Open and End with a Bang

One of the common techniques  that most great presenters use to make the most impact and make their message memorable and really stick is to start and end with what they call a BANG like starting or ending with a short , amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person or an anecdote that matches or illustrates what you are talking about, this is an immediate ice breaker that creates rapport with your audience.

 Professional communicators in general use a bang , we all experience that everyday in tv  and radio shows, magazine articles, newspapers or documentaries so do the same , start with your own bang find a famous quote or a good relevant story to start off your presentation with  and capture the attention of you audience , choose something that suits your personality and subject , it will demonstrate to your audience that you value their attention and you respect them enough to make your presentation relevant, interesting and professional.

Some Bang Ideas

Regular Bang - Start off by an attention grabbing punch line like , this presentation will change your life , can save 1 million dollars ...etc.

Hypothetical bang - start off with a hypothetical question or situation " Imagine that ..."

Parable Bang - start or end with a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons related to your subject.

Common memory Bang -  call on a common memory " Do you all remember when ...."

Mystery Bang -  Give your audience clues to add some excitement and get them to think to reach a specific point that's related to your subject.

Use the Audience Bang -  Ask one of your audience to assist you by saying, demonstrating or doing something

Theatrical Bang -  Use a gimmick/accessory _ Make a provocative statement_ Use surprise visual/sketch _ Tell a humorous story (no jokes!)

Ending with a Bang

Planning how to end  your presentation well can help  you in making your message stick longer and have far more impact on your audience specially if your presentation has a call to action and you want your audience to either do something after they leave or do something differently. use a message that dramatically sums up your main points or use a visual or verbal link to your opening bang or do an unexpected action. And remember opening and ending with a bang can make your presentation different and memorable , it's a chance for  you to be creative and show that to your audience and be sure that they will appreciate your effort in making the presentation professional and relevant.

Handling Questions & Answers 

Questions and answers transform your presentation from a one way communication to a two way communication by giving your audience the chance to interact with you and ask questions about the content you delivered. Some of us understandably can get nervous about throwing oneself out there at the audience's mercy worrying about possibly getting a difficult questions or maybe it's an opportunity for someone in the audience to get back at you. some people feel it may detract from their message or maybe even the audience may take over. indeed if you as a presenter badly handle questions and answers , this  may lead to losing control of the presentation as well as leave a negative impression with your audience.

Handled well , questions and answers can  serve many purposes in addition to turning your presentation into two way communication it can also help you check your audience's level of understanding , their questions will give you valuable information about what they have or have not understood and will also highlight any concerns or requests for clarifications your audience may have and also gives your audience a chance to articulate the new information and explore the subject.

The following tips can be helpful in dealing with questions but first you need to follow these 3 steps to answering questions :
 
1-Listen Actively to the whole question
One of the keys to really actively listen to questions from you audience and ensure you understand the whole question is to stop yourself from trying to think of an answer before you completely listen to all what was said. Once you start thinking and formulating an answer in your head you stop listening and this can cause you to miss a great deal of what the questioner is saying and when you answer, your response will be less than half of what has been actually asked.

2-Decide if you want to answer the question or not
You do not have to answer every question , you may get questions that you want to avoid for any reason, in that case if possible share your reasons with the questioner and ensure they know why you decline answering their question or you can to the questioner after the presentation is over.

3-Rephrase the question
If you decide to answer the question, it's always good practice to paraphrase the question or rephrase it once more using your own words which allows the rest of the audience to hear what the question was and it also ensures you that you heard the question correctly and in some cases, rephrasing the questions can be necessary if it involves technical terms or jargon  which the rest of the audience may not understand , besides it   also gives you extra few seconds to formulate your answer in your head..

When you don’t know the answer
Be honest. Say ‘I don’t know’, but I will find out and get back to you ’.An even better response would be: ‘I don’t know, but I will find out by the end of the lunch break/tomorrow morning/etc.’ And when you say you’ll get the answer, make sure that you do.You can also choose to try throwing the question right back out there to the audience, maybe one of the audience may come to your rescue.

When the question was answered before
when someone asks a question that was answered before during the presentation, the best thing to handle this is to ignore the fact that you already answered this before and repeat both the question and answer. You may be tempted to respond with something like ' I believe i answered that question before ' which may sound polite but what  you are really saying to the questioner  ' pay attention stupid'. The best response is to act as if the question is asked for the first time to avoid this scenario with your questioners.
 

Provocative Statements
Rather than getting  a question, sometimes you may  get a provocative  or disruptive statement . In that case its better not to rephrase it unless you can somehow turn it around and use it  to your own advantage.

Show off questions
Some questioners may deliberately ask questions with no purpose other than to show off or to trap or embarrass you  in some way  but also keep in  mind that it can also be a genuine question but maybe the way it was asked or  just gave you that impression. Whatever it was the best way is to assume it is a genuine question. and answer as follows :

1. Wait until the question/statement is complete.
2. Reframe what has been said, using a lead-in phrase such as: ‘If I’ve understood you correctly, you’re saying [reframed statement]. Have I got that right?’
3. Be especially careful that you only answer if you are sure of your facts.

