Prashanth said, “I have a vision. Not only are they not getting it, I’m getting a lot of pushback.”
I was coaching a small breakout session of Mastering Virtual Presentations, part of a high-level leadership development program.
I said, “Show me how you do it and show me what happens.”
Prashanth tried to sell us on his vision. A lot of words that didn’t create a clear vision. I couldn’t picture what he was saying, and neither could the others who were all attentively listening and trying.
This happens to too many people. Their audience hears their words, but their wonderful ideas are lost in transmission. It’s frustrating.
I did a quick assessment while Prashanth was speaking. Here’s what I saw:
It was an executive-level idea, but as for executive presence, Prashanth had none.
He was uncomfortable.
He wasn’t personally connecting with the people he was talking to, and as a result, he was talking AT them rather forcefully. People don’t listen when you do that. No one opens their mind to the person who assaults it.
Prashanth was emanating an undercurrent of impatience, a slight frustration, which put a sharp edge to everything he was saying. When your communication is edgy, it pushes the audience away, not toward you.
Prashanth spent a little too much time talking about what was wrong. He lost them on that. People will follow you a short way into complaint, but patience gives out – they wish to be led toward something. You have to know when to switch from problem to hope.
Most importantly, Prashanth wasn’t shaping the vision well. Shaping an idea into a powerful message is the soul of eloquence. Eloquence is the power of speaking with fluency and elegance, to stir emotions and bring ideas to life. What he gave them was a heap of words, not a future.
Prashanth mistook lengthy explanation for rationale. What could have been spoken concisely and remembered well, was drowned in talking too long. Listening to Prashanth very quickly became tiresome to the audience. Once weary, the audience hears nothing more.
Given even slight pushback, Prashanth got into a debate. When that started to go around in circles, he and the vision were both lost. The exchange became a wrestling match rather than an inspiration. The ones he wanted as allies became adversaries.
Prashanth needlessly hit hot buttons, justifying his provocative comments with, “They need to hear this”, triggering additional resistance.
Is it a good vision? No way of telling. Everyone was arguing before they ever understood what it was. The surest mark of the unskilled speaker is that their audience argues with a thing they never grasped.
What do I do when I see all this? I decide what to work on first and take it from there. People who are motivated learn fast. These are all skills that can be developed with deliberate practice that aligns a person’s internal vision with expression of ideas.
Three days later:
Prashanth had a presence that filled the space. He was comfortable. It gave him a personal power that makes you pay attention.
Prashanth made a real connection with each person. He was focused on them. Their minds fell silent, as minds do when they are truly listening.
The edginess was gone. Prashanth was “disarming” - the word others used to describe the effect he created on them.
Prashanth had learned to connect his ideas to precisely powerful sentences, sentences that were simple, clear and expressive. For the first time in his life, Prashant was concise. It is not the abundance of words, but the exactness of their shaping into a clear message that carries conviction into another person’s mind.
The difference was not merely that they agreed with him. First, they understood him. Only then could they judge. And because they understood the vision, the conversation itself was transformed. They were no longer disputing what he meant, they were considering how it could be accomplished.
Prashanth inspired them. Came across as visionary. The little pushback there was, Prashanth addressed as valid concerns, listening, clarifying, and putting concerns to rest with solid explanations.
The difference was, now they realized the vision. They understood it. And once that happened, it was a whole different conversation. It was the conversation Prashanth wanted to have.
Prashanth developed true eloquence. The goal is not to overcome resistance, but to produce realization. Once realizations happen, extraordinary outcomes become inevitable.
Be the cause!