Jesus the Radical

Jesus Christ is the public speaker I would have loved to hear in person. We are blessed by having many of his words–both public and private–recorded in the Bible. In my reading this morning I was reminded of just how radical his message was to the Jews he ministered to.

In Matthew chapter 8, a Roman Centurion came to Jesus to ask Him to heal his servant. Upon seeing the faith of this man, a non-Jew and a member of the people who were oppressing the Jews, Jesus says these words:

I assure you: I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith! I tell you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Let’s remember who Jesus was speaking to. This was a people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These were God’s Chosen People. They thought their birthright was a passage to heaven and that Gentiles (non-Jews) were lost. In this passage Jesus says clearly that salvation has come for the whole world–and that birthright will not be enough! This was a radical message to his audience, no doubt one that did not earn him favor with some of His hearers.

In Acts 10, Peter is preaching to a Gentile household. As he witnesses to them, the Holy Spirit fills his listeners. They become believers in Jesus Christ even though they are not Jews. Verse 45 proves what a radical idea this is:

The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.

The “circumcised believers” here refers to Jews who had come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus the Radical. He wasn’t afraid to Speak up!

 

Tell Me How I’m Doing

I saw Bobby and his dad walk into the auditorium for that evening’s Youth Group meeting. Bobby was walking with a limp. I asked him, “What happened, Bobby? Did you get hurt?” Bobby put on a brave face and said in a solemn tone, “I got hurt playing ball last night. I’m the catcher for my Little League team.” His dad chimed in with a gruff chuckle and the words, “Yeah, if only he could learn to catch the ball he’d be all right!” Bobby’s face fell, crushed. I wanted to punch his old man–but we’re not allowed to throttle others at church. His negative feedback, delivered in front of me and several others, completely deflated Bobby’s countenance.

I was thinking about Bobby as I read a little book that had managed to get lost in my pile of “things to read one day.” I recently “rediscovered” the book titled “Tell Me How I’m Doing: A Fable About the Importance of Giving Feedback” by Richard L. Williams when I was cleaning. Always looking for an excuse to read, I paused, sat back in my chair, and leafed through the 128-page gem. A little more than an hour later, I was stunned. “Why haven’t I read this until now?” I asked to no one in particular. (Which was good because I was alone…)

“Tell Me” is the fictional story of Scott, a supervisor, who has his work and home life transformed by developing the skill of providing feedback. The premise of the story is that each one of us has a “feedback bucket” that needs consistent replenishment. (See one of my previous posts on “How Full is Your Bucket,” by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton.) Our feedback buckets leak because they have holes. Sometimes we put the holes in ourselves. Sometimes other people blast holes in them for us. The bottom line is that people–you, me, the people around us–require feedback to be their best. Without feedback even the best of us will shrivel up and die inside. The best employee becomes a performance problem. An outgoing daughter becomes closed, distant, and discouraged. A spouse or other loved one becomes alienated and lonely. Feedback is the key to keeping their buckets full and keeping them happy, healthy and productive.

Williams outlines three steps to correcting the problems we’ve created in our relationships due to lack of or improper feedback:

1. Stop negative feedback
2. Give genuine positive feedback
3. Apologize as needed

It’s pretty obvious what #1 did to Bobby. In a similar way it crushes the spirit in all of us. Note that negative feedback is not the same as corrective feedback. See below.

The key to positive feedback is to make it genuine. In Ken Blanchard’s classic book, The One Minute Manager, a similar principle is suggested. Go looking for things people are doing right and reward them with a one-minute praise. People have fine-tuned B.S. detectors. They can smell a fake comment from a mile away. Make your positive feedback genuine and specific. “Bobby, I really like the way you hold your glove in the strike zone for the pitcher to see. That helps him to aim correctly!”

Corrective feedback is the replacement for negative feedback–turning a bucket-drainer into a bucket-filler. Bobby’s dad’s remark at the top of this page was negative because it was nothing more than a complaint. It put Bobby down for not having some level of skill. Corrective feedback would be delivered differently. First, it would not be delivered in front of me. And it would take the form of, “Bobby, I’d like you close your stance just a bit to make it easier for you to react to a pitch thrown outside of the strike zone. That will give you an edge if the ball comes in high and you have to go up to prevent the passed ball.”

