On Management

“Let’s see if your walk is as good as your talk.”

From “Zatôichi kenda-daiko”
(1968)

On Management – the fourth article in our five part "What is Fusion?" Series.

In this series we’ve talked about Communication, Sales and Culture Building. This article focuses on Management Development and applies to anyone who leads – not just those at the top. Around here, we do it in two flavors: Management Practices for Teams and Executive Counsel for Individuals.

Let’s begin with a specific First Principle, then discuss how First Principles are employed in Management Development at Fusion:

First Principle:

Life is a combination of the conceptual and the concrete. Actions and words. What leaders say and what they do.

The alignment, or lack thereof... between words and actions is what convinces us that this is a leader who's serious – who means what they say – who's worth following – emulating. Or not.

In the vernacular, it's called "Walking Your Talk."

Study Example:

At a national meeting, the leader delivers a rousing speech: Unique, Stylish, Passionate! Though she and her direct reports had enjoyed and mastered “Ready, Set, Go!®”; this executive was so taken with the feelings of the moment that she abandoned her hard won discipline and simply held forth! Unfortunately, the message to the troops was: Yes we spent millions teaching you to deliver as a team, working from a shared discipline, and a shared set of stories, but the Boss just went off the reservation and did it her own way. Of course everyone loved the speech; yet they wasted no time in pointing out the Actions vs. Words dissonance in the senior’s conduct. She didn't "walk her talk."

*Was there a mistake?

*How will the executive’s actions be perceived around the firm?

*Can she salvage the investment in "Ready, Set, Go!" or should she move on and not look back?

*Can she re-integrate the conceptual and the concrete and get her communication strategy back on track?

*Is it important for Management to Lead by Example in demonstrating mastery of the skills taught to the ranks?

Discuss.

The Art of Management may be best expressed as the mastery of the unique daily expression of such "First Principles."

One doesn't so much "teach" management, as much as facilitate or counsel individuals and teams in the process of becoming familiar with first principles, then introducing them into their daily flow. First, get the idea. Make it concrete! Don't change a winning game...stay on the reservation!

How We Do It

Management Practices

For leadership teams: to create a quarterly forum for the discussion of first principles and the steady accumulation of a shared team perspective about what Management is, and how it is most effectively practiced.

Over time, individuals become more practiced, nuanced and effective at managing, and contribute to the larger goal of creating an experienced and cohesive management team – all working from the same set of principles.

Group sessions, in retreat or by conference call.

Executive Counsel

For individuals: an intimate setting in which to get down to it! What's working, what isn't? Which principles apply, and how do we work them into our daily practice?

Private, in person, by email or telephone.

Life: a magical combination of the conceptual (words) and the concrete (actions).

"Walk your talk" and your people will follow you anywhere!

Building a Culture

Building a Culture - the third article in our five part "What is Fusion?" series.

So far we’ve focused on the art of public speaking, improving communication skills and the fundamentals of presentations – all through the use of “Ready, Set, Go!®”. Now your people know how to define excellence in communication – and how to manifest it. Let’s take the lessons of “Ready, Set, Go!” and apply them to creating the stories that the firm will tell in all media. But let’s not stop there.

*What if we started using “Ready, Set, Go!” as a framework for collaborative story development – getting people involved in the process from all over the organization? (No more carping about the exclusivity of the marketing team...)

*What if marketing used the same approach to create literature?

*What if we used the same tools on the sales desk?

*What if training were developed and delivered using “Ready, Set, Go!” as a model? In this way, people would see other departments in the organization demonstrating the same skills and thinking.

*What if this approach was used to manage and run meetings – even national meetings?

Now we'd have a shot at making "One Story, Many Voices!®" a reality – aligned communication channels with attendant improvements in sales volume and sales effectiveness. The demonstrated impact of a single message, repeated across all media and all communication channels is arguably the most powerful tool at management’s disposal.

So, now communication across all channels is pretty well handled and totally aligned. It's in the air we breathe. "It's the water in which we swim..." “It’s a Culture of Communication.” One might say we’ve created a foundation, in fact a “Cornerstone” on which our culture can rest.

