Want to make an engaging presentation? .... Begin it with a good question.

Slick PowerPoints seldom engage your audience in a presentation. Authentic questions posed will. Your audience will engage when they see how your message relates to the issues that they are dealing with. You can help them discover this practical relationship with a question art the beginning of your presentation. Some examples:

• Meeting Facilitation: What challenges have you experienced when facilitating a meeting?

• Time Management: What are some of the things that impact the effective use of your time?

• Customer Service: What are the most critical issues that affect customer satisfaction ad retention in your organization?

The sooner you ask the question, —- good if it is the first thing you say —- the better. You will learn much about the audience. You will be able to tailor your presentation to the issues identified by the audience. The group will be engaged at the beginning and throughout the presentation.

Good questions throughout the presentation also keep the group engaged. I have found the question What are your questions? is more effective than Do you have any questions? The first question is open-ended and is an invitation to speak. This question is strengthened by an inviting tone and a moment of silence. The second is a yes/no question that could easily shut down further comments and may be interpreted as “no is the answer I want to hear”.

So what about PowerPoints? What role, if any, can they play in an effective presentation? Here are some guidelines to consider:

• Fewer slides and fewer words are better. The slides are not the presentation. They are a resource to support interaction, not replace it.

• Instead of putting a lot of information on the slides, consider a handout with the key points you want people to have. This will reduce excessive note taking.

• Make the slides interactive. Have questions and scenarios with the slides. If I, as the presenter, am the only one talking with the slide, engagement suffers.

Some lessons learned by building authentic questions into the presentation:

• Good questions help people think and reflect. They open up new possibilities and create energy.

• The audience has knowledge and experiences that will enhance learning by all present, including you, the presenter.

• I have found that good questions build more credibility than good answers.

Next Steps

Think about a question you are planning to make. What is the major issue for this presentation? What is an opening question you can use to start the session/meeting? I would enjoy seeing the question you used. Let me know how it worked at dr.mjcolbutn@gmil.com.

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years. He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability. Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications. His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence.

Boring and unproductive meetings? ….. Don’t suffer in silence.

We have all been there – boring and unproductive meetings that are a waste of time.  These meetings are characterized by one or more of the following:

• Lack of clarity about the meeting outcomes

• Ineffective group participation

• Lack of follow through

It’s easy to blame the meeting leader.  It may be well deserved, but it doesn’t solve the problem.  Here are some things that you, as a meeting participant, can do to resolve one or more of the issues above.

Lack of clarity about the meeting outcomes.
Even if there is an agenda, the topics listed often lack clarity – confusion increases and participation decreases.  Are we just here to listen?  Are we planning for action?  Are there decisions we need to make?  Here is a question you can ask to gain clarity: “What are the outcomes for today’s meeting?”  The tone of the question is calm.  If the answer does not add enough clarity, a follow-up question like: By the end of this meeting, how will we know that the outcomes have been met?  Then you may want to volunteer to be the note taker for the meeting.  This will be helpful later in the meeting. 

Ineffective group participation.
Although there are a number of reasons why people don’t participate – the team leader may not pose questions for discussion, or the questions posed come with the expected answer.  The lack of good questions is a signal to all to be quiet or agreeable.  Here’s what you can do to generate authentic group participation.  Pose a good question to the group like: “What do you all think would be an action we could take to ….” or “What criteria should we us in deciding to …?  or “Mary, you have a lot of experience with (fill in the blank), what do you think?  Do this in a natural way and do not ask leading questions that imply you have a hidden agenda. 

Lack of follow through.
The meeting is about to end.  This is when your role as the meeting note taker will come in handy.   Review the action items and decisions made in the meeting.  Start with something like: “Let me review the action items and decisions I heard us made, just to make sure I got them right.”  As you review each action item, ask follow-up questions like: “For this action item (state what it is) who is going to do it?”  Then follow up with (to the Who of the previous question): “When will this be completed?”  Be careful to get a specific commitment.  Unclear commitments are excuses made in advance.  After the meeting, complete the action minutes with all the action steps (with Who and When) and decisions.  Review with the team leader prior to distributing.  The progress will be reviewed at the next meeting. 

Next Steps
Be prepared to use one or more of these during the next unproductive meeting you attend.  You don’t need permission.  You are just asking questions and offering your support.  It is amazing how much influence you can exercise in meetings that you are not the leader, as long as your intent and tone is supportive.  Let me know how it works at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com and I will send you a copy of a  paper I wrote Team Accountability: Creating Successful Meetings. 

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence.

One winning tool for managing your boss …. and your boss will like it.

Much has been written about how the “boss” should manage, lead, coach the people who report to them.  Some do it well.  Others do not.  As a consultant I have found it more effective to teach the jobholder how to manage the relationship with the boss, rather than the other way around.  I will teach you a tool (the Priority Feedback System) that will strengthen your communication, credibility and influence in this important work relationship. 

