In this issue

M.J. Campbell Associates

Mark Campbell
Five Gifts for Insightful Leaders

Mark J. Campbell partners with organizations for leadership development. He helps senior teams increase their effectiveness and productivity by drawing on over twenty-five years experience in executive coaching, team building, communications consulting and conflict management.

In addition to his consulting practice, Mark teaches two courses in communications at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Click here to see a listing of Speeches Delivered by Mark Campbell

Find out more about Mark Campbell at www.mjcampbellassoc.com

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August 2008

This issue of The Insightful Leader addresses two topics that can make a critical difference in advancing your career. The feature article, How to Immediately Command Any Audience's Attention Every Time, will help establish you as an authority in your field and get you the respect you deserve. If you don't capture the attention of audience members in the in the first ninety seconds, you will lose them for the duration of your presentation. Apply the techniques in this article and watch the magic that takes place.

The "Ask the Coach" column, The Secret to Maximizing Your Experience with an Executive Coach, will help you show concrete results that will impress your boss and colleagues. Follow the step-by-step process described in this article and you will take your performance to a new level.

Mark Campbell

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  • How to Immediately Command Any Audience's Attention Every Time

Picture the following scene: you are being introduced by the master of ceremonies to an audience prior to delivering an important speech. As you scan the room, you notice that many in the audience are not paying attention to the person introducing you. In fact, people are speaking with colleagues, drinking coffee, talking on cell phones and text messaging. In addition, a number of stragglers are still coming into the room. You are thinking, "How long will it take for me to get the attention of this group? What was I thinking when I accepted the request to speak at this meeting?"

How many times have you faced this situation? What can you do to deal with all the fidgeting, side-conversations and other distractions? Do not give up hope. There is a solution. My recommendation is that you use the Hook Technique. This approach involves a statement that grabs the audience by the heart or mind and convinces them that what you have to say is of great value. The hook involves any one of the following: a captivating story, powerful quotation, rhetorical question, request for show of hands, dramatic voice projection or use of a prop.

The benefits of the hook include: immediately suppressing distractions, gaining audience attention, reinforcing your reputation as a subject matter expert and emphasizing the benefits to be gained from your presentation.

Examples of the Hook:

  1. Captivating Story

    Several years ago a young Iranian graduate student in my Public Speaking for Managers course at the Harvard School of Public Health began her ice breaker speech with the following statement, "I awoke to the sounds of bursting bombs and the smell of burning flesh." Her house, we were to learn, had been bombed in the Iraq/Iranian war. She then went on to tell us the story of her childhood. There was not a sound to be heard in the classroom and not a dry eye amongst any of us by the time this student's speech was completed.

  2. Powerful Quotation

    Let's assume that you are a leader delivering a speech to a group of employees facing a significant change such as a major reorganization. You could open by saying, "If we don't embrace risk we will live as Theodore Roosevelt stated, In the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat."

  3. Rhetorical Question or Request for a Show of Hands

    In my early days as a corporate trainer, I would often encounter audiences that needed to be convinced of the value of the training program I was delivering. I would often begin the day with the following question, "By a show of hands, how many of you would rather be somewhere else?" The question would bring about some laughter and break the ice.

  4. Dramatic Voice Projection

    As a young human resources manager, I accompanied my boss to a speech he delivered at a school for troubled adolescents. Keith was an award winning public speaker and a master of the hook. He opened his speech by saying in a powerful voice, "That's not what I said you know, that's not what I meant." He went on to deliver a speech on how we often misconstrue what another person is trying to communicate. Needless to say, he quickly gained the attention of the students.

  5. Using a Prop

    A cardiologist in another of my Harvard classes opened his speech by holding up his wrist watch and stating in a strong voice, "I would like each of you to look at your wrist watch. He paused and then said, "Every thirty-four seconds one person in the U. S. will die from heart disease." He immediately gained the attention of the other nineteen physician leaders in the room and went on to deliver a memorable speech.

Don't Forget the Importance of Delivery - The hook is more than delivering great content; it is also about strong dramatic delivery. After you approach the lectern or front of the room, pause and take a breath and then deliver your hook with passion and enthusiasm. This type of delivery will almost always catch your audience off guard. They will immediately sit up straight, put food and coffee aside and stop all conversations. It will almost feel like magic to you. Once you have the audience's attention, you will dramatically increase the probability of delivering a speech that will "Wow" each and every person.