Hold onto your hat – it’s about to get interesting...

Now let’s talk about sales.

Sales

What if we began to sell as counselors – an evolutionary change in our perspective and our practice? We’d talk less and listen more. Sometimes we wouldn’t suggest a product, but a service instead. We’d serve the client’s interests above our own. (Remember? Fiduciary. Profession.) Of course, this change doesn’t come about overnight. It might be the first step in once again elevating our firm, our industry and our nation to leadership. It might also be fun. And it might also become yet another cornerstone of corporate culture.

Want to take it further?

How do you keep all this training and skill from eroding when someone gets promoted?

Management

*What if your managers were the most skilled communicators in the company?

*What if they coached to the same standard of communication excellence?

*What if they drew the connection between excellent communication and excellent compensation?

*What if all managers shared the same understanding of what management actually is: a service provided by the manager to everyone in their department? Servant Management…(endless, cheerful, repeated coaching).

*What if management is not a promotion up, but a lateral move into the cultural structure of the company?

*What if, as a manager, you’re here to support and guide your reports as they take the firm to the next level? We’re here to help you grow into that much less egotistical and much more supportive role – it’s a lot like becoming a parent…it’s not about you, it’s about the team. Servant Management.

It might take a little training, and perhaps a manager support group and forum. Perhaps this is a Cornerstone, too.

So now the firm communicates with one voice, the management team has a shared perspective and a devotion to keeping the skills in place, and we’ve re-elevated sales to a service activity.

(Tired yet? This is the home stretch…)

Strategy

*What if all this emerged from an executive retreat where we relaxed, argued and created a broader vision for the future?

*Why are we here?

*What do we stand for?

*What can we contribute?

*What can separate us from our peers?

*How can we lead?

*How can we serve?

We think rediscovering the nobility in the work is what reawakens the individual dedication to career, company and country. We’d love to assist you in the search.

That’s it. Culture. What if we talk about it and teach it using “Ready, Set, Go!”? So the Cornerstones help us resist the urge to recreate it next month. Communication, Sales, Management and Strategy. Done right, it will outlast this generation and become the template future generations use to manage and grow the firm.

Crack this code and begin to play at a higher level. Fusion.

Speech or Presentation

Speech or Presentation....A tale of two minds





















This is the second in the five part "What is Fusion?" series (for people who already know about Fusion...)



Today let's focus on the two wildly different mindsets that you might employ to solve two different communication assignments: the Speech and the Presentation.



"What's the big deal?" you say, "Speech, Presentation - what's the difference? It's just semantics. "



Well, No - actually - they're not the same. They are siblings. Though they share the same roots, they occupy opposite wings of the house of communication. While speeches and presentations are radically different, unfortunately many people facing a presentation reflexively reach for their speechwriting tools.

SPEECH VS. PRESENTATION 



SPEECHES are formal, scripted - given to high flown rhetoric and phrasemaking. Big audiences - sometimes loud. Big fees. Rooted in Oratory and Oxford style debating. Speeches are written. People often dress up to make speeches, rehearse heavily and may require teleprompters. Speakers tend to stay in place. No room for mistakes or slip ups. Speeches are designed to be reprinted, quoted and ultimately aim to be republished now and forever - hence the careful attention to wordsmithing and turning out quotable phrases and sound bites. Press corps, hold your questions until the end... (I can't remember the last time the press attended one of my presentations... or was invited.) Speeches inform, entertain or lay a political foundation. Speeches are solid - unchanging. A speech is meant to incite and inspire. It has its eye on history. It's more public. It's a form of self-expression for a unique point of view. We want to know what this person thinks! We may decide to elect them, or elevate them to a post.



