You could mend it invisibly – shhhh, it’s a secret, no-one must ever know it broke …
Or you could mend it using gold, so the break will always be a part of what it is, and the mend a beautiful, essential element of its recovery, strength and continuing life.
I started by giving informal training talks to colleagues, then helping out a trainer on a one day event, then occasionally travelling abroad to train airline staff – all while mostly doing the day job, where I was seen as a subject matter expert.
Realising it was the training that had captured my interest, I seized the chance to join a newly expanding full time training unit, inducting, training and developing new and established colleagues.
My employer funded my CIPD training, which led to a professional training qualification and a new way of thinking and talking about myself and my work as a trainer ‘brand’.
And then came the unthinkable – redundancy. But with it came a new beginning, the chance to reinvent and grow. That redundancy was the best thing that could have happened. Today, I’m an actor, voice artist and learning and development consultant. My business, Speaking Well In Public, trains confident public speaking, leadership, train the trainer and employability essentials.
I offer short L&D contracts, 1-1 coaching to private clients and corporate development programmes.
Each new step happened because I said ‘yes’ to a new chance. So what’s your story?
Five easy tips for those who have to stand up and speak at short notice
Five easy tips for those who have to stand up and speak at short notice:
1 – Think audience – what do these people need from you right now? What do you want them to take away / to do as a result of having heard you?
2 – Think aim and objectives – what are you intending to achieve here? Do you want to inform, inspire, entertain them? What will they be able to do differently after you speak?
3 – Think body language – stand up straight, make eye contact round the room and smile.
4 – Think voice – Breathe out, then breathe in half way from your diaphragm, not your chest, and speak a little more slowly than nerves may want you to.
Thinking about ‘train the trainer’ skills and competency-based training today, as I adapt a programme for a client proposal.
We train for many reasons:
It could be because a new role requires new skills.
Or the law requires you to do something different now.
Or something’s wrong – standards are slipping, competencies aren’t being achieved, your brand is under threat.
All training comes down to one question:
What permanent change in behaviour do you want to see?
It’s all about performance needs analysis, setting clear aim and objectives and knowing what this particular group of people needs to hear from you right now.
How to answer the ‘what’s your weakness’ interview question
Blog: The ‘what are your weaknesses’ interview question?
I’ve been having a conversation on Twitter after reading a call to interviewers to ditch the ‘what’s your greatest weakness?’ question, and just talk about the job itself, instead.
I got to wondering about the thinking behind telling us to ditch these questions. Yes, everyone ends up turning their weaknesses into a strength, and few candidates will reveal a significant weakness.
So does the question serve any purpose?
I always advise candidates to avoid the wrong answer [‘I don’t have any’], comedy answers (‘chocolate’) and disguised boasts (‘I’m a shocking perfectionist, just can’t rest til it’s perfect – terrible, I know, but that’s just the way I’m made!’).
It’s a great way to highlight your attitude to self development – what you’re actively doing to deal with something that could become an issue – and helps you feel more confident about acknowledging that nobody’s perfect and we can all learn.
Preparing to answer those questions, even if they’re never asked, helps boost a candidate’s confidence in their own abilities and self worth, and the interviewer can benefit from seeing that in action.
Underneath, it’s really not about a weakness list!
Your fascinating, graceful and – above all – short answer to ‘and what do you do?’
Confident
Public Speaking and Presentation Skills training and coaching in
person and online
With
Philippa Hammond
Brighton,
Sussex, UK and beyond
The elevator pitch: Your fascinating, graceful and – above all – short answer to ‘and what do you do?’
In
today’s climate it’s wise to consider yourself and your skills as a
marketable product to be advertised.
When
you’re asked … “So – what do you do?” “ Tell me about
yourself” or “ What are you going to be speaking about today?”
can you instantly give a graceful and fluent answer so the interested
stay interested, the not so interested get interested – and the
really not interested are not bored and annoyed?
You
need an Elevator Pitch, prepared, polished, and ready to use whenever
you have a minute or two of their undivided attention. It’s the
ability to ‘sell’ what you have to offer in 30 seconds. It can
give you a confidence boost to know you sound interesting, and can
help your networking. The Elevator Pitch should be prepared well in
advance and honed to perfection before you need it.
Opportunities
to use yours might come at networking events, speaking with potential
clients, when working a stall at or visiting a conference or trade
show, when speaking to seniors in your organisation, at promotion
boards and interviews, in response to “tell us about yourself”,
in the coffee break at a conference or training event – or if the
Prince of Wales asks “and what do you do?”
My
top ten tips for creating and using an effective elevator pitch for
business and social introductions:
1
What are your core values? What do you stand for and believe in?
