Presentation

Mar 16 2015

Some tips on how to communicate stronger by knowing other’s preferred thinking senses!

Understanding these can assist communication channels immensely as human beings process information by using the five senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting. These allow the mind to code and understand what is happening. Some will be more developed or favoured than the others and it is these preferred senses that will be used to represent their world.

Once aware of this, you can detect the preferred sense of anyone you are talking to. Then you can adapt the way you speak to enhance the other party’s understanding.

Eg Jill “I feel like he’s not in touch with his team”, Mike “I hear what you’re saying, we seem to be on the same wavelength but how do we get him to listen?” … Jill is obviously tactile whereas Mike is auditory.

Here are some commonly heard conversational clues to see which area people feel comfortable in:

‘Seeing’ or ‘Visual’:

I get the picture
See what I mean
That is colourful, coming from you
Show me what you mean
We’ll look back on this someday

‘Hearing’ or ‘Auditory’:

Sounds good to me
Clear as a bell
I just turned a deaf ear to…
I hear what you say
Ah, that’s music to my ears

‘Feeling’, ‘Tactile’ or ‘Kinaesthetic’:

I feel good about this
He’ll get the sharp end of my tongue
I cannot get a grip on this
I felt right at home
The pressure to complete was incredible

‘Smelling’ or ‘Olfactory’:

This smells fishy
I smell a rat
As sweet as a rose
He had a nose for which direction to go

‘Tasting’ or ‘Gustatory’:

Let us chew it over
Like eating a piece of cake
It left a nasty taste
She’s so sweet

Although the last two are rare, a further clue is that olfactory types will often sniff before they make a decision – to see if it smells right and gustatory people may smack their lips or make swallowing sounds – to get the taste.

EXERCISE:

As fast as you can, using the answer that immediately feels right for you, tick one from each of the three options given in the sections below.

I like to learn by…

( ) Seeing how to do it

( ) Hearing a talk

( ) Having a go, hands-on

I make decisions by…

( ) Getting a clear picture

( ) Finding out how it sounds

( ) Attending to my gut feeling

I buy things based on…

( ) Colour, style and appearance

( ) Its description, sound or salesperson’s patter

( ) The feel of the thing

I find it easier to…

( ) Draw a picture

( ) Sing or hum a tune

( ) Play sport

By opting mainly for the first statement, you are probably primarily visual.

Selecting the middle option suggests that you are primarily auditory.

The third option indicates a kinaesthetic preference.

Improved communication and productivity can be obtained by listening first, understanding the other person’s preferred thinking sense and conversing in that style. It will assist in offering clarity and a stronger likelihood that your message will be understood.

If you want to better understand the way you communicate to others and how you can increase engagement, contact Coaching to Success’ Neil Nutburn, email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238 to set up a meeting to discuss areas that could help.

Coaching to success is all about creating successful businesses, firms and organisations. We’re here to insure you succeed.

Mar 02 2015

How do you handle rejection in business?

We all know rejection can be hard to handle and in services such as mine, where the open minded can see the benefits that a good coach can bring but some can’t, therefore, rejection is an element of moving forward for me and especially where people don’t really understand the benefits on offer.

You can’t avoid rejection whether it be in relationships, life or work but the positive is that it helps with development and self-education as you identify areas for adaptation and change.

More often than not though, it is the feeling that affects our emotions and emotions aren’t logical, so let’s put some rationality into the equation.

Don’t take it personally – ‘Personally’ is an emotional state and often rejection makes us feel as if it is ourselves that is under attack. Self-doubt creeps in, ‘How could I have presented it better?’, ‘What went wrong?’, ‘Why didn’t they like me?’

Now look at it differently – what was it about the proposal/idea that was rejected?

Frequently it’s not about the person but the offering that is being rejected yet we apply rejection to our thoughts and they in turn connect to emotions! It’s often a simple case that what is being proposed doesn’t meet the criteria so take yourself out of the equation and then re-assess the situation.

Focus on control – Those with Internal Focus believe they have control over what happens in their lives. Those with External Focus believe it’s others, chance or even fate that have control. So decide whether you will allow others to influence the way you feel or take control of it yourself.

This may sound a tad harsh but maybe it needs to be said to ourselves!

Learn – Look at this logically and learn from the rejection. Whether it was simply a case of the presentation could have been better or not matching the recipient’s needs etc., gather ‘facts’.

If you can establish what the reason was (removing emotion!) for the rejection, you will be able to improve thereafter. Carry out a self-analysis of areas you believe contributed to the rejection.

Better still, don’t make assumptions, ask! Make it clear you have accepted the rejection but in wishing to learn from this experience ask what didn’t work for them. You may be surprised to find out how freely the recipient will be in giving you this information (if you’re willing to ask).

I have been dumbfounded on occasions with reasons that I simply wouldn’t have even considered. I have certainly been educated in not to assume!

In business, rejection is part of day to day activities. Your resilience to deal with it, learn from it and take action on your new found knowledge is the key.

As that old expression goes, you can please some of the people some of the time… so it’s not all about you as a person but more likely a mismatch between what or how you are making the offering and not an assault on you or your emotions!

Coaching to Success helps you find yourself, give support and offers clarity to what you are aiming to achieve with the means of getting there. For further information, simply call Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk for an informal conversation to see how we can help increase your Locus of control or other matters concerning business development.

