What role do you play at work?

Today has been an exciting day at In Flow HQ. We’ve had a planning and strategy session devoted to looking towards the future. It’s been really illuminating and one thing it has made me reconsider is my “role” within the business. As an entrepreneur and business owner it’s easy to want (and sometime need) to be involved in every little detail. However, today brought home to me how important it is to identify where you should take the lead and where you should give others the spotlight in order to improve the company’s performance. 
The idea of “inhabiting a role” is something I would previously only have associated with my career as an actor but the more I think about it, the more I see how applicable it is to all aspects of life. In business in particular I think the way in which we think about our “role” can have huge implications on our performance.

In reality we each have many different versions of ourselves. There is a very different version of Dominic when I am at home with my wife and daughter to the version of Dominic who turns up to serious negotiations. It is another Dominic again who takes the lead in the training room and even that version of Dominic adapts to the needs and energy of the delegates. 

When we think of our “work role” then, imagine the impact if instead of just thinking about Key Competencies, Responsibilities and Duties we thought about which parts of ourselves we needed to “turn up” and which parts we needed to “turn down” in order to achieve our goals. What would happen if we consistently brought the version of ourselves that was most perfectly suited to the tasks at hand to the office with us every morning?

As any good actor will tell you, the process of creating a character begins with awareness. The actor needs to understand their own “character” before they can adapt and inhabit another. In the world of business then, our task is to develop a greater self-awareness in order to allow us to be flexible in our approach to the challenges that we face. Begin to notice your behaviour and you are half way to changing it. Once you know the options at your disposable you can then be much more targeted in how you deploy them!

What version of yourself would you benefit from bringing to work tomorrow morning in order to best fulfil your role? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Keep shining!

Dominic

Pink String

I’m really honoured to bring you this guest post from award winning author Jacky Fitt. Jacky and I met at the beginning of the year at an Institute Of Leadership and Management “Exceptional Trainer” event. I asked her to share her ideas on “online communication and engagement”. Here are her thoughts…
Website: String4You Ltd sells pink string.

Searcher: Great, I need pink string …

Website: String4You was established in 1984.

Searcher: Is your pink string sold in balls?

Website: The dedicated team at String4You are passionate about string.

Searcher: Really, is that all they have in their lives? I don’t actually feel anyone in the team is talking to me personally and I really need to know if your string is delivered next day.

Website: The string is manufactured in West Wittering.

Searcher: Yeah, yeah, whatever, is it rough or smooth because that worries me, oh, and can you colour match? I have a particular pink in mind…

Website: String4You – the gardeners’ friend!

Searcher: Wow, that’s old, we’re all knitting with it – when was this site last updated? And, by the way, I’m not a gardener…

Website: Buy our string!

Searcher: …

Website: Enjoy String4You’s easy pay plan!

Searcher: …

Website: Hello?

When you talk to your customers through your website it’s an intimate conversation.

Your reader is right there in front of you.

You have their attention.

But, not for long… On average if a website visitor doesn’t find what they want they will leave a web page within 10-20 seconds. Not long is it?

Don’t tell them what you think they want to know.

If you don’t know what’s important to them you don’t know them well enough and any conversation is going to be a short one.

Before you write your copy, make sure you know your customers. What kind of people are they? What kind of things do they like to do and what keeps them up at night.

Your home page needs to talk directly to them, one human being to another. The copy should reassure them that they are in the right place. It should attract and keep their interest, enough for them to delve further into the site.

Only then will you start a meaningful relationship that will profit you both.

How well do you know your customer?...

About Jacky:
Jacky Fitt is an award-winning author, editor and copywriter, her book ‘How to Get Inside Someone’s Mind and Stay There’ won the 2015 Small Business Book Community Choice Award for marketing. Jacky is Co director of The Big Ideas Collective creative agency and publishing imprint the Big Ideas Library.

Authenticity: The Key To Building Trust

Here in the UK we’re one week away from a General Election. Once every five years our politicians down tools for six weeks, leave the running of the country to the civil service and get out on the election trail, desperate to retain their seats and increase their party’s margin. Regardless of your political inclination this is a fascinating time and one where the ability of each party’s leader to connect with an audience can have massive implications for the future of the nation.
Back in 2010 the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg delivered massive gains for his party following his performance in the country’s first ever live leadership debate and was praised for his ability to connect with the TV audience down the camera lens. The recent 7-way debate on Sky News was less of a game changer but from a performance perspective it highlighted the importance of authenticity. Whilst none of the leaders were able to land any killer blows, all of them had moments where they seemed truly connected and engaged with what they were saying. At these moments they shone. During others they appeared lacklustre at best. Tonight the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats parties will take part in a special edition of Question Time. Who will stand out as authentic and who will be criticised for being “out of touch”? Only time will tell…

Whilst authenticity is increasingly seen as a must have quality in politics, it also has massive implications in a business context too. So what are the elements that make the difference between authentic and inauthentic and how can we apply them in the “real world”?