Action Exercise - Make a commitment to use the hook at a meeting, training session or formal presentation during the next two weeks. I look forward to learning how your audience responds.

Recommended Article - "Why Presentations by Leaders Often Fail" - Newsletter Archive

Recommended Speech - "Leading Through Speaking"

Recommended Corporate Workshop - Successful Business Presentations

Copyright 2008, Mark J. Campbell. All rights reserved.
Permission to reprint this article is granted, provided you let me know where it is being printed, the copyright is not removed, and the following text accompanies each article:

"Mark Campbell partners with organizations for leadership development. For a complimentary subscription to his newsletter, "The Insightful Leader," go to www.mjcampbellassoc.com."

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  • Question for the Coach

In this section we answer questions regarding leadership, coaching and careers. Please send your questions to mark.campbell48@verizon.net. We will be happy to answer you directly by e-mail. In all cases, the person submitting the question will be contacted before it is used in "The Insightful Leader."

The Secret to Maximizing Your Experience with an Executive Coach

Question

I'm a senior research scientist with a pharmaceutical company in North Carolina. I have recently had several sessions with an executive coach as part of my company's leadership development program. This initiative is coming to a conclusion and a meeting has been scheduled next week for me to present an action plan to my manager, based on my work with the coach. The plan must include my strengths, as identified by my colleagues, areas for development and future career plans. My concern relates to creating an action plan for my development needs. I really don't know where to begin. In the past, I have found your newsletter helpful in addressing other professional issues and hope that you can provide some advice on my personal dilemma.

The Coach Answers . . .

Over the past fourteen years, I have helped hundreds of leaders develop action plans as part of executive coaching assignments and have reached the conclusion that focus is the key to coaching success. While you didn't include your specific development needs in your email, I have several thoughts for you.

  1. Select only one or two areas for inclusion in your action plan. If you select more than two, your efforts will be diluted and little progress will be made. I have found that changing behavior or learning complex leadership skills requires focus, focus and more focus.

  2. Consider your manager's preference for reports, memos and plans before you begin to write your action plan. Is he or she a "bottom-line" person or a detail person? Write your plan to meet your manager's style. You don't want to present a one page summary only to be told the plan lacks depth. On the other hand, if your manager prefers brevity, the summary will most likely meet with his or her approval.

  3. Be certain that your specific development needs are in sync with your manager's perception of your previous performance. For example, if he or she has expressed a concern in the past that you write more papers, strongly consider having this in your plan. In fact, list it as the number one of the two needs.

  4. Whenever possible create a process to address the identified development needs. The process should have several discrete steps. Let's assume, based on the feedback you received in the leadership program that you decide to work on developing informal relationships. Let's further assume that while people have rated you high on the quality of your work, they characterize you as being "all business" and difficult to approach. If you decide to identify the development need as "building informal relationships," you might consider the following plan elements. Keep in mind that this is only an example and would need to be changed to meet your specific development needs.

    • Identify the critical stakeholders who you would like to develop a closer relationship with over the next three months.

    • Develop a matrix with several columns. In one column list the most effective form of communication to use with each of the stakeholders. These communication vehicles would be based on the stakeholder's preference and geographic location. They could include brief face-to-face meetings, email, voice mail, text messaging, breakfast or lunch meetings. Consider adding a column showing frequency of meetings. I would also recommend adding a column showing the quality of your relationship with each stakeholder (excellent, good, fair, etc.)

    • Design an "objectives" section in your plan where you state what you hope to learn about the stakeholders during this process. These objectives might include the individual's business or personal goals and how you might help him or her reach these goals. In addition, you might list getting to know more about each individual's family and hobbies.

    • Put some accountability in the process by including dates at which you will review progress with your manager.

While there are very few "secrets" to success in life and work, "focus" is absolutely critical to achieve progress in coaching situations. I have learned that "good intentions" don't work very well when addressing professional development needs. Life has a way of interrupting even the best of intentions.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions regarding your action plan.

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Reprint these articles

Copyright August 2008, Mark J. Campbell. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint the How to Immediately Command Any Audience's Attention Every Time and/or The Secret to Maximizing Your Experience with an Executive Coach articles is granted, provided you let me know where it is being printed, the copyright is not removed, and the following text accompanies each article:

Mark Campbell specializes in leadership development. For a complimentary subscription to his newsletter, "The Insightful Leader," go to www.mjcampbellassoc.com.

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