In addition to genuine positive feedback, much of the feedback that fills our buckets comes from things that are surprising to me:

• Making eye contact while talking
• Saying “Hello” as we pass in the hallway
• Holding open the door for someone on our way into the building
• Learning the names and ages of a co-worker’s children
• Remembering your sister-in-law’s birthday
• Regularly calling a relative who lives far away

It is in the simple acts of caring, of getting to know people, and developing trust that we can fill the buckets of others.

Bucket fillers unite! And Speak Up!

 

Practice Makes Perfect–Or Thereabouts!

I love sports. One of my favorite sports to play is tennis. I love it so much that when I developed tennis elbow I played left-handed! (I had just purchased a new racket, and I couldn’t let the thing go to waste!) Despite my love for playing the sport, I’m not really good at it–but I’m much better than I used to be. You know why: Practice. Natural ability or not, to get really good at a sport requires practice. Legendary Czech tennis great Ivan Lendl has been quoted as saying:

If I don’t practice the way I should, then I won’t play the way that I know I can.

Practice, then, is the key to getting better at something–really anything. Even more so, it is the only way to achieve your best performance! Even greats like Ivan Lendl didn’t win every game or even every match. Practice made him better. It helped him to achieve great things. It didn’t make him perfect. Perfection is not our goal. Competence is.

The same rule applies to the way we perform during impromptu speaking opportunities. The more we practice, the better we become. Like Lendl, we will never achieve the kind of performance we want, the kind of performance we’d like to achieve, without practice.

I have found that there are two ways to effectively practice for impromptu speaking:

• Do it more often
• Memorize and follow a pattern

The more you do something, the better you will be at that something. Just look at how badly the younger crowd beats us at video games! If you have a job or position that gives you opportunities to practice frequently, you will naturally get better. If not, I recommend membership in a local Toastmasters club. At each regular club meeting you will be given the chance to practice your impromptu speaking.

As for the patterns, we’ve discussed 3 of them in previous posts to this blog:

• Tell a Story
• Position-Action-Benefit
• Past-Present-Future

Having the pattern of choice memorized allows you to focus on delivering the content without being distracted by how to organize what you’re saying. By keeping these patterns in mind you can be practiced and ready when your next impromptu speaking opportunity comes along. You’ll be prepared to perform the way you know you can!

For more information about Toastmasters and help finding a local club in your area, check out this link:

Toastmasters International

Now get out there and Speak Up!

 

You Know it’s Coming

Back in the early 1990’s, I was working for a startup company. Things weren’t going well. Venture capital had dried up, as had our revenue due to quality problems in the field, and the president of the company was dipping into his personal accounts to help make payroll. I decided that it would be prudent to explore options elsewhere.

I landed an interview with a much larger company that made similar products. The interview was actually a series of interviews with the hiring manager, HR, and members of the team, with a group lunch sandwiched in the middle. The interviews in the morning went very well. I felt calm and confident as I strode into the restaurant for lunch. My guard was down. I felt like I was among friends.

When my food arrived, the fellow directly across the table from me pulled a copy of my resume out of his pocket. He carefully unfolded it on the table in front of him. He looked at me, then my resume, then back to me and said, “I see that you have worked for several companies. Would you please tell me how your choice of each position built into the next and contributed to your overall career plans?” The question hit me like a punch in the gut. I wasn’t ready.

I stumbled through a long answer interrupted frequently by his additional questions. I never got to eat my food. I didn’t get the job. I drove home from the interview kicking myself in the rear–a difficult feat while driving!

I should have Anticipated a question like the one that prevented me from both eating my lunch and landing the job. It was an interview, after all. I should have known that such a question could come up. I should have been ready.

This post is a continuation of a series on the topic of Impromptu Speaking. We’re in the middle of discussing a few dirty little secrets for successful impromptu speaking.

In these posts we have been or will be discussing these dirty little secrets:

• Use a head start (Done)
• Anticipate (This post)
• Practice (Coming soon)

This post’s Dirty Little Secret is that we often can anticipate the kinds of questions that might come our way. A little thought before going into the meeting or a little consideration before making that phone call can make all the difference.