Connect To Your Subject Matter

It goes without saying that when we talk about things we are passionate about we are more engaged and more engaging. Often when I’m coaching I will ask a client to tell me about their kids or a recent holiday they went on and all of a sudden, the dull, lifeless person sitting in front of me becomes an animated ball of infectious energy! Their voice goes from flat to colourful and their gestures and body language come alive. Why? Because they care about what they are talking about. Our challenge when talking about work related topics is to find the thing that we connect with. If you challenge yourself you’ll always find something that resonates with you (or makes you angry) and this is the thing to focus on. When you connect to it you’ll be speaking from the heart.

Don’t Hide Your Emotions

People are often scared of emotions in a business context. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting for one second that you should aim to get teary-eyed or start shouting with rage. However, personal emotion is irrefutable and if it is used genuinely it can be extremely powerful. If you say “I feel really proud of what we have achieved” it’s very unlikely that anyone will challenge that sentiment. Instead your audience will actually feel a collective connection to you and you will instantly build rapport. Emotions, both positive and negative, make us human. They help us break down barriers with our audience and in our search for authenticity they help us to build trust.

Dare To Be Yourself

It’s all to easy to blend into the crowd but it’s more exciting to stand up and be counted. If you want to be remembered for what you say you have to be prepared to stand out. The word authentic and the word author have the same origin, coming from the Greek word authentikos meaning “original”. Ask yourself this question: Are your prepared to pick up the pen and write your own story? Or would you rather let someone else provide the narrative? “Fortune favours the brave” – It’s time to get authentic!

How do you authentically connect with your audience? What do the people that you trust have in common? I’d love to hear your comments in the box below.

Keep shining!

Dominic

Star Quality: What is it and how can you develop it?

Sunday night was an important night in the British Theatre calendar. Some of the biggest names is show-business gathered at London’s Royal Opera House for the 39th annual Oliver Awards, ready to celebrate the best performances, productions and stage craft of the previous twelve months.
One of the highlights for me was seeing arguably two of the worlds greatest living actors sharing the stage. After 10 years at the helm of the Old Vic Theatre, Kevin Spacey is standing down as Artistic Director. So who better to present him with an outstanding contribution award than the wonderful Dame Judy Dench? Watching these two amazing performers standing side by side, I was struck by the ease with which they held the entire audience in the palms of their hands. Without a shadow of a doubt this was a faultless display of “Star Quality”. So what exactly is it that made them so easy to watch and how can you or I get hold of some of the “fairy dust”?

Stay Present

The key to lighting up the stage (or the meeting room) is to be truly present. Just as the word suggests, presence is about being in the “here and now”. It’s one of the most popular topics that my clients ask for my help with and with some conscious effort it’s relatively simple to fix. We live in an incredibly busy world. Emails, text messages, phone calls, plus a million-and-one push notifications from our various social media channels, all compete for our attention. If we’ve just walked out of a bad meeting or know we have a difficult conversation coming up later in the day, sometimes it is very hard to shake those things off and focus on the task at hand. The best way to engage with your audience, whether from the stage or in a one-to-one situation is to make sure that you stay with them in the moment. Don’t allow your attention to wonder or allow other things to distract you. Taking a deep breath and finding a moment to pause before you start a new interaction are a great ways to ensure that you don’t carry your past, or your future into your present.

Care About Your Audience

Another word for “present” is “gift”. When we make the people we are talking to feel special, when we are generous, when we take the time to care, we instantly begin to develop “The X Factor” as a communicator. Human beings are very good a spotting a fake. If you don’t genuinely demonstrate respect for your audience (especially when delivering a difficult message) you instantly begin to loose rapport. What actors like Dench and Spacey do so well is make the audience feel comfortable and at home. We’re never worried about what they might say next. Instead we feel like we’re listening to an old friend, completely at ease and excited to hear what they have to say next. When you focus on yourself and forget about the people you are talking to, you instantly increase your own anxiety and alienate those listening. Shine your light on your audience instead and your “Star Quality” will be visible for all to see.

Enjoy Yourself

Whilst it’s sometimes easier said than done, enjoying your time in the limelight is vital if you want to be remembered as a star performer. That doesn’t mean you need to use “jazz hands” or crack lots of jokes. However, it’s a simple fact that if you are enjoying yourself, then your audience are much more likely to be enjoying themselves too. Enthusiasm is infectious! Great communication is a skill that can be learned and as with anything you want to master, targeted practice is vital. Many famous actors freely admit that whilst their performances appear effortless on stage or in front of the camera, in their private lives they are very shy and introverted. Look for opportunities to practice and to step outside of your comfort zone. The more you do it, the easier and more enjoyable engaging with an audience will become.