Feb 02 2015

How to achieve the best from appraisals

As is the nature of what I do, ie ask a lot of questions to gain clarity of thought and direction, it wasn’t surprising when I was recently asked to help a client with appraisals.

This brought about a shudder running down my spine remembering days where the big boss would hold appraisals. Or rather, interrogation, where you felt placed in beaming spotlights, asked a myriad of questions extracted from some manual that bore no resemblance to what you actually did.

Bombardment of questions with answers not even considered. A one way conversation on how you need to improve is not, I know this will be hard to believe for some, the correct way to hold an appraisal!

Remove the shackles of normality, re-look at what the appraisal should be about. This is a joint venture for all to develop better ways to harmonise the workforce. Dare I say, ways for the company/manager to also improve as a result of observations from the staff! Now there’s a thought.

Fine tune your LISTENING skills too. Avoid the ‘Why’ question (justification) and ask questions that open with What, Where, How, Who, When (exploratory), eg ‘What would the reason for this be’.

Prepare a report of the appraisee.

List training needs and discuss.
Note both what organisation and the appraise needs to do.
Look back – how well has the appraisee performed against set actions
How could they have done better?
Look objectively, not emotionally. Work off ‘evidence’ based aspects.
What hurdles did the company put in their way as well as what they put themselves
Look forward – what achievements are you looking for over the next 6mth/yr
How will you assist them in reaching their objectives?
Draft a report within 3 working days, both sign and conclude the process within 5 days

Art of listening

Show the appraisee that you are listening – look at them
Listen to what they DON’T say – look for avoidance around issues
STOP TALKING! – once asked, let the appraise answer. If there’s a pause, allow them time to process what they are thinking about.

Conducting

Review appraisee’s documents (ie time keeping, job description, client/customer feedback etc)
Allow at least half as much time again as anticipated to carry out the appraisal
Highlight success and initiatives taken.
Question how failings could be handled better (without reprimanding!)

Feedback

All evidence based. NOT around personality or assumed motives
Provide examples and not generalisation of observed behaviours
Ask appraisee to describe their thoughts and feelings about the impact that an identified behaviour will have (ask rather than tell)
As Stephen R. Covey stated “First seek to understand, then to be understood”. Use this philosophy throughout the questioning in the appraisal. Both will get so much more from it

Before any meeting, create questions under headings such as Job & Expectations, Supervisory, Fulfilment & Morale, Continued Personal Development (CPD), Teamwork, Equality & Impartiality, Communication, Organisation’s Overview, Clients/Customers so you gain a broad spectrum of understanding and this can then be analysed to create further questions at the one-to-one meetings.

If you wish to go through the process of Appraisals and want to get the best out of managing them or help running them, contact Coaching to Success’ Neil Nutburn, email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238 to set up discussions. We also have 60 incisive questions based on the above headings too.

Coaching to success is all about creating successful businesses, firms and organisations. We’re here to insure you succeed.

Nov 25 2014

Top 8 tips on delivering truly powerful presentations

I was recently fortunate enough to watch Chris Packham displaying his photography while presenting his passion for saving wildlife around the world.

His fervour was evident through his deliverance which then got me thinking about how, as businesses people, we frequently have to do presentations. Although I now have no worry of standing up in front of an audience, I remember the days of sweating palms, nerves managing to evaporate moisture from my throat and constantly fumbling for loose change in my pockets!!

So here are Coaching to Success’ top 8 tips on how to deliver that all important presentation.

Establish Credibility

Forget the long intro, keep it short and relevant. Share past involvements that lead to this presentation.

Write the dialogue

Preparation to a presentation is the key! Write the whole dialogue, rehearse then rehearse again. Another tip (having learned through being a mason) is to recite it out loud, not just in your head.

Deep breathing

This helps slow the racing heart down. Pace the speech to insure you don’t deliver too quickly. Try to mimic conversation speed.

Jackanory time!

I may be showing my age here. Jackanory was all about storytelling and they say stats are interesting, facts convincing but stories are engaging so tell one that encourages the audience to join in with the journey!

Tonality & Emphasis

When wishing to get a point across, elevate your volume and use gestures whilst altering your tone. When wishing to get facts and figures across, slow down, lower the volume so the audience needs to really listen

Visual aids

Don’t play around with something you need to draw their attention to later. Keep the attention on yourself and remember (through rehearsing) when the next slide is to be shown without having to look at it.

Don’t pace up and down

It’s off-putting to see someone pacing around a stage. A trick I learned was to stand on one side when delivering and to stroll to the other when asking! The audience subconsciously recognise when they are to listen or to participate. By strolling you are seen to be comfortable.

Q&A Time

Always allow time for feedback. Also, members of the audience may have other questions raised as a result of what you delivered. The better you answer these with re-affirmed interest, the greater it reflects point 1. Prepare for questions that attempt to derail you. Be confident in your reply without getting personal. Plan answers for questions you feel may fit this criteria. No questions asked? Eek! No problems, have a few up your sleeve to help them. “You may still be wondering about…”, “one thing I’m often asked is..”

This is but an overview of areas to be considered but is a great foundation for getting the message across positively and confidently. You can’t be expected to know all the answers all of the time but when it comes to your presentation, this is one area you can shine in and remember, the audience are here for themselves primarily!

If you have any questions or would like to discuss how Coaching to Success can help you with that all important presentation, take the first step by contacting Neil either be email, neil.nutburn@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238 where you are assured a warm welcome.