The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
A Webinar You Should Check Out….
Posted on 29. Oct, 2008 by Wayne in General
If you heard my conversation with Paul Elliot in Episode 149 about improving performance and the way many well meaning people tackle performance problems but don’t do it well, you’ll want to check out a new webinar on November 12th.
Paul’s company, Exemplary Performance, is presenting one of the gurus in the field of Performance Consulting, Dana Gaines Robinson in the first of a series of webinars on Performance Consulting Tips: From Tactical Solutions to Strategic Results. Dana Gaines Robinson and one of my favorite folks, Nancy Q Smith, will take you through an introduction to the topic including:
- The differences between a tactical and strategic approach to your work
- The 5 criteria that determine whether you’re working tactically or strategically-and the answers will surprise you
- The 4 needs in the Needs Hierarchy and why aligning these four needs is critical to delivering strategic results
- A tool to assess how much of your work is strategic, rather than tactical
- 3 techniques you can use to transition your discussions with managers from a tactical to a strategic focus
I’m hosting/producing this event and i’ve seen the content. It’s well worth your time. Plus, if you attend and fill out the post-webcast evaluation you’ll get a free copy of the Robinson’s book, Performance Consulting- Second Edition. Everyone with training or performance improvement responsibilities should read it.
The event is Wednesday, November 12th at 1 PM Eastern Time (US). Click here to Register.
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #165 Telling Your Story with Rowan Manahan
Posted on 23. Oct, 2008 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Wayne Turmel speaks to Irish blogger and career guru Rowan Manahan about why presenting is so crucial to a manager’s career and why so many do it so badly. Also an eloquent german and the Celtic god Ogmias… more appropriate than you think. Prepare for a massive wordcount in this episode!
Rowan Manahan looking unusually serious… do not expect this from this conversation.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the Cranky Middle Manager. Today we talk to Irishman Rowan Manahan, the author of “Where’s My Oasis?” about the importance of good presentation skills for managers, specifically how to get your story across. This episode is dedicated to Ogmias, or Ogma (depending on where you’re from). a chain from your tongue to your team’s ears might sound appealing sometimes…..
1:59 The quote of the week is from a German, Heinrich Heine. Eloquence and talking are not the same thing at all……..and eloquence seldom uses PowerPoint.
3:00 Welcome Rowan Manahan- a certified (and certifiable) madman. What is his problem with managers and their presentation skills in general? We have been telling stories for eons, but we have lost the ability to do that in professional environments.
9:29 Okay, so what do we do about it? (And the doughnuts are yummy) You have to determine your message or messages before you launch into your presentation. This sounds simple but it’s not. Part of the problem is the attitude of the audience… we spend a lot of time playing defense unnecessarily.
13:42 Don’t we need numbers, data and flow charts? We don’t spend enough time thinking about the concepts we want to get across in the best way. Once you’ve reduced your message down you can think about sequence and structure… not before that.
18:32 Before you start to create your PowerPoint slides… you have to know what you’re going to say and that way you support the visuals that support it…. but what about time? That takes too long- right?
23:21 We don’t all (okay ain’t NONE of us got) Rowan’s energy and showmanship. But you can get your message across if you think of your audience as individuals and identify with what they need.
For Rowan’s version of Cinderella by PowerPoint… take a look here.
For Lincoln’s Ghettysburg Address in PowerPoint….
Presentation Zen (Garr Reynolds)
Slide:ology, the Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
Don’t let the weasels get you down!!!
Canadians, Brits and the rest of you…. help me out
Posted on 21. Oct, 2008 by Wayne in General
In my last Management Issues article I spoke about the two leadership styles of John McCain and Barack Obama. Of course, i am aware that Galileo (the anti-american swine) discovered the center of the universe was not in Washington, DC. Canadians recently went through an election, voters in the UK will soon be asked to choose a new leader of Parliament. What are these leaders like?
I was writing to Jim Kouzes of The Leadership Challenge yesterday and asked him what he knew about the leadership styles of people like Stephen Harper, GordonĂ‚Â Brown and others…and the answer was a resounding “I dunno”. This isn’t a knock on Jim, it’s just that if you’re not there you don’t know- so help us out… post here or drop me a line…. what are you seeing out there about the ways leaders work in your country? We have listeners in 27 different countries by my count…. help us get smarter!
Admittedly, political leadership is only one kind of leadership and half the time it’s not real leadership at all (Big L Leaders vs. small l leaders and all that.) Still, they are on display and often make great case studies. What’s going on out there?
2 Faces of Leadership…. the new Management Issues article…
Posted on 18. Oct, 2008 by Wayne in General
My latest article is up on Management Issues and I’m really happy with it. I take a look at one incident during the US election race that really demonstrates two different types of management. I’m not going to get all political, and I think I kept it even handed (although i’m decidedly partisan, i’ve tried to spare you my rantings).
John McCain and Barack Obama have very different leadership styles… just sayin’
Check out the article…. let me know what you think…..
