expressions, keeping this in your subconscious, the more you will use when you stand and speak before an audience.

The most important and the most discussed expression is, of course, the smile. We all know the old cliché that a smile is the only crooked line that can straighten out anything. Clichés are clichés because they are true. A smile can really break the ice, melt and soften opposition, and strengthen our position as speakers who are pleasant to listen to and to work with. An experiment was done with patients suffering from clinical depression. Half of them requested anti-depressants and half requested placebos for a period of one month. The placebo group was asked to stand before a mirror for seven minutes and to smile. The group asked to smile showed more improvement compared with those using genuine medications.

A smile, in particular, and general facial expressions not only show other people how we feel; they also influence the way we express our feelings, the way we experience our reality. There’s a difference between a courteous or artificial smile and a smile that shows real joy. The difference can be seen in the creases around the eyes. A real smile will include creases at the corners of the eyes, an artificial smile won’t. However, an artificial smile will actually stir the blood in the area of the brain responsible for enjoyment, and will improve your mood. While it’s true that a smile isn’t always suitable at every lecture or for every audience, if used in a moderate way, a smile can always be a bridge, knocking down walls, and creating effective communication between your listeners and you.

Dr. Paul Ekman (whom the show “Lie to Me” is based on), specialist at reading faces and facial expressions, developed the micro-movements that can identify, to the millimeter, the meaning of a movement of an eyebrow (helping police investigators to identify and analyze lies), and coined the term “facial slips,” which are much like slips of the tongue. Even when you try really hard not to show your facial expressions and to keep a poker face, these facial slips just happen. It’s difficult to control them. Only 1% of the population is clever enough to decipher the micro-movements of the face; they are also the ones who can control their facial movements.

Most are not among the people who are talented enough to control facial movements. But you can succeed in seeing someone in the audience who wants to ask a question or someone who doesn’t agree with you and you will certainly see those who do agree with you. These things happen naturally and you need to increase these talents. Someone in the audience who wants to ask a question will transmit his wish through eye contact.

When you stand in front of an audience, you need to take as much advantage as possible of a wide range of facial expressions – because our message must awaken a certain emotion, a certain desire. And in order to succeed and to touch this emotion, you must personally feel the emotions on your body and radiate them outward, calling your audience to feel what you are feeling.

Even blind infants have the same facial expressions as other infants do. Thus,, we understand that facial expressions aren’t an acquired trait, but an inherent one. When we are children we use a lot more facial expressions than we do when we’re adults. That’s because when we’re children, we have less inhibitions. We must learn to go back to this period of lack of inhibitions, so that we can properly use our facial expressions to convey our messages.

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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.