A large corporation had acquired 8 successful companies through their Mergers and Acquisitions. They paid a lot for them. Each one of them had a CEO. Now the CEOs were Senior Vice Presidents, high up in the large company, but no longer the men in charge of everything and everyone.
The CEO had gone through our special virtual Leadership Coaching Program based on Mastering Virtual Presentations. When he saw each one of these 8 new SVPs speak to internal audiences, he cringed. They had good content, but lots of sharp edges and missing key skills in their delivery that would make them great. So, he signed them up for the program.
The 8 men showed up skeptical and arrogant, but willing to give me a chance to see if there was anything good in what I presented. They didn’t think so, but they weren’t rude about it. They were quite pleasant. But arrogant. Especially with each other. Each one tremendously competent. Each one exceptionally accomplished, and the proof was the organizations they had built from nothing and then sold for hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars.
They were showmen. They were used to being on stage and being the most important person in the room. They were commanding. They had clever humor. But it was clear they would leave their new audience, the many people under them, cold.
Each one had to do an All-Hands for their group, and other than their past successes, which didn’t count anymore, there was little that would appeal to their new audience.
The tough part was that each one of them told me they had developed a style that worked for them. The not so hidden message was they didn’t want to change, bragging, “I’ve developed this style over the years and it’s made me successful.”
I could see how it did make them very successful. It inspired confidence in investors. Investors are gamblers. They’re gambling on the future of something that doesn’t exist. They risk everything on a show of words. They put their money on the one who stands on stage filled with self-confidence and announces that what they’re about to launch is guaranteed to be the greatest thing technology has ever seen, the more confidently and forcefully said, the better.
This doesn’t work when you’re a new SVP and you’re doing an All-Hands. A whole new set of communication skills is needed to create trust, inspire loyalty, and a willingness to enthusiastically embark in a new direction.
There’s an emotional quality that’s completely missing from their style. There’s an inspiration that’s completely missing. There’s a hole where there should be genuineness. They were not able to connect with their audience in a way their employees would need.
I had the gentleman each record a “Before” video and assessed each of their strengths. And then we got to work.
I did a workshop for all 8 together. They were surprised. They heard things about communication they never heard before, new communication principles that lifted their eyes from what they’ve been doing to what was possible and so much better.
Then each one of them got with an ETS Coach and had a series of short coaching sessions, a type of coaching unlike anything they’d experienced before. Their Coach brought something out in each of them that was truly charismatic. Their Coach taught them how to really connect with their audience. How to shape their message so it reaches the hearts and minds of their audience and wins them. The Coach had them practice until it became natural and a skill they could rely on. They learned a level of eye contact that is extraordinary. Their new camera presence immediately transformed how they showed up and how their audience felt about them.
In their “After” videos, they almost looked like completely different people. It’s a funny thing to say because they’re even more themselves than they were before. Perhaps it’s because that arrogant puffed-up, self-confident man strutting across the stage wasn’t really them. Now they come across as a much stronger leader with substance, not just show. The depth of character that was missing is now fully present. They come across as true leaders.
I talked to a number of people in the ranks after their All-Hands and asked about each of their leaders: “What do you think of him?” One by one they said, “I love him! At first I didn’t think he was going to be good. But now after this All-Hands I think he’s exactly what we need. I’m really excited about the future and the direction we’re going in. We’re lucky to have him.”
I asked each one of the 8 later, “How do you feel about it?” They looked at me with gratitude and said, “I feel good. I’m stronger, more convincing, more compelling, more of a leader, a real leader. The feedback I’m getting is overwhelmingly positive. All the friction is gone. I know they’re really with me, we feel like a real team. I feel good.”
We work with all levels of an organization, from highly skilled individual contributors to CEO’s. We work with many great leaders. They all need the ability to communicate. We tailor the program to the person in front of us. We help the rising stars and the legends.
It doesn’t matter where you are at in the organization, unlocking your true potential to master communication will blow you and your audience away. You have within you more potential than anyone has ever let you realize. Your potential can be made bright or obscured. Even when you’re at the top, there’s always a level above that where you can become an even more effective and powerful you.
Be the cause!