The Priority Feedback System (PFS) is a regularly scheduled meeting between the jobholder and the boss to review progress, set priorities and provide feedback to each other.  What makes the PFS work is that the jobholder takes the lead.  In an initial meeting of the two people, there is an agreement on the topics to be reviewed at the meetings.  After that the jobholder creates the agenda, takes the lead in the meeting, prepares follow-up notes. 

A typical meeting:

1. The jobholder reviews the progress on the commitments made (and recorded) at the previous meeting.  The boss may ask questions, answer questions and provide advice as needed.

2. The jobholder reviews the priorities for the next period of time (typically one or two weeks).  The boss may or may not ask for revisions to the priorities.  After discussion there is clarity and agreement.

3. At the end if the meeting, the jobholder summarizes the actions and decisions agreed upon.  The jobholder and boss agree on the date and time for the next meeting.

After the meeting the jobholder prepares meeting notes and gives a copy to the boss (no more than 24 hours after the meeting.  Both jobholder and boss keep a file that has the PFS agendas and meeting notes along with any other pertinent information. 

PFS Benefits
The jobholder gets clarity about expectations, minimizes unnecessary interruptions and provides real-time opportunities for coaching and support.  The boss is assured that priorities are being met, can give timely advice, and increase the quality of time with direct reports.  For both the PFS helps them build a collegial relationship serve the team and the organization. 

PFS Costs
For the jobholder, it is taking the perceived risk for making clear commitments, communicating results and accepting the responsibility for their actions.  For the boss, it is the letting go of the need to manage the self-managed jobholder.  As they use the PFS, a performance partnership can be built, and both will grow in the process. 

Next Steps
Consider sharing this with your boss and suggest a trial period of time to use the PFS, perhaps a couple of months.  Let me know how it goes at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com and I will share some best practices I have observed for high quality PFS meetings. 

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence.

Who do you work for? Hint: It’s not your boss.

Organizations exist to create value for its customers.  When done well, the organization succeeds.  Each individual in the organization also works for the customer.  Most will have little communication with the external customer.  Everyone, however, has internal customers.  These are the people and teams they serve for the organization to create value for the external customer.  In the balance of this blog, the four important questions will be addressed. 

Who are your internal customers?
Your internal customers are those that directly receive the services of your position that create value for them.  Your internal customers are also people you work with to provide these services.  You also have internal suppliers that provide resources to you.  Your internal customers and suppliers are your partners in performance in the service of the organization’s customers. 

What are their needs and expectations for me?
After you have identified them ask them this fundamental question “What are the needs and expectations you have for me in my position?”  You will learn things you already knew, and you will learn things that you didn’t know.  From this dialogue and follow-up questions you will identify measures of performance and be able to identify opportunities for growth. 

How does this impact my job?
The primary role you will play in your organization is one of an intrapreneur.  Like your big brother or sister, the entrepreneur, you will identify your target customers, determine how you create value for them, set goals, actively seek feedback and continually improve your capabilities to perform.  You are a person who self-manages and demonstrates accountability.   

What is the role of my boss? 
The role of the “boss” in an intrapreneurial environment is enhanced.  Their primary leadership roles are:

• Advocate and resource provider that includes information, expertise, equipment, learning opportunities to support the team.

• Quality assurance specialist that helps the team to understand requirements, prevent problems, self-inspect and improve processes.

• As a member of a larger team, the “boss” is an Integrator who connects with organizational teams across functions.  This helps the team understand organizational strategy to optimize the value to the external customers.

These three roles, as well as one of an individual contributor, enhance the roles of the individual team member, which includes the “boss” (team leader).

Next Steps
I encourage you to assess how your current job aligns the intrapreneurial culture briefly described here.  I encourage you to choose one of your key internal customers and ask them the question: “What are your needs and expectations for me in my position?”  Let me know how it works at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com and I will send you a packet on additional questions you can ask and how to interpret them.

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence.

Turn a no-win frustration into a win. Here are three questions to gain control.

A no-win frustration is a situation that you are in that is important, but in which you have no apparent control.  These can be a child not performing well in school, an unrealistic expectation by the boss or trash on the side of the road by an unknown person.  A no-win approach to this frustration comes in two forms.  One, you could focus on what you want the “other” person should do (That didn’t work in my first marriage).  Two, you could focus on what you would like to do but lack the power to do.  If you focus on these no-win approaches, our frustration increases while the situation remains.  Here are three questions to help you gain control and create a win.

