Anyone can present with varying levels of confidence, clarity and impact but high impact presenting is a specific skill. It’s not about being able to read a shiny, well animated slide deck – it’s about being able to get your message across in a way that engages your audience and keeps them hooked.

Whether you’re pitching to a new client, managing an existing one or simply trying to persuade your colleagues to buy into your idea, the key is impact and the steps below will help.

1. Tell your story

No matter what industry you work in, you want your audience to leave understanding and supporting the ideas you’ve just delivered.  The art of storytelling will do just that and like any great book, it has a beginning, a middle and an end and more importantly, takes the audience on a journey.  A good story will enable you to present in a compelling way and bring the audience with you on that journey.

• Become your audience

There’s a reason why you’ve been asked to present, it’s likely because of your knowledge, expertise and/or experience and the best way to convey that is to think about what you’d like to see and take away from someone presenting to you.  So, put yourself in your audience’s shoes.  A little research here goes a long way – think about how much knowledge they have (and don’t have in some cases) and what they will find the most interesting and useful.

• Keep it simple

Yes, the content of what you are presenting is important and shouldn’t be ignored, but don’t forget, the audience (regardless of size) wants to listen to you and what you have to say.  Keep your slide deck punchy with bullet points and try not to overload the audience with pages of text.

• Practice, Practice, Practice

A presentation that tells a story but is to the point, well thought through and rehearsed will have them hanging on your every word.  Don’t underestimate rehearsing your presentation and if you think you have it nailed, practice it again!

Here at Futureproof, we know how important this skill is and have lots of useful content in our courses on the subject.  Please talk to us about:

• New Business Presentations – Pitching with Confidence
• Presenting your Products & Services – Demonstrating Value-Based Propositions
• Key Account Review Presentations 
• Presenting to Key Stakeholders / Senior Colleagues – with Purpose & Poise
• Effective Team Briefings & Project Reviews
• Public Speaking Skills – Engaging an Audience

High Impact Presentation Skills – Example Course Outline

The Oxford English dictionary defines resilience as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties” and as we enter into yet another period of uncertainty and anxiety due to the pandemic, that definition must ring true for many of us when we think about how we will try to move forward through these trying times. 

Many believe that it’s our resilience and capacity to recover that will be the key to living with the virus and provide a coping mechanism to get over the personal loss that many have faced, particularly throughout the festive period.

But we must not forget that being resilient at work will also play a huge role in managing our mental health.  Teams may be smaller than before, roles may have changed, communication styles will have shifted and we have all had to become adept at using different tech.  If we’re not resilient to change then we’re going to find ourselves in trouble when the next big change comes around.

Resilience at work looks different for us all.  For some, it might be changing the ways we speak to our colleagues or how we lead our teams.  For others, it could be the way we create a better working environment or looking at ways to change the businesses culture for the better.

Whatever it looks like to you, building your resilience is going to be key.  Building it might come in the form of working outside of your comfort zone, taking on a new project or simply challenging things when they don’t feel right.  One thing’s for sure, respect, honesty and the ability to communicate to those around us will help us adapt, flex and bounce-back during this time of adversity.

To help support you and your teams, please take a look at our full range of workshops which focus on employee well-being by clicking on the link below.

Employee Well-Being & Personal Development

Why is People Management one of the most important leadership skills? – it’s no secret that it influences productivity and has a significant impact on employee motivation and morale.  

‘People’ are the foundation of any organisation and too many businesses underestimate the power of managing people in driving forward company objectives. It is so important for organisations to always be assessing and improving their people management and leadership skills so that they can grow the business and increase productivity whilst also boosting their employees’ careers.

What effect does good people management have?  If employees are engaged, they are more likely to contribute to the organisation’s success and be more willing to go above and beyond to help the Company achieve its goals.

A good manager empowers their employees and creates an environment whereby staff are kept informed of business objectives, they should treat each person as unique and keep asking what they personally want from the organisation.  Use their ideas, keep communication open and invest in training for them to reassure them they have a promising future with the company.

Employees who are satisfied with their manager are much more likely to stay for the long haul and have confidence in the company’s future.

