These are the five typical problems that the people I work with have or their teams experience. I don’t know if they resonate with you?
1) Struggle with Persuasive Public Speaking
How do you feel when you imagine yourself standing in front of an audience and just about to speak publicly? Whether it is six or six hundred people, do your palms sweat? Are you wondering what you are going to say or what they will think of you? Do you end your talk and then your audiences do not seem to take any action?
One of the most important skills that will impact our careers is the ability to manage our nerves, speak clearly and present confidently in public. To be able to paint pictures, to persuade, and explain our ideas and get buy-in from our staff, team or clients is essential.
In spite of that, feeling nervous or lacking confidence in certain contexts is incredibly common. If this sounds familiar therefore, you should know that you are not alone. When it comes to presenting in public, various “opinion polls” have found it to be more worrying than death!
Maybe we have to speak as part of our work, but it is not enjoyable and we are not as persuasive as we think we could be.
2) Not Building long term relationships through networking
You know when you turn up at a Networking event and you don’t know anyone. Do you leave at the end of the evening with a few cards, but that’s about it?
As we all know the most effective form of generating business and making progress in our careers is via word of mouth and Networking. Creating opportunities to meet with people and start building trust is critical to our careers. But at the same time we were told as young children, “don’t speak to strangers”. Some people love networking and talking to people, while others find it more of a challenge.
Perhaps we do have a network of contacts, but we’re not creating long term profitable AND referable clients.
3) Don’t set consistent Goal Outcomes
Everyone knows that people that set Goal Outcomes are more successful, whatever context it is in. And yet, apart from targets set by our line managers or boards, many of us are not too sure what direction we are going or even why we joined a particular profession
Hence, some of us let another year pass by, while other people and organisations continue to thrive in these economic conditions.
4) Little Influence with Clients and Colleagues
Have you ever wondered how some people in Professional and Financial Services seem to effortlessly get people to agree with them, while other people despite having an excellent idea never seem to be understood?
As we all know the ability to use language will influence our success in interviews, presentations, pitches and meetings. However, we are rarely taught how to really communicate with the part of a person’s mind that actually makes all the decisions.
5) Avoid Leadership responsibility
Most of us don’t want to become Leaders and that is understandable considering the consequences of taking on responsibility. It has been said that Leadership has nothing to do with rank or position. So many people in Leadership positions do not have willing followers and are certainly not multiplying their efforts.
So what are the two main reasons learning Leadership is critical to our future success?
- If we want to make a significant impact and inspire people we have to lead.
- Employers these days expect their people to want to Lead and influence.
Thankfully there is something that can be done about these five problems. Presenting, building Relationships through Networking, setting Goal Outcomes, influencing others through Understanding and Leading with Direction are all skills, and like any skill it can be improved.
So would it be ok if you explore the Potential how we could work together?