What do I care about?
Behind each frustration is a personal value that you have that is being violated.  You care that your child will have a good life, your work is meaningful, and that respect is shown to the community’s environment. (state some values from the above listed frustrations).  As the focus becomes what you care about, there will be a subtle shift from the negative thoughts of the frustration to the more positive thoughts on what you care about.  This focus adds clarity and energy to move to the next question. 

What can I do?
As you answer this question, you are identifying those things you can do that are in your control.  You are not asking: “What do I want the other to do?” or “What would I like to do?”, you are focusing on the future and acknowledging your ability to act.  This is a source of power that will serve you well in the next question. 

What will I do?
A “can-do” attitude is a source of potential energy.  A “will-do” unleashes this potential energy into action.  Look at all of your can-do’s a choose one that you will do now or at least in the next 24 hours.  This one act of the will puts you in control.  This action creates more insights and power to turn “can-dos” into “will-dos”.  The seemingly small step of a “will-do” is a source of power that not only will impact the current frustration, it will increase the quality of your life. 

Next Steps
Keep these three questions on a card to remind you of your ability to claim your power as the frustrations of daily life become opportunities for growth and wins.  In the next 24 hours, turn one of these frustrations into an action step,  Let me know how it works at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com. 

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence.

Fighting a lot of fires? ----- You may be the arsonist.

Ever have one of those days?  Crises abound and it feels like you are spending most of your time putting out fires?  Action is taken to solve the crisis at hand.  At best, the cost of the crisis is minimized.  However, your time is taken away from the high value activities that you want to work on.  A crisis is an unexpected event that has a cost assigned to it if it is not resolved.  There are crises that are truly unexpected, and we just have to deal with them.  But there are others where we need to ask the question: What are some things that I do that may create or magnify crises?  Here are five tips you may find helpful in preventing the fires from happening in the first place.

Tip 1:  Communicate openly and honestly even when it hurts.
It is not just the issue that makes something important.  It is often the lack of time to respond to the issue.  When a red or yellow flag goes up, it is time to communicate.  The earlier you communicate about a possible crisis, the more time you will have to create alternatives (eg., get help from a colleague, negotiate a time extension).  Your boss or client may not be thrilled, but they will be informed.  The problem is not compounded.  At worst the impact is minimized.  At best the problem may be prevented.  You communicated and accepted responsibility.  

Tip 2: Anticipate potential problems and take preventive actions.
When planning for any project, get in the habit of questions like: What could go wrong? What can I do to prevent it from happening? What corrections can I take when a red flag goes up?  Ask colleagues who have had similar projects the sane questions.  Accelerate your learning from yours and others’ experiences.  Build in preventive actions to reduce the risk of crises.  Plan contingent actions to respond quickly to the unexpected. 

Tip 3: Make realistic commitments.
Some golfers’ optimism gets them in a lot of trouble.  If I can manage to hit the ball under the limb, curve around the tree and go over the water, I can reach the green.  Some people, like this optimistic golfer make “best case” estimates to the client to make the sale, to impress the boss or to relent to pressure.  The seeds of crises have been sown.  When commitments are not met, excuses are made, and credibility is damaged.  You need to be both realistic and courageous. 

Tip 4: Establish regular communications with the boss and clients.
Take the initiative to schedule regular one-on-one meetings with the boss to review progress, agree on priorities and discuss resource needs.  Openness and candor do not often thrive in group settings.  These accountability meetings keep small problems from growing into crises.  Your initiative eases the need for the boss to check up on your projects.  Have similar meetings with your critical internal clients and teammates. One proactive meeting eliminates many reactive ones. 

Tip 5: Continually improve your processes.
Poor processes create crises. We know this at the organizational level, and it is also true at the individual level.  This may include personal planning, project management and communication methods with the boss, teammates and clients.  Look at your key value creating activities and take a step back and describe as if you were going to teach them to someone.  Identify ways to reduce wasted effort an increase the time you spend on the highest value activities.  Be your own lean consultant. 

Next Steps
Review the five tips and choose one that resonates with you.  Identify one thing you can do in the next 24 hours to apply this tip to your professional or personal life.  Success breeds success.  Each step you take will enable you to take control of the seemingly uncontrollable.  Let me know how it works at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com.

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence.

Don’t wait for the promotion. Create your ideal job.

An ideal job is one in which you are having fun while creating high value for an organization.  You are having fun when you are doing what you are doing best.  You are in control of what satisfies you in your professional life, which in turn enhances your personal life.  It starts with discovering your strengths and learning how to build a job around these strengths. 

What is a strength?
A strength is something you do well.  But it takes more than experience and training to develop a strength.  Strengths start with an inherent talent.  A talent is “a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied”*.  It is something that comes natural to you, something you have always had.  A talent cannot be created.  It needs to be discovered.  A talent developed then becomes a strength.  An undeveloped talent lies dormant, along with the fun of applying it.  Recognized and activated, it becomes a strength.