Tony Jeary, in his book Life is a Series of Presentations, tells the story of a woman who dreamed of making a presentation to the Vice President of the company that employed her. She had what she believed was a wonderful idea and wanted to get his support. The problem was, she didn’t work directly for him and generally had no interactions with him. She assumed that she’d never have the chance and didn’t prepare. Then one day he went through the cafeteria line with her! Opportunity? Yes, but only if she was ready to take it. Unfortunately, the woman hadn’t anticipated. In nervousness, she silently finished her business and left the cafeteria. Opportunity lost.

The bottom line for us has two parts:

1. We can very often anticipate the kinds of questions that will come up during a meeting or interview. If we’re prepared to answer those kinds of questions, our impromptu delivery will be much more effective.
2. If there’s something we’re passionate about, we should be ready to talk about it with a moment’s notice. We never know when the opportunities are going to come, therefore we must be ready!

Speak Up!

 

On Your Mark…

A couple of years ago I attended a presentation training “boot camp” at work. Right off the bat the instructor challenged us by going around the room and asking us each to stand and deliver! He asked us to give a brief impromptu speech about ourselves to the class. Yikes! So soon?!!? Do we not get at least 15 minutes of class overview or something? Isn’t that a rule?!!? Immediately I began to sweat. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. My palms felt cold and clammy. You’d think I’d know an awful lot about the subject (me!), but my mind went blank. What was I going to say?

Fortunately, things really went my way that morning. By chance (or by destiny!) I had selected a front-row seat on the opposite side of the room from where the instructor started. Bottom line: I went last! Woo-hoo! That gave me a bit of time to think about what I was going to say. When it came to be my turn to speak, I came off polished and prepared. Why? Because I had a head start.

I don’t have statistics to back this up, but I believe that one of the Dirty Little Secrets of impromptu speaking opportunities is that the majority of them give us at least a little advance notice. Even a few minutes can give us enough of a head start to make a dramatic difference in the outcome, especially if we have memorized one of the patterns we’ve discussed in previous posts: Tell a Story, Past-Present-Future or Position-Action-Benefit (PAB).

Let’s also consider this: I should have known something like that was coming. It was a presentation class, after all. I should have anticipated that I’d be giving some sort of introduction. Isn’t this also the case with many of the meetings we attend? I believe that we can frequently anticipate that certain kinds of questions will be asked, certain kinds of information will need to be provided. Isn’t it true that we’re all going to meet someone who asks that terrifying question, “What do you do for a living?” Why not use the head start and prepare in advance? What are you going to say if that comes up?

Lest you get some idea in reading this blog that *I* have it all together, I must be honest: I mostly walk into these impromptu situations completely oblivious and unprepared. For all but the most talented among us, it takes deliberate, purposeful steps to prepare. I need to do a better job of this. I’ll bet most of us do, too.

Let’s take advantage of even the tiniest head starts to increase our effectiveness and Speak Up!

 

Dirty Little Secrets

I work with a guy who is absolutely amazing. He seems to know everything–what’s happening, why it’s happening, who is involved, and how to fix things when they break. I have a theory that he doesn’t sleep, that he is constantly online monitoring everything! While that theory might be true, it was recently revealed to me that he has developed a number of tricks and techniques for being able to keep his finger on the pulse of the group with just a glance. The tricks and techniques amount to his “dirty little secrets” for success.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This guy is good. Really good. On top of amazing natural ability and a willingness to work hard, he gets bonus points in my book for being able to develop his dirty little secrets for success. The things he does are not earth-shattering or revolutionary. He’s simply smart enough to apply common sense to the way he uses the same tools you and I have at our disposal. When I heard what he does, I thought, “Why didn’t *I* think of that?!!?” I don’t think I’ll ever be this guy’s equal (Who wants to compete with a hero?), but I have learned to apply some of his techniques to make myself more effective.

Similarly, there are a few dirty little secrets for successful impromptu speaking. The are neither earth-shattering nor revolutionary. Once you read about them you’ll find yourself thinking, “Why didn’t *I* think of that?!!?” It’s okay. It happens to all of us.

In subsequent posts we’ll be discussing these dirty little secrets:

• Use a head start
• Anticipate
• Practice

I hope you will agree that becoming a more effective impromptu communicator is a matter of applying these dirty little secrets.