PRESENTATIONS are more private and have smaller audiences. Nobody dresses up or pays a fee to attend. They are often unscripted - there probably won't be an anxious press corps asking for the transcript. They also employ visual aids, props and demonstrations. The speaker has more latitude for movement around the room, to stand or sit as desired, to entertain questions, to ask them of the audience - to engender live discussions and interplay. Presentations are constructed. They usually have a business purpose - focus on a business outcome - a tangible result or next step. They happen at the drop of a hat, tend to be more extemporaneous or even impromptu and are not recorded or filed. And, they fade away as the listeners leave the room. Presentations are practical and have limited shelf life. Presenters are not running for office, though they might be angling for promotion.



There's a difference, see. And in the difference is the reason we employ different methods, minds and tools for their creation.

TEXT VS. BULLETS



Speeches are written and take the form of text on a page. Presentations on the other hand are constructed/composed and take the form of bullet points in boxes - to allow the speaker to improvise in the moment and flow with the audience's questions and concerns. Speeches rely on wordsmithing tools to write, edit, smooth and nuance the content to obtain the desired public effect and response. Speechwriting tends to be linear - laborious, even rigid, as the writer strings together words, punctuation, sentences and paragraphs to make a coherent result.
Presentations don't have scripts; they have notes, plans, formats, flow charts, diagrams. Presentations are fluid. And because they are not linear, can avail themselves of our more creative, intuitive, holographic ways of thinking. Think bullets instead of paragraphs. Notes/bullets mean freedom. This freedom is demonstrated in the "Ready, Set, Go! " boxes. You can deliver a little differently next time as the audience and the situation require. You are extemporizing, not reading - so you have freedom to look at your audience and really connect. Reading a script well is tough enough to defeat presidents - don't write a script for a presentation.

USING THE RIGHT TOOL



What's the Point? 

You wouldn't use a screwdriver to cook a meatloaf - well, some of us might...



But the right tool is everything. Many clients persist in clinging to their familiar linear mind and tools - text, sentences, paragraphs and writing to move forward word by word....often asking for software that makes the words smaller in the boxes. In effect - reaching for the screwdriver - when what's really needed is to let go and free the intuitive compositional mind to think about the big picture. We don't care which side of the brain you use, but chuck the speech tools and let your extemporaneous genius fly.



"Ready, Set, Go!" is a tool for rapid composition - not for speeches as literature - but for powerful extemporaneous presentations. (It's not a bad first step for a speech, either.)



Step away from the text - and embrace the boxes!

What is Fusion?

What is Fusion? – Part One of Five

This series is directed to program participants and management teams who "know all about Fusion." One of the biggest barriers to learning, and to absorbing everything Fusion has to offer, is "presumptive knowing" or the consideration that "we know all about that already." We’ve noticed that, owing to our longevity in the industry, a fair number of people arrive in Florida with the consideration that they already "got that Fusion thing knocked" and their experience in Weston will be a three day walk through of concepts they’ve already mastered. With due respect, you may be right. But, then again…

So this five part series will serve as our opportunity to grab your attention and put a few new ideas into your space…with topspin.



It starts with public speaking.

Most people – untrained amateur communicators – get in their own way when it comes to meetings, speeches, presentations and phone calls. They make the cardinal mistake – beginning from their own viewpoint. They believe "they know the truth" and all they have to do is tell it to their listener and everything will come out right.

Of course, that's usually the beginning of a difficult lesson... Perhaps you've noticed that corporations often encounter the same challenge – talking to themselves about themselves – while their clients look elsewhere.

So our work has traditionally begun by helping people and corporations improve their communication skills – to the point where they start to get the results they want from all their constituents.

The first lesson: "It's not about you! It's about them!" This covers the journey through audience analysis and editing so that the presentation you give today will have no extraneous detail, and will probably differ from what you say tomorrow to a different audience with their set of expectations and circumstances.

The second lesson: Narrow the focus to the real purpose of business communication – to achieve a practical business result... an action taken by the listener! Most people start out thinking that their objective is to "tell the story," or "have their say" or "tell it just like I planned it." But hey, this is business! So you have to think beyond merely making your pitch, to how that ball will land and what you want the other guy to do with it.

