Are you standing your ground and missing an opportunity to make a difference?

This year I had the pleasure to attend a Duarte training based on the books Resonate and Slideology. I learned a lot about presentations, but also something more. I realized that transformation starts with meeting people where they are. In Duarte we were talking about connecting emotionally during presentations, at the heart center, but it is equally as true at the gut center and head center. And here’s how:

1. Connecting Emotionally at the Heart Center

I’ve done a whole lot of PowerPoint in my life, but I learned one thing at the training that transformed the way I see presentations. In the past I’ve thought a lot about walking the audience through a story, but Resonate takes it a step further by focusing on the audience’s emotional state ~ both where they are at now and where you want to take them. Nancy Duarte (@nancyduarte) also discovered a pattern common to great speeches, where they alternate between where the audience is now and the future condition you want to take them to. People are not transformed in the first iteration, you have to keep going back to bring them with you!

2. Connecting Energetically at the Gut Center

For the gut center, it made me think of the amazing book “Winning Body Language” by Mark Bowden. One topic Mark covers is four “planes” at which you can hold your arms, which correspond with increasing levels of energy as your arms move up through the levels. They start with the Grotesque Plane with arms at your sides all the way through the Ecstatic Plane with your arms above shoulder level. That correlation is in itself fascinating (and I highly recommend the book) but the aspect that relates to transformation is the fact that if you want to change the energy level of an audience you need to start by meeting them where they are. Indeed, if you are more than one level separated from your audience, you will feel dissonant. I imagine you may have experienced this, being in a pretty “dead” audience first thing in the morning and being subjected to a very high energy presenter. When the audience energy is low, the high energy speaker feels more manic than energizing! As a high-energy person who works with a lot of lower energy engineers, I use the techniques in the book to consciously bring my energy level down.

3. Connecting Intellectually at the Head Center

When it comes to the head center, it makes me think of a conversation I had with a protégé some months ago. She is passionate about changing the organization she works for, intentionally deviating from organizational norms in an effort to show an alternate way of thinking. Instinctually, her reaction when a small action doesn’t create change is to try an even larger action. I have to admit I was doing pretty much exactly the same thing when I was in my twenties. The greatest insight of my twenties could be well summed up as, “people don’t care about what they don’t care about.” The advice I gave her is that if she wants to change the organization she needs to start by meeting the company leadership where they are, then help them move from that position. It doesn’t work to just stand in her corner and yell louder and louder.

So how does this apply to leadership? As leaders we can use the same principle ~ transformation starts with meeting people where they are. This means acknowledging and connecting with where they are energetically, emotionally and intellectually then moving them towards a different future. Joining them where they are is commiseration, talking about a positive future disconnected from current reality is just dissonance. Taking them on a journey from where they are to a new place ~ now that is leadership.

What about you? Is there a situation in your life where you are holding your ground and missing an opportunity for transformation?

#Womensleadership #GenY #leadershipdevelopment #resonate #bodylanguage