Can't wait questions
some of your audience maybe particularly interested in a specific topic of your presentation that you didn't get to yet and they just can't wait and use probing questions to get you to move to that part they're interested in. The best way to deal with them is to assure them you will get to that part shortly and that their questions will be answered in full when we get to that specific part. Politely explain that you cannot answer their question right now in order to follow the logical sequence of your presentation but will answer it when we get to that specific topic.

Using slides and visuals

Slides can be a very effective tool that can help you get your message through to your audience with an impact specially when you want to focus their attention on something specific or to  stimulate interest or reinforce key ideas or data. Unfortunately many speakers use slides in ways that reduce rather than enhance, their presentation's impact , slides can negatively impact your presentation if you use it to avoid interaction with your audience or if you stuff your slides with overwhelming amount of details or really kill your audience by reading the slides instead of using them as supporting material.

Tips for Great slides and visuals
When considering what type of visual representation to use for your data or ideas, here are some rules of thumb to consider:

1- Keep slides to a minimum
One of the biggest problems in presentations is the overuse of slides. A useful rule of thumb is one slide for every two minutes of presentation time.
If you can avoid a slide by saying something, then do it, always remember the less slides you have the better it is.

2- Add pictures.
It's true that a picture speaks a thousand words  so try to use graphs, pictures , flow charts, etc., all give the viewer an insight that would otherwise require many words or columns of numbers.

3- One key point per slide.
Keep the focus of the slide simple and clear by focusing on just one idea per slide. Presenting more than one main idea per slide can seriously detract from the impact.

4- careful with your colors
Make sure everyone in the room can see your slides walk over to all corners of the room to make sure people sitting there can see clearly

Basic principles for using color in slides:
1. Keep a consistent theme or template throughout the presentation.
2. Generally, use a clear background for slides.
3. Use high contrast to increase legibility (e.g., black text on clear and yellow on dark blue).
4. Colors should not clash-they should have a high degree of harmony.
5. Avoid clutter by using no more than three or four colors.

5- Keep animation to a minimum
The point is definitely not to impress your audience with animation and flying text and pictures, the use of simple animations is much more professional besides using a lot of animation can interfere with the content of your message.

6- Create a roadmap and a conclusion slide
Share the way you organized the presentation with your audience by creating a roadmap slide at the beginning explaining (with illustration if possible) the journey you are about to take them on with the key points along the way. Also a conclusion slide at the end of your presentation with a summary of the key messages and the conclusion you want the audience to reach or the action you want them to take.

7- Five bullets Max.
For bullet-point slides. Limit the content of each slide to a maximum of five bullet points (including any subpoints) and a maximum of five words per bullet. Keep the grammar and style of bullet points consistent, and use a parallel construction for each point on a slide.

 
8- Use Keywords
Try to use descriptive key ideas and key words , if long sentences or lengthy explanations are needed, keep those for the handouts. Avoid using long bullet points with full sentences.

9- Number every slide.
This can help viewers catch up if they join the presentation late or if they lose the thread of the discussion.

 
10- Follow a consistent color Scheme
Adapt your company's color and scheme guidelines or if you are free to choose , then use a consistent  theme with dark colors for backgrounds or objects and light color for text for clarity and  to improve readability

11- Use Sans Serif fonts
Sans Serif  fonts that are easier and faster to read like Arial and Helvetica, specially if you have a large audience , a sans serif font improves readability.

12- Use Large font size
try to keep your font size as large as possible to ensure clarity and readability , your audience may have difficulty reading any font less than 20 points.

13- Pictures, photographs, and video clips
Are always great to use  and can break the monotony of slide after slide of bullet points. However, it is important to keep drawings and diagrams simple and to the point.

14- Using Animations
Animating drawings is one of the simplest ways to keep an audience's attention. Just don't overdo it.
While animation can help explain the flow of a complex process, too much animation keeps your audience waiting for the next visual trick, rather than paying attention to what you are saying.

15- Have a backup copy.
If you are not sure that you will be able to project your presentation from your laptop computer, have a version printed as a backup.

16- You are the messenger
Remember Your slides should not be the focus  but you are  the messenger and slides are just there to support you deliver your message with impact.
are just a communication aid.

Know Your Audience

The more you know about your audience , the more power you will have in making your presentation more relevant to them , their field  or their interests. Properly researching your audience on at least making an effort in that direction can really pay off . This is a very important step in your proper preparation process.

Try to find out the following about your audience :

 - What do they already know about the subject?
- Are they really interested? (If not, I'll have to create the interest)
- What are their WIFT's? (What's In it For Them?)
- How fast can they absorb what I'm saying?
- What do they expect me to say?
- What are their mind-sets? (prejudices, attitudes,beliefs etc)
- Who will be attending the presentation, and what is their level of seniority/importance?
- Is there any point in giving the presentation if certain people are unable to attend?
- Will people be attending your presentation by choice?
- How well informed are they? Will they have any background knowledge at all and, if so, how much?
- Will they understand any jargon you normally use?
- What will they be expecting from you?
- How can you present your material so as to encourage a positive response (and avoid a negative reaction)?