Those two big ideas are central to teaching individuals, teams and companies to view their communication in a more effective, objective and professional way. As the ideas take root, our clients begin to open up and ask the personal, thorny, scary, inside-the-vest questions like: "Hey, what do I do with my hands? How do I make sure they hear me in back? How do I nail this PowerPoint? (Do you think 125 screens are enough??) I'm nervous about being in front of my peers!” or just, “I'm nervous..."

There's not a group in the world without those issues. But they usually don't come up until the individuals feel safe enough with the consultant (and each other) to actually put them on the table. So we start with the practical team issues, like, "How does this team identify or rate a "Win?" – a successful presentation? What constitutes a successful outcome?" As people loosen up, we get down to the basics: how to build a presentation to get a result, how to structure it for optimum recall and repeatability, how to deliver it with style and assurance, and make it all look like your own. Much of our work involves helping each individual find their own unique, tailored, personal signature. They look and sound professional, and feel effective, while also being one of a kind.

A deeper aspect of the Fusion approach is the reach for significance in the work. Does it serve a higher purpose? Does it set a higher standard? Can I serve not only my own needs but those of my client and my industry?

We know you're not just trying to make a bunch of good looking empty suits. You need excellence as a starting point. But each teammate has got to connect as an intelligent part of a larger "corporate communication team."

We're laying that foundation – for today’s success – and for what comes after.

We can see where the road leads – effective, polished communication teams achieving results through coordinated campaigns – with literature, presentations, speeches, phone desks and the web all orbiting around a beautifully structured series of stories.







It all begins with public speaking.

Everybody Hates Training!

“Everybody hates training.”

– Everybody

An open letter to Steve Randall
(and to Young Trainers)

I hated you and everyone remotely like you.

The directive: "You will report for training at the Morrison hotel on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday promptly at 7:45 AM".

Three days! Are you kidding? I'm supposed to supervise my accounts while out of the office in the middle of the workweek, and two days of travel as well?!?! Right then and there, I hated you! I hated training! I hated all the lame, stupid, repetitive, low echelon, dictatorial, one way, authoritative, mindless stuff that passes for corporate development. I hated your suit – the cut, color, brand, the fact that you were wearing it, the fact you – a foreigner from New York – were trespassing in my pristine Seattle; and I hated your haircut, your name, your job, and the plane that you rode in on!

So I arrived as ordered. Surly, dark, critical, withholding my commitment, curt and angry. My mind was elsewhere, thinking about the work back in the office, while we went through the preliminary introductions. (My spirit, of course, was somewhere people go when they don't see the conflict – and the damage they do –when they send their body one place with mind and spirit somewhere else... But this isn't about my transgressions...)

You noticed – damn you! – and slid in next to me on the break.

"Hi," you said, "I can't help noticing you appear to be a little uncomfortable being here..."

"Of course I am! I'm trying to run my accounts on remote and losing a week of productive time and money!"

And then, you miserable SOB, you said this: "Hey Jennifer, I get it. Your business has to get handled on the breaks, your clients are screaming, and this room is full of peers – anything can happen! This is a risky deal. While we're about it, who the hell am I?"

Well, that stopped me.

Then you said, "Suppose we make a deal. You're expected to be here anyway, what can I do for you? How can we make this time worthwhile for you?" At that moment, you became my ally. Three days later I had grown a ton, improved my style and expanded my approach to the work. And I respected the character of the man who took my tantrum neither personally or seriously. The guy I hated changed my life. I am forever grateful!

In an ironic, even beautiful twist, I became a trainer too, then founded a training consultancy...

And, I've become comfortable being the most hated person in the room.

As for you young trainers, new meeting facilitators or anyone doing group presentations – who are looking for love and warmth in the conference room. Forget it. The truth is, when people go to training/meetings, they revert to the worst aspects of childhood.

They come late. They arrive distracted. They enter the room reading their email while talking on their cell. They find a table and pull out the iPad while continuing on the other two devices. They show no respect as you enter the room to begin. When the place finally settles down, yielding to your insistence, they take their time about shutting down the devices... leaving one on buzz just to be uncooperative... Then comes the cat and mouse of introductions and objective setting. It's dark, it's stale, it's cold and reserved as they feel you out. They know you're a stuffed shirt with nothing to offer, and they're not going to give you an inch or an ounce of respect. Face it, they hate you! Your job – to win their respect!