Speak Up!

 

Be a Bucket Filler

I’d walked that same path more than a thousand times, yet on that one, crisp Saturday morning I noticed a weathered bronze plaque mounted on a small cement slab level with the grass. About 4 feet off the path, the plaque had obviously been there for quite a long time but had heretofore escaped my notice. This new-found distraction was worth taking a moment to absorb.

Like I did on that one Saturday morning, today we’re stopping along the path to admire something that’s been there for quite some time. We’re taking time to notice…

Recently my boss recommended a very interesting book, “How Full is Your Bucket,” by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton. The ideas in this text are not new–we’ve been on this path a thousand times before–but the presentation is compelling. For example, Stephen Covey speaks of a very similar idea with his concept of the Emotional Bank Account. I was touched by the book such that I felt it was appropriate to “interrupt” the current series of blog posts about impromptu speaking to get this “on virtual paper” while it’s on my mind.

The bucket metaphor is a good one. The premise is that we all have a bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel good. Not so when our bucket is empty. The idea is to figuratively ladle water into other people’s buckets through positive interactions with them (doing what Covey would call, “making deposits in the Emotional Bank Account”). A kind word. A specific praise. Purposely catching people doing the right thing and praising them for it. (Oh! There’s “The One-Minute Manager!” I told you these ideas are not new!)

A proverb in the scriptures that I hold dear tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death. I’ve taken it as a lifetime challenge to speak life into the people around me.

One thing that is very clear from my readings on this subject: Our objective is not to get other people to fill our buckets. In none of the books I’ve read does the author even hint that we ought to be in this for ourselves. No. They consistently and correctly point us to filling other people’s buckets. As we Speak Up in our daily interactions at work or at home we ought to be looking for ways that we can genuinely and sincerely ladle encouragement into other people’s buckets. A quote from the book says it well:

Whether we have a long conversation with a friend or simply place an order at a restaurant, every interaction makes a difference. The results of our encounters are rarely neutral; they are almost always positive or negative. And although we take these interactions for granted, they accumulate and profoundly affect our lives.

Speak Up and Speak Life.

 

Past, Present, Future

Imagine the scene: We’re sitting in our office late on a Friday afternoon, thinking a little bit about the weekend ahead. The anticipation of upcoming events has us, well, a little distracted. Unexpectedly, our boss walks into our office and says, “I just heard that you pushed back your delivery of XYZ by 2 weeks. What’s going on?” Jolted back to work reality, the mind begins to race. The pressure is on. Since it’s true we’ve pushed back our delivery, nothing we say will be good news. With little or no preparation, we’ve got to deliver a compelling presentation that will accurately represent the circumstances and justify the decision we’ve made. It’s time to apply pattern  #3: Past, Present, Future (PPF).

We’re approaching the end of a series of posts aimed at helping us to be more effective in our day-to-day impromptu speaking opportunities. The premise is that when we are armed with a simple pattern to follow we will be more effective at delivering our messages with little or no advance preparation. By memorizing one or more of these patterns we can concentrate on the message rather than the mechanics.

In this post we’re bringing you Past, Present, Future (PPF). The dirty little secret is that this pattern is a simplification of the impromptu speaking strategy we discussed in a previous post, Tell a Story.

PPF almost needs no additional explanation:

Past = the way it was before

Present = the way it is now

Future = the way we plan for or predict it to be

This simple pattern is easy to remember and easy to apply. Let’s consider what we might say to our boss.

(Past) Our original schedule was developed with the information we had in hand at the time. The team has been working on the project for almost a month now. They have made significant progress. In the course of this work, however, we have learned quite a bit. (Present) For example, we now know that our original assumptions about the API were too simple. Also, the UI requirements have changed. The date changed to reflect the reality of this new work. (Future) Later this week I have a meeting with the QA team to talk about ways that we can increase the overlap between development and test, possibly to the extent of reducing the effect of this schedule slip on GA by as much as 50%.

The PPF pattern can be applied in many situations. It’s short, simple, and shares its name with some jewelry I bought for my wife a couple of Christmases ago.