If you can accurately gauge just one of these factors above and try to tailor your presentation accordingly, you will surely make a more impactful presentation and ensure your message is long lasting.

Stress and presentation

Its perfectly normal for presenting to cause some stress, cause if you don't get stressed over this then you're one in a million. Some of the Physiological changes caused by this rise in stress level may lead to symptoms such as sweating, hand/leg shakes, upset stomach, accelerated breathing, increased heart rate.
If you get any of that before or during a presentation then congratulations, you are perfectly normal. Almost everyone experiences some stress but one of the secrets of being a great presenter is being able to channel that stress to work for you not against you .

If you can use that excessive stress energy to your advantage , it can be the fuel for a more enthusiastic and dynamic presentation. Below are some guidelines that can help you do just that. You want to be able to turn that stress into a positive driving force towards better presenting.

Tips to lower your stress when presenting

Prepare, prepare , prepare
One of the best things that reduces stress before a presentation is to prepare well. Getting prepared gives you confidence and reduces any stress , If you are well prepared you can more easily turn all that stress into positive energy leading to a more interesting presentation.

Visualize your success
Visualize yourself walking into that room , giving a great presentation , very confidently handled every question and your enthusiasm and energy caused your audience to be interested and enthusiastic about what you have to say , just seeing yourself succeed will help you focus and guide you to do it.

Pactice, practice , practice
The best preparation you can do is to actually practice delivering your presentation either by yourself or infront of someone who can give you solid feedback, or even videotape yourself and watch the recordings to identify key areas for improvement

Remember to Breathe
When we are nervous or stressed we sometimes forget to breathe. if you focus on deep breathing this is surely help you keep your stress level under control

Move around
Moving around helps you lower your tension by flexing your muscles . You are more prone to experience tension if you stand in one spot. Also moving round helps draw audience into the presentation.

Practical Presentation design tips

The great majority of delivery problems that presenters experience are the consequence of poor design and lack of preparation.  This  process will help you to systematically go through  the most important aspects of designing a presentation so that you stand the best possible chance of succeeding in achieving your communication purpose.

Choosing the content of your presentation depends on knowing your audience, their relationship with your subject and your reason for wanting to talk to them.  Begin with clarifying your purpose and then work your way round and round.  It’s an iterative process. Every time you go through this process  you get closer to being well prepared.

Always remember Winston Churchill ' s famous Quote  "I must apologise for making a rather long speech this morning. I didn’t have time to prepare a short one! "

The single most important key to a good presentation is good preparation, you need to carefully analyze your audience, know your topic and get comfortable talking about it and practice , practice, practice.

Presenting is an excellent way of raising your profile. But before you embark on the process of designing a presentation and before you get caught up in the emotions associated with having to deliver a presentation, let’s challenge one assumption by asking this question:

‘Is it actually necessary for you to make a presentation?’
The answer is ‘NO’ if you could achieve your communication objective by writing a memo, or sending an e-mail, or circulating a discussion paper, or making telephone calls, or having a series of one-to-one meetings. If the answer is ‘YES’ then you really do need to make a presentation and this marks the beginning of a commitment. Time is of the essence in fulfilling that commitment and so we recommend that you use the following preparation process to get you started right away.

The three steps of the preparation process are:
• WHY?: the purpose of your presentation.
• WHO?: the audience it is aimed at.
• WHAT?: the content of your presentation.

Why? - What's the purpose of your presentation ?

Presentations fall into two categories: those that inform, (Know This) and those that call for action (Do This).
‘Do This’ is when you aim to position a course of action in people’s minds and make it so obviously fit their view of the world (the right thing to do), that wild horses would not hold them back from acting as you recommend.

WHO? - Who are the Audience ?

Analyse your audience.  Go further than simply putting faces to the names.  Think Interest, Expectations, Evaluation.

• What is their Level of interest in the topic?
• WIIFT - Its needless to say that one of the most important points you need to clarify in your head while designing the presentation is WIFT or What's in it for them.  This is crucial to the success of your presentation. You can be sure that once you start  your presentation, the first thing your audience will want to know is what's is the benefit they will get ? why should they listen to you ?
 
• What Expectations do they have of you, your subject matter, the outcome of the presentation and of themselves in relation to the presentation?
• What reference experiences and criteria will they use to Evaluate any proposition, recommendation or position that you put to them?
• How will you recognise their Interests, reassure them about their Expectations and show respect for their Evaluations?

You know who they are but what do they know about who you are?  What do they need to know that will support your credibility?

 
WHAT? - What is my content ?

Research your subject.
• Think, ‘What do I want people to know?
• What do I want people to do?’
• Think, ‘What questions must my presentation answer?’ and also, ‘What questions do I want my presentation to raise?’
• Think what you have understood about your audience and how that helps you to answer their ‘What’s in it for me questions?’  Ask yourself, "What will really make this audience sit up and take notice?"  You need to tell them as early as possible what's in it for them.  Present the benefits, not just features.

