Executive Leadership Communication Skills

Part Two

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Part Two reinforces all the skills you built in Part One and adds new tools and skills to:

  • Influence and persuade key stakeholders

  • Deal with complexity and controversy

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

The most important part of your preparation will be choosing appropriate material for the session. You need to bring one meeting or discussion where the material is complex and / or the audience sees the world differently.

Since a key focus of Part Two is on structuring clear and convincing storylines, select a communication where you want to ensure you have the right story — or where you are struggling to come up with a clear story. This often includes content with some complexity, e.g., the material could be “dense” and therefore a challenge to get through; or controversial, e.g. you will be addressing a skeptical or resistant audience.

Here are some examples:

  • A meeting where you are likely to face skepticism, active resistance, or passive resistance

  • A meeting where the other participants do not understand the issue being discussed, they have decided there are different reasons for a problem or solutions to it, or there is not consensus about the importance, urgency or risks involved

  • A cross-functional team meeting where you need to influence without authority

  • A discussion with an external partner where the relationship has gone off-track

  • A performance review with someone who is not meeting your expectations but you believe they are capable of success if you can motivate them to act differently

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

Session 1

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 see the separation between key messages and details. You prepare your meeting using the new tools.

 

Exchange feedback to improve storylines

You refine your storyline based on feedback from the group.

 

Motivate people to think and act differently

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

 

Session 2

Lead meetings on complex content and manage resistance

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

 

One-to-one coaching

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

 

Questions?

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

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