If you are looking to develop people managers in your business, we have various options available for:

• New Managers
• Team Leaders
• First Line Managers
• Department Managers
• Senior Manager

Using a blend of different learning methodologies, our bespoke, structured development pathways are having real impact in the businesses we have partnered with. Follow the link below to see some of our example programmes.

People Management Development Pathways

To discuss your requirements in more detail with one of our programme managers please get in touch and we can explore the full range of options available.

01623 409824 or info@dev.futureproof-training.co.uk

Do your negative feelings stop you from achieving your dream!

Millions of successful people across the world have fears of inadequacy despite achieving great things. The negative psychological thoughts that run through peoples’ minds make it often impossible for people to internalise their achievements and even though some people battle through this syndrome, others are not quite so lucky. It is self-doubt around one’s own success, it is a feeling that you are not as competent as other people seem to think you are.

Everyone has always thought that ‘Imposter Syndrome’ was unique to women, however it has been determined that a lot of men also feel that way too, and increasingly so.  Smart, skilled and capable professionals suffer form this syndrome and feel like frauds.

So why do people suffer from Imposter Syndrome?  There are lots of different reasons why people suffer from Imposter Syndrome. Self-generated self-doubt, criticism from others, having to ask for help, comparing self to others.  Feelings such as ‘I just got lucky’ or ‘I don’t belong here’ are all part of Imposter Syndrome.  Professionals dealing with these feelings tend to already be top achievers who set their standards far too high and strive to be perfectionists and be over workers.  Rather than celebrating accomplishments, they worry that they are not good enough and live-in fear of being exposed. 

So, how can we learn to cope with Imposter Syndrome?

• Realise that ‘you’re not alone’
• Recognise the signs
• Feel worthiness rather than feeling a fraud
• Let go of our inner perfectionist – perfection is not realistic
• Be kind to ourselves
• Measure and track our successes
• Take on more opportunities
• Embrace the feeling

Turn Imposter Syndrome around, allow Futureproof to work with you on these skills to learn how to cope with those feelings.  You may want to attend our 90-minute virtual public open course on ‘Imposter Syndrome’ which is scheduled for the 15^th September or you may be interested in running this in house for your managers / employees.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome workshop agenda

‘Imposter Syndrome’ is only one of our self-development workshops, we have many others on offer, please get in touch or have a browse through our website.

How should you approach Team Leadership?  As a process and not just something that you can get done!  If you are a leader, you know that you can’t force people to work harder or to be more effective, you can only pull your team efforts together and encourage them to work smarter.

So, what are the qualities of a good team leader:

A good Team Leader knows how to empower a team to achieve group and individual goals.  They should be flexible and adaptive and know when to manage and when to lead. Take time with your employees to ensure that all members of the team are working together towards a common goal.  Engagement is more than just job satisfaction, an engaged employee wants to do their job better. 

Failing is a natural thing and many leaders believe it is important to recognise it, but never reward inadequacy because a team member has become lazy.  Don’t defer responsibility as that will just create anger and resentment, a leader who owns their own failure often gains greater loyalty from their team.

Always ensure things are running to plan.  Trust your members to get the job done but also recognise that necessity of verifying their work to the correct standard.  Step in when you see a problem and make sure any issues are dealt with before they become too big.

There is nothing more satisfying for a Team Leader than seeing your employees discussing the product or service of your organisation.  Encourage proactive debates but keep them in line by setting expectations, pushing ego’s aside and making rational judgments about what is best for the team.

Another important skill in leadership is coaching, this will give you the ability to hold you and your team accountable.  Using coaching methods such as GROW works well to give a team or an individual ownership of goals, look at the way forward and to see how committed the person you are coaching is.

Are you a confident decision maker?  Are you self-confident, do you speak and listen well? By listening, you can grow self-esteem in your team which in turn builds greater resilience in your team members.

You can never stop learning how to be a better leader!

Our Managing and Leading Teams Open Programme will help you to work on these skills to become a great leader.  We have programmes scheduled each month – please get in touch or have a browse through our website at the different people management programmes we offer.