To keep your audience attentive and stimulated and  to help you keep your audience listening actively you  need to prioritize your potential content during the preparation phase into 'Must and Potential' selection criteria and allocate both appropriate development and delivery time according to the priorities you have set. of course 'Musts' take more time and effort than 'Potential' 

Always Think, ‘What will people accept as evidence to support my case?’ Aim for the minimum amount of information that is both necessary and sufficient to achieve the outcome you have in mind.

As your presentation starts to take shape you can then begin to think about… HOW? WHEN? WHERE? 

HOW?
• Formal/Informal?
• Audience Interactive or Passive?
• Stand Up/Sit Down
• Visual representation?
o Flip Chart
o OHP
o Whiteboard
o Computer
o Video
• Audio content?
o Spoken word
o Amplified sound
o Music

WHEN?
• How long to prepare?
• How long to set up?
• How long to deliver?
• What time of day?
• What precedes it and what follows?
• When in their business cycle/their scheme of things?
• When in your business cycle/your scheme of things?

WHERE?
• Familiar place or unfamiliar?
• Home or away?
• How far away?
• How do I get there/get in?
• Will I have access in time to set up?
• Is the venue equipped with everything I need?
• How big is the venue?
• Consider the ‘stage area’ and how you will make use of it?

In addition to poor preparation and not devoting enough time putting the presentation together, one of the big factors as well that can make or break the presentation is lack of rehearsing and practicing your presentation once it is finalized. Practice really pays off, the more you practice, the more you fine tune your presentation and the more comfortable you get with the content also what can be very helpful is seeking feedback from people you trust and you know will give you honest feedback , so you should not only prepare, prepare, prepare but  to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse is just as important.

Practical presentation pointers

Appearance, Attitude  & Body Language

Usually when we meet a smartly and professionally dressed person we get a positive impression of that person. If they look tidy and organised, we tend to make the assumption that they work in the same manner as well. However, when we meet someone who is carelessly dressed and looks scruffy and untidy, we usually think they are unprofessional and we assume that their work quality will be as unprofessional as they look. We are not saying that first impressions are always true but they are definitely very important specially when you are delivering a presentation.

See if you can think of it this way; you are your presentation. What impression will your audience form of you as you begin your   presentation? Be aware that you can influence that impression and build this into your planning and preparation.

Your Attitude
Your attitude is a key factor in creating a great positive first impression, Have a positive attitude full of energy and enthusiasm , people are generally attracted to positive and enthusiastic people, remember positive energy and enthusiasm are infectious, if you are enthusiastic and energetic about your topic , they will be enthusiastic to listen to you as well.

Clarity of objectives
One of the key things you need to do to get instant buy-in of your audience and create a good first impression is to give them a roadmap of your presentation at the beginning , very briefly state the objectives of your presentation preferably using bullets listing the main topics and clarifying what's in it for them and make it clear why then need and how they will benefit from listening to you

General Manner and body language

- Don't be tempted by manual props (pens, pointers, spectacles etc)

- Don't keep loose change in your pocket
 
- Be aware of your verbal ‘tics’ and work on eliminating them  (e.g.'OK!' – 'You know' – 'and so forth' – 'Now ...' -' you see')

 - Watch out for furniture!
 
- Avoid 'closed' or tense body positions

- Don't worry about pacing, leaning etc

- Check your hair/tie/trousers/dress/zippers ..etc.

Using your Eyes

To make a good impact and a powerful presentation , you need to use your eyes properly and make eye contact with everyone in your audience , the following are two very helpful techniques that can help you do just that.

One Thought Technique

Before speaking, establish eye contact with one person. Complete one thought with that person. Pause briefly and take a breath while making eye contact with another person. Complete one thought with that person.  Repeat this process throughout your presentation. 

Using this technique will help you control your nervousness and think more clearly and also helps you control your rate of speech , it also helps you avoid looking at the ceiling, floor or walls for your thoughts. 

Scanner Technique

Scan the audience with your eyes, staying only 2-3 seconds on each person – unless in dialogue.
This will give each participant the impression that you are speaking to him/her personally and ensure attention, Sweeping the room this way ensures you establish eye contact with everyone forcing all your audience to stay attentive. Above all, avoid looking at one (friendly looking) member of the audience or at a fixed (non-threatening) point on the wall or floor.

USING YOUR VOICE

Projection Speak louder than usual; throw your voice to back of room

Articulation Don’t swallow words. Beware of verbal ‘tics’

Modulation Vary tone and pitch; be dramatic, confidential and/or triumphant

Pronunciation Watch tonic accents; check difficult words

Enunciation Over emphasize. Accentuate syllables

Repetition Repeat key phrases with different vocal emphasis

Skills and Qualities of a Coach

The main purpose of a coach is to work with individuals to improve their performance in a specific area or skill.