A little demoralizing perhaps? But tell me, what did you expect? You didn't do your homework. You didn't know who was in the room. You didn't know their soft spot and you were surprised at their toughness. Shame on you! You got exactly what you created – and what you deserved. Wanna be a winner at running meetings or doing training? You've got to be ten steps ahead – and don't take anything personally. All training is threatening; the best is life threatening. So it’s your job to remove the barriers and force them to be winners, in spite of themselves.

I hated Steve, and respect him. I'm doing my best to emulate him.

Next Tuesday morning at 7:45, you should too!

Get ready (and proud) to be the most hated person in the room.

Application:

1. Going to training? Do your best to find the beneficial parts. Give the trainer your best and toughest perspective. You'll make the good ones better and drive the bad ones out of the business!

2. Doing training? Recognize that people feel pretty much the same way about visiting a car lot or the dentist. Plan for that and break out of the mold by starting from their point of view. Look for love after work.

3. Buying training? Don't perpetuate the stereotype! Look for and buy the best! It can and will change the lives and careers of your people. The benefits don't always come immediately, but they do come. Remember, management is for the life of the company, not for next quarter.


Do all this and you too may earn the title, "Most Hated!"

Freedom

“Gentlemen, we'd best hang together, or we'll most assuredly hang – separately!”

-Ben Franklin
American Inventor, Statesman, Publisher, Author
1706-1790

“Give me liberty or give me death.”

-Patrick Henry
Orator and Politician
1736-1799

In recognition of the unprecedented recent events in Egypt, we are breaking from our normal editorial focus to express this statement of admiration for the people of Egypt.

Freedom demands that you face your fears.

What would it take to get you out in Times Square with a protest banner? How difficult to overcome your reticence?

How about you and a neighbor in Westlake Plaza marching to change city politics? What if there were police?

Consider: You and 25 close friends demonstrating in front of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion? What if they had riot armor?

Plaza at Las Colinas: You and 50 colleagues protesting government infringement? What about the tear gas?

Noon in Courthouse Square: You and a hundred true believers, for fair wages? Against armed thugs?

Grant Park: Look at the crowd you've assembled to resist the secret police... they draw weapons and cut off your retreat.

Bayfront Park: 25,000 ran the marathon. For the protest tomorrow – not so many. Now the water cannon is targeting you...and not to keep you cool.

Consider that last week, the people of Cairo were threatened, beaten, gassed, firebombed, cannoned, detained and tortured, and yet still they remained in Tahrir Square to make themselves and their issues understood. They demonstrated to the world what is required to make changes. Crowd counting is a notoriously imperfect art but somewhere between three hundred thousand and three million people showed up and stayed. And stayed.

Political change requires a level of commitment, sustained dedication and willingness to face personal risk…An unparalleled level of commitment. The process has begun. Let’s hope it comes to a lofty end. We salute the people of Egypt. It’s ironic that the people in Tahrir Square have something to teach us about dedication, commitment and fearlessness in the face of danger.

Public protest entails risk. What would it take to motivate you to take part in a public protest? What would it take for you to face armed opposition, physical violence, threats and potential loss of life to make yourself heard, to put your nation on the right track?

Our nation began in revolution against tyranny. We hung together. The Egyptians have overcome their fears and must now hang together to create their own future.

Their lesson – and ours…Freedom (of whatever flavor) demands that you face your fears.

In your life: What are you afraid of? Confronting a misbehaving family member? Telling the whole truth to Dad? Eliciting the honest truth from your partner?

At work: Is it asking for a raise or promotion? Is it taking on a new responsibility or moving on to start a business of your own?

In the town or community: What needs to be brought to the attention of the authorities? What must change about the schools or environmental policy?

The example of the patriots in Egypt should inspire us to face our fears and reach for greater heights.