Author: admin

Do you like going to the theatre? It’s a treat to watch actors sharing their skills and telling their story and for a while we can leave behind the worries of our world and immerse ourselves in their play.

The sets and props and costumes draw us into piece and we buy in to the drama and enjoy being transported to ancient Rome, or to a drawing room in nineteeth century England.

All good fun and then at the end we step back into reality and go home, or go out for a pizza.

Business can be like the theatre and when we step through the door marked ‘work’ we enter a new world of roles and measurements and busy to-do lists.

We can forget that we have the skills to lead a family and manage our household expenses, because the new environment confuses us with jargon and overwhelms us with complexity.

The same person who wouldn’t dream of buying the most expensive sofa in the shop can lose their sense of proportion and buy the most expensive laptop, on the grounds that they absolutely must have extra RAM and a smart silvered case.

Reality becomes lost as we battle to make sense of unfamiliar dynamics, with customers demanding results now and suppliers letting us down at vital moments.

As a business coach I spend my life happily inviting people to think about the reality of their situation and to examine options and consequences. We test out the truths in their business and move towards a position of grounded acceptance.

Three of my favourite reality checks for people are as follows:

1. What does history tell us? If we regularly sell 10 units of our products then to sell 20 we need to change something. Simply ‘working harder’ isn’t going to change the reality of our market place. By accepting that history has value we can learn from it and do things differently to create a new reality for our business.

2. Are we, or are they, competent to do the work? Calling someone a manager does not automatically imbue them with the skills and techniques they need to lead teams, set tasks and work at a higher level. People need time to grow into a new role, permission to make mistakes and the care and support of their line manager. Competency is not a given, it needs to be nurtured and developed.

3. Can we really afford it? Having money in the bank doesn’t necessarily mean we have the money to spend on a project. We can forget to consider future expanses, such as tax, or maintenance costs. Without a budget to focus our thinking it is too tempting to assume all cash is free to spend, whereas in most cases it is already earmarked for something. 

Checking reality involves drinking tea and eating biscuits. In doing so we can sit quietly and allow ourselves time to think, instead of rushing in and making snap decisions.  

Checking reality means looking hard at the numbers. If we don’t have the numbers in front of us we need to get them. 

Checking reality means asking the three questions I have posed above. If history, competence and the numbers inform our thinking positively then we know our decision is likely to be a good one.

The theatre is a great place to step away from reality for a while, but business isnt. We can all take a moment to stop and think and can check out the reality of our situation, before we make a bad decision.

So, this week have fun asking yourself difficult questions. What’s the most difficult question you can ask yourself today? You know,  the one that you’ve been avoiding for a while?

Have some tea and biscuits handy to support your thinking time!

Next week: Finding Your Voice

As the old maxim has it, our brain works perfectly until the moment when we stand up to speak and then switches off just when we most need it!

But there is a solution …we can write down our first sentence so that in the few seconds it takes our brain to reboot all we have to do is read out the words. For example; ‘Good morning and thank you for coming, my name is Richard Maun and I’m going to share some presentation tips with you.’

It works every time and gets us launched without embarrassment.

The other thing with presentations is that half the marks are available before we start. Imagine we might score out of 10 for our work. The opening sentence gets us a point.

So does setting up the laptop properly. If we have it at an angle in front of us then we will tend to turn in towards it and only face a section of the audience. Putting it parallel with the front row means our feet and hips are also parallel to it, which means we won’t be ignoring anyone. Earn another point.

Slides need to be brief, so that we can use them to guide us, rather than reading out each point. The audience can read too and have come to hear us speak, not patronise them. Allow a maximim of 7 bullets per slide with 7 words per bullet. 5 x 5 works even better if you want a bonus point.

Bananas are a great source of slow release energy so eat one before you start. Caffeine tends to dry out our throat so sip water instead. A tip I saw an actress do once before going on TV was to gargle with warm water. I copied her and it worked, so I often do that if I need to warm up. 

There are 2 points on offer for the one thing that few people do at all and fewer do well – practice.

The best way to practice is to stand in our kitchen and talk to the chairs, the pot plant and the goldfish. Mumbling our way through our slide pack at our desk is way too passive. 

It also helps to practice a few slides at the venue, so we can hear ourself in the room. This tends to build confidence as we bring ourselves into the room at a psychological level. 

We haven’t even started for real yet and already we have 4 points in the bag. 

For an easy fifth point we can choose to sort out timing issues. Writing timed progress targets onto our hard copy of the slides allows us to keep on track as we go through the piece. Only having start-stop times is not much help. You wouldn’t run a bus service like that, so why run a presentation without the detail?

If the venue lacks a clock then we can put our watch down in front of us, where we can see it. Our wrists are lovely, but no help when we are under a stress load.

Presentations, like successful space flights, are all about the preparation. Doing well can enhance our career and doing badly can put a big dent in it, so we can all be astronauts for the day and do a great job!

Oh and if we feel nervous, then the final tip (and my favourite) is to take three big, slow deep breaths. These will tell our brain to release noradrenlin, which will neutralise most of the adrenaline swilling about inside us.

So, this week have fun scoring points and passing the presentation challenge before you’ve even started. Life is sweeter when you’re ahead of the game and like buses and astronauts we want to arrive safely and on time.

Next week: Checking Reality