Key tasks and responsibilities:

  -Identifies development needs.
  -Explains the coaching process to coachees, line managers and other stakeholders.
  -Assists with the setting of learning goals and action planning.
  -Uses a range of learning experiences to improve performance.
  -Provides feedback for the coachee, based upon observed behaviour.
  -Challenges the coachee’s perception of his or her abilities.
  -Helps the coachee to identify problems and possible routes to a solution.
  -Supports the evaluation process by encouraging the coachee to assess progress against his or her learning goals.
  -Helps the coachee to motivate self to achieve his or her learning goals.

Required skills/abilities

  -Planning and time management;
  -Analytical interpretation;
  -Negotiation;
  -Interpersonal skills;
  -Building rapport
  -Giving feedback
  -Active listening
  -Asking questions/gaining information
  -Observation;
  -Facilitation;
  -Standard and goal setting
  -Helping others learn
  -Evaluation and review

Required qualities/attitudes

  -Supportive, empathetic; patient;
  -Positive attitude; respectful; trustworthy;
  -Honest;
  -Belief in people’s potential; confident;
  -Objective and non-judgmental; sensitive;
  -Interested;
  -Perceptive;
  -Self-aware;
  -Attentive;
  -Retentive.

Required knowledge:

Coaches require some knowledge of the subject that they will be coaching and specifically need to understand the expectations of performance; they do not need to be subject and/or technical experts. They also need knowledge of how adults learn and the theories of learning, along with the process of coaching.

Source : The Coaching Handbook: An Action Kit for Trainers & Managers by Sara Thorpe and Jackie Clifford  

Leaders and corporate culture

The concept of organizational culture is a relatively new one. Organizational cultures, like other human cultures, include particular types of artifacts, special values, and common beliefs and assumptions. In some respects, it is the culture that makes the organization a true organization rather than just a collection or randomly engaged people. It provides the defining characteristics that make organizations differ from each other, and the foundation for both success and failure organizationally. While organizational culture is, to some extent, organic, it is somewhat malleable and management needs to focus on those aspects of the culture which can be influenced and shaped.
 Corporate Culture

What is corporate culture?

Culture refers to an organization's values beliefs, and behaviors. In general, it is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave, individually and in groups.

Edgar Schein’s five guidelines for Leaders regarding corporate culture:

1. Don't oversimplify culture or confuse it with climate, values, or corporate philosophy. Culture underlies and largely determines these other variables. Trying to change values or climate without getting at the underlying culture will be a futile effort.

2. Don't label culture as solely a human resources (read "touchy-feely") aspect of an organization, affecting only its human side. The impact of culture goes far beyond the human side of the organization to affect and influence its basic mission and goals.

3. Don't assume that the leader can manipulate culture as he or she can control many other aspects of the organization. Culture, because it is largely determined and controlled by the members of the organization, not the leaders, is different. Culture may end up controlling the leader rather than being controlled by him or her.

4. Don't assume that there is a "correct" culture, or that a strong culture is better than a weak one. It should be apparent that different cultures may fit different organizations and their environments, and that the desirability of a strong culture depends on how well it supports the organization's strategic goals and objectives.

5. Don't assume that all the aspects of an organization's culture are important, or will have a major impact on the functioning of the organization. Some elements of an organization's culture may have little impact on its functioning, and the leader must distinguish which elements are important, and focus on those.

In Conclusion : An understanding of culture, and how to transform it, is a crucial skill for leaders trying to achieve strategic outcomes. Strategic leaders have the best perspective, because of their position in the organization, to see the dynamics of the culture, what should remain, and what needs transformation. This is the essence of strategic success.

For further reading regarding Corporate culture refer to Edgar s. Schein work and Culture model – See Management in Theory and practice manual

Recommended Readings and references on Organizational culture

Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence.  Bantam Books: New York, New York, 1995. 

Goleman, Daniel.  Working with Emotional Intelligence.  Bantam Books: New York, New York, 1998. 

Peters, Tom.  Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution.   Harper Perennial: California, 1987.

Quinn, Robert E.  Deep Change.  Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, California, 1996.

Schein, Edgar H.  Organizational Culture and Leadership.  Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, California, 1985.

Schein, Edgar H.  The Corporate Culture: A Survival Guide.  Jossey-Bass Books: San Francisco, California, 1999.

Senge, Peter M.   The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of a Learning Organization.  Doubleday Currency: New York, 

What are SMART goals ?

A smart goal must be:

Specific - Clear statement of what needs to be achieved

Measurable - Clear method for obtaining evidence that it has been achieved

Action-orientated/Achievable - Clear steps or procedures to achieve my goal

Realistic – Do you have the time, money, man-power or resources… and is it relevant

Time bound - Clear deadline by which a goal will be achieved, including milestones

Specific - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:
*Who:      Who is involved?
*What:     What do I want to accomplish?
*Where:    Identify a location.
*When:     Establish a time frame.
*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.
*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:    A general goal would be, "Get in shape." But a specific goal would say, "Join a health club and workout 3 days a week."

