If you are a senior manager or aspire to be one, learning how to present yourself and your ideas among other senior staff is critical. It affects how seriously you are taken, impacts your reputation in the organization, can determine how quickly you get promoted and ultimately, could affect your company's future growth.
I was observing one of my client's staff meetings this week. The CEO was running the meeting and at the table were his nine direct reports. Like most staff meetings, this one involved each of the direct reports updating their colleagues on what had happened in their functional areas in the last month. As each vice president reported in, there were a few clarifying questions asked by others at the table, mostly by the CEO. These meetings are certainly important from an information sharing perspective, but they often lack the key elements that move organizations forward -- vision, strategic dialogue, future planning, creative idea sharing and constructive conflict.
By introducing a strategic component to your meetings, you can accomplish several objectives. You will leverage yourself and other's perception of you as a leader and significantly increase the meeting's value for both the participants and the organization.
Doing this is easier than you might imagine.
Wear two hats. One hat is the functional role that you represent, i.e. sales, human resources, IT, operations, etc. and the related information you are there to present.
The other is the strategic team hat. This hat is even more critical to your future and to the future of the organization. When you wear this hat you ask strategic questions. You listen carefully when someone else is presenting and avoid being distracted by what you are going to say in response or by what you need to do that day. You actively participate; probing other participants with strategic questions so that they can see how the information they presented impacts the potential direction of the company. You brainstorm with the group to generate creative ideas and use conflicts constructively.
The strategic hat also requires you to focus on facilitating each participant's success through mentoring, so that you help one another raise the "bar" for their individual and your collective success.
Wearing this hat enables the group to move from short-term actions and implementations to a long-term strategic view that can significantly impact the organization's future success.
Most executives and senior managers forget to wear this strategic team hat. This shortsightedness creates reactive management and silos, and stifles the creation of a consultative atmosphere critical for successful organizations.
So many people I work with complain when they have another meeting to attend. I wonder if these meetings were more strategically focused, if they would be seen as more worthwhile rather than taking people away from their work.
Whether you are a member of senior management or have the opportunity to present to them, wearing not just one, but two hats is the only way to leverage yourself as a leader and encourage others to be more visionary. The future of your organization depends on it, and it's only polite!
Leadership Coaching Newsletter is written and produced by Wendy Capland. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to: wcapland@visionquestconsulting.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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