You don’t have to be an award winning actor to be have “Star Quality”. On a regular basis I am lucky enough to work with people from all walks of life who discover their power to excite and inspire. They touch the hearts and minds of their audience and their message has lasting impact. What steps do you need to take today so that you shine more brightly? I’d love to hear your comments in the box below.

Keep shining!

Dominic

The Importance Of Staying Flexible

It’s been a challenging start to 2015. In the first week of January my daughter was involved in a serious accident and we spent the next 10 days in the Paediatric Burns Unit at Pinderfields Hospital. Thankfully she’s making a great recovery and the treatment we received was excellent. But that’s for another post.
As difficult as the last few weeks have been, they have taught me many lessons. The most significant of which, I think, is the importance of staying flexible. As a family we have had to adapt and flex numerous times as the doctors and nurses have brought various developments and options to light. Just when we felt set on a course of action, a new choice would become available and we would have to weigh up the odds. I truly believe that our ability to remain open and flexible has guaranteed the best possible outcome for our daughter’s recovery and it has also made me realise just how vital this element of communication is.

Why is flexibility important?

When we are flexible in the way that we communicate, we are able to generate options. We are able to adapt to the signals and stimuli given to us by the audience we are communicating with and ultimately craft our performance so that it resonates more strongly with them. If we remain open when people challenge us and our way of thinking, if we truly listen, often we are able to come up with solutions where 1 + 1 doesn’t equal 2, it equals 3 or more! It’s what the late, great Steven Covey refers to in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as “Win Win”. Imagine if in a negotiation scenario both parties could walk away feeling like they got an awesome deal. How much more likely would they be to do business with each other in the future? Flexibility isn’t just important in negotiation situations though, in any human interaction if we are able to see the possibilities rather than the problems then we create an environment for growth.

Flexibility in mind and body…

The ability to shift mentally is vital for effective communication but often overlooked is the importance of physical flexibility and the profound impact that this can have on our audience. If we are tense when we communicate or are physically held, we limit our ability to engage. We block our body’s unconscious efforts to mirror and match and we fail to build rapport. Audiences (of 1 or 1000) often interpret physical tension for nervousness or worse still think that the person talking has something to hide. Some simple stretching and mobilisation exercises, done in private, before you walk into a meeting or a high pressure situation can do wonders for your performance. It’s exactly what you’d find a company of actors doing 30 minutes before a show. The same goes for the voice too. A flexible voice that can hit a range of notes rather than being stuck on a monotone is so much more interesting to listen to. To achieve this, I suggest gently humming along to your favourite tune for two or three minutes. It’s a simple exercise that will start to warm the voice up and increase your range.

Remember, flexibility is free. It’s a choice. Practice it as much as you can – mentally, physically and vocally. It’s something that can have a massive impact and can improve the outcomes in many areas of you life.

Keep shining!

Dominic

The Power Of Story

As I sit here winding down for the holidays I’m struck by how much storytelling features at this time of year. Whether it is the Nativity, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer or the ability of the latest gadget to improve our lives, stories abound. These powerful narratives have the ability to influence not only our emotions but also our actions. So it’s no great surprise that more and more businesses are thinking about the story of their brand and how they can communicate it to their customers.
Since human beings first walked the planet we have been telling stories to each other in order to educate and enlighten. Storytelling is a shortcut to connection. It engages the imagination of the audience and get’s them to place themselves in the picture. As you think back over the last twelve months what was the story that you told to your clients and stakeholders? And what new story do you want to write as we move into 2015? The next chapter is about to begin…

I wish you a joyful festive season and a happy New Year.

Keep shining!

Dominic

Child's Play: The Simple Lessons Babies Can Teach Us About Communication

I’ve just boarded a flight to Vienna and am going to be away from my eleven month old daughter, Nell, for the next twelve days so understandably I’m feeling a little bit blue (apologies to my wife – Darling, I’ll miss you too!! – but anyone who has had children knows how quickly they change and twelve days feels like a life time!).
Anyway, sitting at 30,000 feet, scrolling through some pictures of my daughter on my phone, I got thinking about how amazing babies are at communication and how astonishing it is that rather than build upon these skills we seem to forget them as we grow into adulthood.

So, what are the top communications tips and tricks we can learn from our little nappy-clad offspring?

Lesson 1: Dare To Fail

Babies are pretty fearless creatures. They bump into things, fall over a lot and generally take risks.

In order to be brilliant communicators we too need to think about stepping outside of our comfort zones. We can’t learn or grow unless we are prepared to fail. The consequences of doing things a little differently often seem huge but in reality what’s the worst that can happen? We might forget our words, someone in the audience might laugh, we may even get the facts and figures wrong. But by doing things differently and daring to experiment with our performance we guarantee that we continue to improve. The changes we make don’t have to be massive but they are extremely important. That’s why they’re called “baby steps”!