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

Timely/ Time Bound - A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

Career Development plans
Source : The Management Bible – John Wiley and Sons. Copyright © 2005 by Nelson Motivation, Inc. & Peter Economy, Inc.

Sometimes you can get where you want to go in business—if you’re lucky. But, more often, it takes a plan, and effective career development requires well thought out and executed plans. Make no mistake about it: Career development plans take time to develop and they take time to monitor, track, and adjust as needed. But the investment of time required will pay off many times over in employees who perform better and who are happier in their jobs.

The best career development plans contain at minimum the following five key elements:

1. Specific learning goals: By identifying specific learning goals with your employees—classes they should take, skills they should learn, expertise they should develop—you provide them with a clearly marked path to travel as they proceed through their careers. The learning goals for a contract negotiator might, for example, include coursework in contract law, negotiation techniques workshops, and a progression of assignments from relatively simple low-dollar negotiations to very complex, high-dollar deals.

2. Resources required to achieve the designated learning goals: It’s not enough to create learning goals; managers also have to designate
the organizational resources that will be devoted to making the goals happen. Such resources might include assignment to specific teams or job shadowing, formal training (conducted by outsiders, by internal trainers, or perhaps online), and of course the money required to pay for all this.

3. Employee responsibilities and resources: Career development is a joint responsibility of an employee and his or her manager. A business
can and does pay for things, but so can employees (as any employee who has paid out of his own pocket to get a college degree can attest). A good career development plan should include what the employee is doing on his or her own time.

4. Required date of completion for each learning goal: Every good plan also needs a good schedule, so therefore each learning goal
must have a corresponding date of completion. Schedules must be above all else realistic while keeping an employee’s forward progress in motion. Ideally, schedules will allow employees the f lexibility to get their daily tasks done while keeping a step ahead of the changes in the business environment that necessitate the employees’ development in the first place.

5. Standards for measuring the accomplishment of learning goals: Of course, employees and their managers must have some way of knowing when (and if ) a learning goal has been completed. Standards might be unambiguous (a course has been completed) or it might be more subjective (the employee has some measure of expertise in a particular area of learning). Whatever the situation, managers should always ensure that the selected standards are clear and attainable and that both you and your employees are in full agreement with them.

Are you by now wondering what a simple career development plan might look like? Here’s an example of a basic career development plan for an interest rate analyst. Note that a career development plan doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t have to be as big as the book that you’re holding in your hands. When it comes to employee plans of any sort, simpler (and more concise) is usually better:

P E T E R  S O R K I N ’ S C A R E E R  DEVELOPMENT PLAN

SKILL GOAL
• Become proficient in interest rate analysis.
LEARNING GOAL
• Learn the basics of employee supervision.
PLAN
• Shadow supervisor in daily work for half days, starting immediately.
• Attend quarterly supervisors’ update seminar on the first Wednesday of January, April, July, and October (no cost: in-house).
• Complete “Basics of Interest Rate Analysis” class no later than the first quarter of fiscal year XX ($550 plus travel costs).
• Successfully complete “Intermediate Interest Rate Analysis” class no later than the second quarter of fiscal year XX ($750 plus travel costs).
• Continue self-funded accounting certificate program at local community college.

This career development plan contains each of the five necessary elements as described earlier. Remember: Career development plans don’t have to be complicated to be effective. The exact format of the plan is not important; what’s important is that you create career development plans for your employees.

HELPING TO DEVELOP EMPLOYEES
The role of the manager in developing employees is to help employees figure out exactly what they want to go, and then to provide the support and organizational resources for employees to get there. But employee development is a two-way street, and managers cannot take on this task in a vacuum. Employees must also participate by identifying the areas where development will help to make them better and more productive workers in the future and relaying this information to their managers. Once needs are identified, plans developed, and resources identified, managers and employees can work together to turn them into reality.

In the following steps, we’ll explore the best way for managers to approach the development process with their employees.

Step 1: Meet with your employees about their careers. What’s the best way to determine the path your employees want to take in their careers? Ask them! You might, for example, think that your top software engineer has her sights set on your organization’s chief technology officer position, when she would actually much rather keep coding software. Once you determine where in the organization your employee wants her career to go, then you’ll have a
baseline from which to work.

Step 2: Discuss your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Every employee has certain areas of strengths, and other areas of weakness.
A decision will have to be made: Do you further develop an employee’s strengths (making him the best die cutter in the business), or do you try to shore up weaknesses (turning a lone wolf, for example, into a team player)? Or do you do both? Be frank with your employee about both his strengths and weaknesses, and then decide where you will direct your focus and resources.
Our own feeling is that it’s more important to develop your employees’ strengths (further increasing their value to the organization, along with their self-esteem) than to improve their weaknesses (which may raise these areas only to the barely adequate at best).

Step 3: Assess where your employees are now. A career plan is like a story arc—there is a beginning, an end, and a lot of events in between. To better understand where your employee should go, you’ve got to first determine where she is now. By assessing the current state of her skills and talents, you’ll end up with an overall road map to guide your development efforts.