 

Position, Action, Benefit

If you’ve ever purchased a house or lot, you know that there’s a really important part of the process: Surveying the land. When I bought my house, a small team of surveyors came out and put stakes in the ground to define the borders of my lot. These stakes clearly defined the position of my land relative to the other lots in the neighborhood. It’s important to know exactly where we stand in relationship with our neighbors.

Likewise, when we communicate with others using impromptu speaking techniques it is frequently important to make sure that our position, our stake in the ground is clear. We don’t want our presentation to sound as if we have no clear point, as if we’re floundering searching for the words to express just what we want to say. And we won’t have a crew of surveyors nearby to help, either. It’s up to us!

Today we’ll discuss the second technique or pattern in our conversation about creating our own impromptu-speaking masterpieces. The first was discussed in a previous post:

• Tell a story

The first pattern is a simple and easy-to-recall recipe for success. I highly recommend you memorize and apply one or more of these patterns we’re discussing as you build your own skill in this area. It’s being able to communicate those valuable ideas you have that makes you most effective. It’s in our best interest that we be able to effectively get those ideas out in a form where they can be understood and discussed.

Today we’ll tackle a slightly more advanced pattern. I first learned this pattern in a “Presenting for Impact” class at my employer. (It’s a wonderful class, by the way. I strongly recommend that you take it when offered in a classroom near you!) The pattern is: Position, Action, Benefit (PAB).

Position is your stake in the ground, it’s where you stand on the issue, what you believe.

Action is the step or steps you want the audience, team, group, person to take.

Benefit is what’s in it for them. How will they benefit from following the action you recommend?

Let’s apply this to a real-world situation we’ve seen discussed right here before. Imagine we’re asked, on the spot with no warning, how our department can reduce costs. Our answer might come out something like this:

(Position) I believe that our team can cut costs be reducing the amount of waste paper we generate. (Action) I’d like us to consider eliminating header sheets, turning double-sided printing on by default, encourage each other to do multi-up printing–or not print at all–and to start making better use of the recycling containers that are available. (Benefit) The benefit to our group will be measured in the cost of using fewer sheets of paper overall. It will also be measured in green benefits as we reduce the amount of paper we send to the local landfill.

I think we’ve all followed a pattern like this one before, perhaps without even realizing it. With practice, the patterns we’ve learned so far–Tell a Story and Position/Action/Benefit–will prepare you for the unexpected and inevitable impromptu Speak Up opportunities.

 

Tell a Story

For his book, 10 Simple Secrets of the World’s Greatest Business Communicators, Carmine Gallo interviewed financial maven Suze Orman. Orman admitted that her message of getting out of and staying out of debt is not a new one. Gallo wrote:

“Anyone can know this material,” she told me. “It’s how you communicate the material you know that sets you apart.”

How we communicate plays an important part in how effectively our messages are delivered. In this post we’ll discuss a bit of advice that applies not just to our impromptu speaking opportunities, but also to the vast majority of our public and private interactions: Tell a story.

Most of us heard stories when we were children, and stories still capture our attention as adults. Stories are compelling to our audiences because it’s easy for people to insert themselves into our story. Stories invite our listeners to walk along with us, to experience what we’re saying rather than passively listening. This makes it easier for people to connect with us and understand our messages.

When applied to impromptu speaking, storytelling can attract and keep our audience’s attention and illustrate a point. The steps to create a story on the fly are as simple as the word CODE:

• Create the scene
• Outline the problem or conflict
• Describe what happened
• End the story

As an example, let’s consider a situation where we’re asked for a status report for a project we’ve been working on for a couple of weeks. We might say:

(Create) The project has moved into the testing phase. Two of the latest rigs were installed on Monday down in Lab 5. (Outline) When we ran our initial benchmark, we discovered some instability in the BIOS as shipped. (Describe) We immediately contacted the vendor to make him aware of the problem. We sent over some crash logs and participated in a conference call with the vendor on Wednesday afternoon. (End) The vendor has root-caused the problem and expects to deliver a fix to us on Monday so that testing can resume.

Note the importance of the last step–End the story. We shouldn’t drag the story on with unnecessary details. We’ll only succeed in losing our audience.

CODE (Create, Outline, Describe, End) provides a simple framework or pattern for building and telling our own stories. Telling a story is a simple way to bump up the effectiveness of our daily communication–impromptu and otherwise.