Lesson 2: Practice Makes Perfect

Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Little people do the same thing over and over again. It amazes me that no matter how many times I read The Tales of Peter Rabbit to Nell, it’s always the most exciting thing in the world. Babies do the same thing over and over again and so do the world’s top performers. Whether it’s the David Beckham of old practicing his free kicks long after the other players had left the training ground or the actors of the Royal Shakespeare Company rehearsing Hamlet for two months before they bring it to the stage, people who want to be world class put in the practice. Just like babies learning to walk.

How many times did you rehearse “out loud” the last presentation you gave or the difficult conversation you had with your boss? Don’t sell yourself short. Make sure you put in the hours.

Lesson 3: Be Seen & Be Heard

As any new parent will testify, if you walk into a room with a baby in it, the baby is usually the centre of attention. The rational, sane adults that are present will invariably have turned to mush and will be crowded round the infant cooing and pulling funny faces. Babies rarely shy away from the limelight and love to make themselves heard. They are not being aggressive or demanding (most of the time) they are simply being present and are enjoying communicating with their audience.

Learning to become comfortable with being seen and heard is one of the hardest and potentially most rewarding things we can do. If we want to make an impact, other people need to see us and hear us. So take a deep breath and greet your audience with gentle eye contact and a warm “hello”.

Lesson 4: Smile

Ok, I admit it. The world of the newborn isn’t always full of the sound of laughter. There’s a fair amount of crying too! However, a gummy little smile from a baby has the ability to melt even the coldest heart and this is something we can all put into practice with very minimal effort. Smiling whilst communicating has many benefits. Firstly, it releases endorphins so you’ll personally be in a better mood. Secondly, human beings are natural “mirrorers” so your audience will unconsciously copy you and feel better too. And finally (and perhaps most interestingly) smiling lifts the soft pallet in the mouth, creating more space for resonance and producing a brighter more interesting sound. So simply by smiling, your audience will find what you have to say more compelling to listen to!

I can’t encourage you enough to get back in touch with your inner child. You’ll be amazed at the impact it will have on your presence and gravitas. Give it a go and share your experiences in the comments box below.

Keep shining!

Dominic

How To Start A Presentation: Three Guaranteed Ways To Grab Your Audience's Attention.

No presenter in their right mind would set out to bore their audience to death! So why is it that so many presentations start in such a dull way?
“Good morning everybody, it’s very nice to be here. I hope you had a safe journey….” SO WHAT!?

Research suggests that it takes less than seven seconds to make a first impression, so the way you kick things off really counts! If you want to stand out from the crowd it makes sense that you have to do things differently from everyone else but most people are scared of rocking the boat. I’m confident that if you try one of the simple techniques I’m going to share with you below you’ll never fail to grab you audience’s attention again.

#1. DITCH THE NICETIES

Thanking people for their time, starting with your biog or giving an overview of what you’re about to cover puts you on the fast track to forgeability. So many people set themselves up to fail by beginning their presentations with what I call “middle management speak”. If you’ve got the courage to stand up in front of an audience then I’m sure you’ve got something important to say. So, don’t let it get buried under tons of small talk. Worse still never start with an apology. I’ve yet to see anyone start their TED talk by saying “I know you’re busy so I’m going to keep this brief. I promise not to take up too much of your time”!! The bottom line is, if what you’re about to say isn’t important, get off the stage and send an email instead!

So, assuming you’ve got something you really want to share, how should you begin?…

#2. START WITH A FACT OR A QUESTION

One of the best way to begin a presentation is make your audience curious. Starting with a fact or a question means that audience members have to engage their brains. How many times have you been bored watching someone go through their PowerPoint slides? .... It’s impossible to stop your brain from trying to answer the question! A bold statement or fact at the top of a presentation has the same effect. It also signals to the audience that you’re different and that you’re not going to follow the same format as everybody else.

#3. STOP BEFORE YOU START

My third tip is probably the most powerful and can be used in all sorts of situations, not just presentations. Rather than bounding up to the front of the room and starting to talk straight away, try the following technique. Walk up to the spot you are going to speak from, stop, take a deep breath and count from 1 to 7 in your head, all the time making gentle eye contact with your audience. Most people start talking straight away and this means that the people watching you don’t have a chance to take you in. Stopping before you start allows them this opportunity and also give you a chance to calm your nerves before you open your mouth to talk. Not only will you have instant gravitas you’ll also make sure that you have the audience’s full attention so that they don’t miss any of the important stuff you’re about to say!!

Are you brave enough to try out one of the techniques above in your next presentation? If you are, I’d love to hear what impact they on you and your audience, so please share your experience in the comments box below.

Until the next time

Keep shining!

Dominic