Building Leadership Communication Skills

Part Two

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Part Two will continue to strengthen your ability to:

  • Explain complex products concisely, using messages that are easy to understand and pass along to customers

  • Engage diverse internal and external stakeholders with compelling storylines

  • Influence, motivate, and inspire people to act

It will reinforce all the skills you built in Part One and adds new tools and skills to:

  • Prepare for meetings where the content is complex and / or the stakeholders have different points of view

  • Lead those meetings, including dealing with active and passive resistance

  • Respond effectively in the moment when there isn’t time to prepare

This page asks you to tell us how your skills have been working since Part One and what you will bring to practice in Part Two. At the bottom of this page is an overview of the sessions.

Choose material

Bring for role play two upcoming meetings, presentations, or conversations that are one or both of the following:

  • Complex — perhaps the content is very detailed / dense, the listener(s) are unfamiliar with the terminology / approach, or it's not particularly logical / intuitive

  • Controversial — perhaps the listener(s) are skeptical or resistant — either because of their personality or a previous transaction — or they agree but do not support you because they have different priorities

Here are some examples of complex meetings that work well:

  • A meeting with a client who is not familiar with ART’s approach or innovative solutions — where a concise, compelling explanation of the value, linked to their business need, is critical to success

  • A meeting where some or all the participants will be skeptical or resist — actively or passively

  • A meeting where there is not consensus about the importance, urgency or risks involved — where bringing different perspectives together and influencing without authority are necessary to align people around next steps

Due to the time we have available in the session, you may only practice parts of the meeting. At a minimum, you need enough material to open the meeting and cover the key ideas in a three-minute executive summary before transitioning into a discussion. You can decide whether to bring any visual aids or not. The maximum amount of content you will practice is 10 minutes. If your material is longer, you can choose to condense it or practice one section. If you are going to practice one section, pick the most difficult one.

Tell us who you are and what your goals are

Here’s a quick reminder of the skills framework we introduced in Part One, to help you set goals now and share them with your practice group at the start of your session.

Intellectual dimension

Deliver messages that are clear, relevant, and convincing

Emotional impression

Create a connection, earn trust, and convey conviction

Physical skills

Engage with presence, body language, and focused energy

Overview of the sessions

Part Two

Day 1 morning

Opening

Discuss your experiences since Part One, current challenges, and goals for Part Two.

 

Prepare complex or controversial content

We reinforce the preparation tools provided in Part One and add a few more, including a way to lay out the storyline to ensure it is compelling and to see the separation of key messages from details.

 

Visualize your storyline

You prepare your first communication using the new tools.

 

Exchange feedback to improve storylines

You refine your storyline based on feedback from the group.

 

Day 1 afternoon

Lead persuasive meetings

You role play the meeting you prepared in the morning, get feedback, and try different approaches on-the-spot. We make your first video.

 

One-to-one coaching

You review the recording of your meeting privately with the coach.

 

Day 2 morning

Motivate people to think and act differently

We introduce a framework for approaching difficult meetings and conversations in a productive way.

 

Manage active & passive resistance

You role-play a second meeting where you expect to face skepticism or resistance. We make your second video.

 

One-to-one coaching

You review the recording of your second meeting privately with the coach.

 

Day 2 afternoon

Communicate on short notice

You practice communicating about two or three different work-related subjects, with very little preparation time. Then you practice a completely spontaneous situation.

 

Commit to a plan

You identify a few meetings over the next couple of weeks and plan the skills you will apply in each one to increase your chances of success.

 

Questions?

Email us goals@mcalinden.com or call us +1 212 986 4950

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