Step 4: Create career development plans. A career development plan formalizes the agreements that you make to provide formal support (tuition, time off, travel expenses, and so on) to your employee in developing his or her career. Effective career development plans contain milestones for the achievement of learning goals and descriptions of any other resources and support needed to meet the goals that you agree to.

Step 5: Follow through on your agreements, and make sure that your employees follow through on theirs. Once you agree on specific career development plans with your employees, be sure that you uphold your end of the bargain, and that your employees uphold their end as well. Be sure to check your employees’ progress regularly—once every quarter would not be too often—and if they miss schedules because of other priorities, reassign their work as
necessary to ensure that they have the time they need to focus on their career development plans.

Career development is something that tends to get put off because of other priorities. And, even when it is conducted on a regular basis, the frequency of discussions is often few and far in between. Many managers, for example, conduct career discussions only when they conduct annual employee performance appraisals. While this is certainly better than never having career development discussions at all, this really isn’t often enough—especially as most businesses find themselves in a state of constant whitewater change, where markets and technology are anything but stable and predictable.

The Top 10 Ways to Develop Employees

1. Provide employees with opportunities to learn and grow.
2. Be a mentor to an employee.
3. Let an employee fill in for you in staff meetings.
4. Assign your employee to a team.
5. Allow employees to pursue and develop their ideas.
6. Provide employees with a choice of assignments.
7. Send your employee to a seminar on a new topic.
8. Take an employee along with you when you call on customers.
9. Introduce your employee to top managers in your organization, and
arrange to have him or her perform special assignments for them.
10. Allow an employee to shadow you during your workday.

Source : The Management Bible – John Wiley and Sons. Copyright © 2005 by Nelson Motivation, Inc. & Peter Economy, Inc.

Situational Leadership
           Blanchard – Hersey Model

What is Situational Leadership?

The Situational Leadership method from Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey holds that managers must use different leadership styles depending on the situation. The model allows you to analyze the needs of the situation you're in, and then use the most appropriate leadership style. Depending on employees' competences in their task areas and commitment to their tasks, your leadership style should vary from one person to another. You may even lead the same person one way sometimes, and another way at other times.

 
Blanchard and Hersey characterized leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple matrix as follows :
 
Situtional Leadership Model Blanchard - Hersey

The Leader’s Behavioral Leadership

• S1 - Telling / Directing - High task focus, low relationship focus - leaders define the roles and tasks of the 'follower', and supervise them closely. Decisions are made by the leader and announced, so communication is largely one-way. For people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed. They need direction and supervision to get them started.

• S2 - Selling / Coaching - High task focus, high relationship focus - leaders still define roles and tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader's prerogative, but communication is much more two-way. For people who have some competence but lack commitment. They need direction and supervision because they are still relatively inexperienced. They also need support and praise to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to restore their commitment.

• S3 - Participating / Supporting - Low task focus, high relationship focus - leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to the follower. The leader facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower. For people who have competence, but lack confidence or motivation. They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster their confidence and motivation.

• S4 - Delegating - Low task focus, low relationship focus - leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved. For people who have both competence and commitment. They are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support.

Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the matrix according to the situation, so there is no style that is always right. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying Situational Leadership you need to know which one that is for you.  Likewise, the competence and commitment of the follower can also be distinguished in 4 quadrants.

 Development Level of the Follower

• D4 - High Competence, High Commitment - Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. May even be more skilled than the leader.

• D3 - High Competence, Variable Commitment - Experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly.

• D2 - Some Competence, Low Commitment - May have some relevant skills, but won't be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them.

• D1 - Low Competence, High Commitment - Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand, but has the confidence and / or motivation to tackle it.

Similar to the leadership styles, the development levels are also situational. A person could be skilled, confident and motivated for one part of his his job, but could be less competent for another part of the job.
 
Blanchard and Hersey said that the Leadership Style (S1 - S4) of the leader must correspond to the Development level (D1 - D4) of the follower - and it's the leader who adapts. By adopting the right style to suit the follower's development level, work gets done, relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower's development level will rise to D4, to everyone's benefit.

 Steps in the Situational Leadership Process

1. Make an overview per employee of his/her tasks
2. Assess the employee on each task (D1...D4)
3. Decide on the leadership (management) style per task (S1...S4)
4. Discuss the situation with the employee
5. Make a joint plan
6. Follow-up, check and correct

Strengths (Advantages) of the Situational Leadership model.

• Easy to understand
• Easy to use

Limitations (Disadvantages) of the Situational Leadership model. 

  - Model fails to distinguish between leadership and management. What is called leadership style is really management style.
  - Leadership is not primarily about making decisions anyway - it is about inspiring people to change direction.
  - Leaders may indeed vary the way they inspire people to change. But this is when they have already decided on the need to change. Hence leadership style does not reduce to decision making style.
  - Focuses too exclusively on what the person in charge does. 

Of course both leaders and managers have to behave differently in different situations. But that is just a trivial fact of life, rather than anything profound in terms of our basic understanding of what it means to lead or manage.