Discover your talents and strengths
Because talents are inherent, they may not be obvious to us.  They can be undiscovered hidden gems.  Although there are a number of assessment instruments available, they can be too generic to help us to personalize them be helpful.  Here are some ways to discover your talents that are all about you:

• Write some success stories about yourself.  Describe a situation in which you were successful.  Be specific.  Don’t analyze.  Just describe one success in some detail.  Then write another, then another.  Add to this list of stories from time to time.  A success story can be about something that happened last week, last year or many years ago.

• Interview people who know you well with the following question What do I do well?  As they talk – listen and take notes – and as appropriate ask questions like Will you elaborate a bit more on that?  Can you give me an example? These people may be friends, colleagues, family or mentors.

After you have completed a number of stories and interviews, read your stories and notes and identify themes that emerge.  Particularly pay attention to themes that keep emerging from a variety of situations.  These are indicators of your talents and your strengths.

Create your ideal job
Start with your current job and ask yourself:

• How am I currently using my talents and strengths?

• What is one additional responsibility that I would like to add to my current job that utilizes a strength?

• What’s one thing am doing that does not leverage my strengths?

• How will this change in my job help my organization – help me?

Schedule some time with a mentor, your boss, HR to develop a plan to change your current job or find a job that is a better match. 

You don’t stop here.  You may want to consider opportunities with other organizations.  Create a position description of your ideal job.  You may find that you can create a position and not just find one.  Put together a portfolio to highlight your strengths and achievements.  Work samples --- and they don’t have to be limited to your current job – are powerful for telling your story and building your credibility. 

Next Steps
To get started write one success story in the next 24 hours.  It is easy and fun to do.  Set up an interview with one colleague and ask them “What do I do well?” That will get the ball rolling.  Let me know how it works at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com and I’ll share some additional thoughts with you. 

*   This definition comes from the book First, Break All the Rules (Buckingham & Coffman, 1999).

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial and teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence. 

Feel like Performance Assessments are a waste of time? Five questions you should be asking instead.

At best, identifying and overcoming weaknesses creates a path to mediocrity with not much fun along the way.   With fun, there is creative energy that lightens the load and brings out the best in us. A more productive use of your time and energy is to leverage your strengths to achieve your personal and professional goals… and have fun doing it.   Here are five questions* to get you started on a strength-based approach to performance assessment. 

What’s working?
Take a look over the past year and identify your successes, small and large.  What have you accomplished?  Write them down.  Identify things that you feel good about.  Don’t let any words drift in that minimize your successes.   Embrace the strengths that have emerged.  How does that make you think and feel?  

Why is it working?
Review your list of successes. Identify what you have done to generate these successes.  Be an honest and detached observer of yourself.  The answer to this question analyzes the reasons and supports a deeper understanding for what you are doing well.   

What are you trying to achieve?
Describe your purpose and objectives, the things that are important and bring out the best in you.  As you write, just let it flow.  You can organize your thoughts later.  The vision you create will act like a magnet.  It will help you find the right path and the resources necessary for achievement.  If it doesn’t ignite something in you, rewrite it until it does.  When you have passion for your goals you find the energy to overcome obstacles and keep moving forward. 

What will be the impact of achieving these objectives?
Describe the impact/benefits of achieving these objectives to you and to others that are important to you.  For a work-related assessment the others may be the organization, its customers or your internal teammates.  For a personal assessment they may be family or friends.  This makes for strong teams and healthy supportive relationships.  The impact for you will be high performance and fun. 

What do you need to do more of, better or differently to move you towards your objectives?
Forget the useless “not working” question that looks at the past and reinforces your limitations.  That approach doesn’t work.  Ask yourself: “How can I use my strengths to move closer to my goals?”  This will feed your passions and most importantly, lead your actions closer to your goals.  

Next Steps
Answer and review the five questions.  Identify one thing you can do in the next 24 hours to move you forward to move towards an important goal.  One successful action, no matter how small, will create the next action and you will be on your way.  Let me know how it works at dr.mjcolburn@gmail.com and I’ll share some additional thoughts with you! 

These questions were inspired by and adapted from the book Enlightened Leadership: Getting to the Heart of Change (Oakley and Krug, 1991).

Dr. Michael Colburn has built his career on performance improvement at the organization, team and individual levels for a broad range of clients in the private and public sectors for more than 30 years.  He recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management at Ashland University where he taught Organization Development, Operations Management, Strategic Management and Self-Management & Accountability.   Michael has authored numerous papers in academic, professional and trade publications.  His first book, Own Your Job: Five Tools for Self-management and Accountability in the Workplace will help you think more entrepreneurial, teach you self-management skills and increase your performance and influence. You can also check out Michael’s webpage (www.michaelcolburnphd).