Assumptions/Conditions of Situational Leadership.
Leaders should adapt their style to follower 'maturity', based on how ready and willing the follower is to perform required tasks (that is, their competence and motivation). 

 There are four leadership styles that match the four combinations of high/low readiness and willingness. 
 The four styles suggest that leaders should put greater or less focus on the task in question and/or the relationship between the leader and the follower. 
 Presumes that leadership is about how the boss makes decisions.

Preparing a business plan

A business plan sets out what a business or an individual intends to achieve and how it will be achieved, in order to attract any investment required. The plan includes financial projections of revenue and profit based on business forecasts covering the planned levels of sales or activity, the income they will generate and the investment required to get the expected results. Additionally, it will provide information in sufficient but not excessive detail on how those results will be achieved.

 A business plan may be required to convince some person or organization – a senior executive in the company, a bank, a finance company – to invest in an idea (ie spend money on it) or a business. Importantly, the discipline of producing a business plan and then using it as a point of reference provides the basis for driving and managing a business.

Structuring a business plan
The structure of a business plan will vary according to its purpose and the type of business it is dealing with. The following are typical headings:

• An executive summary;
• The background;
• The proposal;
• Financial projections;
• Supporting information on the market, operations, finance, control systems, management and personnel;
• A risk assessment;
• Conclusion.

Presenting the plan
The plan needs to make a good impression and then hold the attention of the reader. To do this it must be clearly laid out with headings and subheadings to provide signposts to take people through the text. Short, sharp sentences should be used with action words saying what will be done and when. Avoid jargon.

The plan should be evidence-based. Proposals should be supported by reliable and verifi able facts and figures wherever possible.

Making a business case
A business case sets out the reasons why a proposed course of action will benefit the business, how it will provide that benefit and how much it will cost. The case should be made either in added value terms (ie the income generated by the proposal will significantly exceed the cost of implementing it), or on the basis of the return on investment (ie the cost of the investment, say in training, is justified by the financial returns in such areas as increased productivity).

The basis for a business case
A business case is more convincing when it is accompanied by realistic projections of the return on investment. The case for capital expenditure can be made by an analysis of the cash fl ows associated with the investment and appraisals of the benefi ts that are likely to arise from them. The object is to demonstrate that in return for paying out a given amount of cash today, a larger amount will be received over a period of time. There are a number of investment appraisal techniques available, such as payback, the accounting rate of return, discounted cash flow and net present value. The case for a new product idea can be based on answers to the following questions:

1. Does it meet a well-defined consumer need?
2. In what segment of the market can this product be sold?
3. In what way does this product provide more value to customers than existing products with which it would compete?
4. Can it be differentiated adequately from alternative products?
5. How well does it fit in with the existing product range?
6. Does it exploit the company’s existing skills and resources?
7. What investment is required in developing and marketing the new product?
8. What is the likely return on that investment?

Making the business case can be more difficult in areas where it is hard to generate convincing estimates of future income, for example when justifying investment in training. But an attempt should be made. In the following example training investment was justified because it would: improve individual, • team and corporate performance in terms of output, quality, speed and overall productivity;

• Attract high-quality employees by offering them learning and development opportunities, increasing their levels of competence and enhancing their skills, thus enabling them to obtain more job satisfaction, to gain higher rewards and to progress within the organization;

• Improve operational flexibility by extending the range of skills possessed by employees (multi-skilling);

• Increase the commitment of employees by encouraging them to identify with the mission and objectives of the organization;

• Help to manage change by increasing understanding of the reasons for change and providing people with the knowledge and skills they need to adjust to new situations;

• Provide line managers with the skills required to manage and develop their people;

• Help to develop a positive culture in the organization, for example one that is orientated towards performance improvement;

• Help to provide higher levels of service to customers;

• Minimize learning costs (reduce the length of learning curves).

 Enhancing the business case

A business case will be enhanced if:

• It can be shown convincingly that the return on investment meets or exceeds the amount required by company policy and that the immediate costs are not going to have  detrimental effects on cash flow;

• Data is made available on the impact the proposal is likely to make on key areas of the organization’s operations, eg customer service levels, quality, shareholder value, productivity, income generation, innovation, skills development, talent management;

• It can be shown that the proposal will increase the competitive edge of the business, for example by ensuring that it can achieve competitive advantage through innovation and/or reducing time-to-market;

• There is proof that the innovation has already worked well within the organization (perhaps as a pilot scheme) or represents ‘good practice’ that is likely to be transferable to the organization;

• It can be implemented without too much trouble, for example it will not take up a lot of managers’ time;

• It will add to the reputation of the company by showing that it is a ‘world class’ organization,ie what it does is as good as, if not better than, the world leaders in the sector in which the business operates (a promise that publicity will be achieved through articles in professional journals, press releases and conference presentations will help);

• The proposal is brief, to the point and well argued – it should take no more than five minutes to present orally and should be summarized in writing on the proverbial one side of one sheet of paper (supplementary details can be included in appendices).