Do
the groundwork first – if you haven’t nailed this you may not yet
feel entirely confident and comfortable presenting yourself and your
business, and so will find it harder to inspire their confidence. You
have to convince yourself first.
2
Your job title will mean little to them – what do you actually do?
Just
like the top of your LinkedIn profile, your elevator pitch is a
little advertisement for you and what you do. A grandiose job title
may not capture the attention you want, while a clear and
straightforward description of what you do will get the message
across. Try brainstorming words and phrases and see what resonates
most.
Focus
on your strengths, and USP [unique selling point] – it should answer
questions like “Why should I come and listen to your presentation
instead of the other two?” and “Why should I buy your
services, not theirs?”
3
Spark interest with a simple, powerful hook – ‘I help people find the
courage to speak’
Can
you tweet what you do? Honing a loose ramble into a crisp 280
characters is a great exercise for bringing your message into focus.
And
your Twitter name and description is just the place to get your
statement out there before you even start saying it.
4
They’re thinking ‘what’s in it for me?’ – so how could you benefit
them?
Most
of us like to know if something could be useful, so think ‘what does
this group of people need to hear from me right now?’ Research your
audience – whether you’re going to a high stakes conference or a
little local business breakfast, think ‘what would they most like to
hear?’ Considering what keeps them up at night and being the solution
could be the key to your next client.
5
KISS (keep it short and simple). This isn’t the place for your entire
CV!
No-one
has time to sit and listen patiently to a one-sided rundown of your
entire career. The absolute highlights of what you do and what you’ve
done, and only those that will be of interest to them.
6
Practice it in the shower, in the park, to people you trust, record
yourself – how does it sound?
Writing
it out is all very well, but we don’t speak as we write and these
things need to be heard. You’ll feel a bit silly to start with, but
anything new feels weird at first and the more you practice the
smoother it will sound and the easier it will get. You’ll then appear
relaxed and confident about the way you talk about yourself, which is
half the battle.
7
Seek out opportunities to try it out – networking events, business
and social groups.
Here’s
a secret – many apparently confident people are shy and dislike
networking. So chances are anyone else you get into conversation with
will be feeling a bit awkward too. The great thing about these events
is that it’s fine to drop into a group, or go up to a person on their
own and introduce yourself and ask about them. The more you do this
the more normal it will feel and any awkwardness will start to fade
out
8
Observe listeners’ responses – are they bored, glazed, intrigued,
inspired?
The
skill is to capture and keep interest, not to bulldozer them into
submission. I’ve seen people backing away hotly pursued by a new
contact desperately trying to get through the whole thing. It’s about
personal and professional impact, and you want it to be positive.
Probably the best thing to do if they really aren’t engaged is to ask
‘and what about you?’
9
Listen to theirs, too – it’s a two-way thing and listening will help
you network
They
have just as much right to be heard as you do, and what they have to
say may well be able to benefit you, too. Cultivate the art of asking
questions – what they say and how they say it can give you clues to
what they want.
10
Have a variety for different occasions and people, refresh and evolve
for today
A
brief chat at the coffee stand, a personal intro at a meeting, a
formal pitch to all at a networking gathering, a personal brand ident
as a panellist or guest speaker … all these and more are
opportunities to use versions of your pitch. Have a selection ready
to air for every occasion, tailoring it to the moment, the people and
their needs.
But
the most important thing is to use it. The more you practise and use
your selection of elevator pitches, the more agile, flexible and
relevant it will become. And the more relaxed and confident you’ll
be.
Three key ways of thinking about training, learning and development
Three key ways of thinking about training, learning and development
Training needs to be business-driven
As trainers, we need to understand the business, and our role in it. We need to understand the organisation’s goals and the results it wants – and be confident and clear about what needs fixing.
How will what we do affect performance, productivity and results? It’s all about trainer output and impact, not numbers of hours or bums on seats.
The trainer role has changed – from content creator and sage on the stage, our role now includes discovering and curating the free content that’s out there online, organising, editing and making it available to those who need it.
And we need to be able to measure business outcomes, to test, analyse and prove what they learn, your impact – and your value to the business.
Time to start thinking of yourself as a specialist consultant, a business partner, rather than a business asset.
Training needs to be science-led
Metrics matter. Finance, sales and costs, customer and employee ratings – data about the business is being collected and stored.
And business is increasingly looking to that evidence to inform its decisions.
So we need to know where the data is, go and get it and discuss it with the experts, working collaboratively across the organisation as it makes those decisions about its training needs.
We need to learn about neuroscience, too – it’s the basics of learning. Understanding how our brains work is key. There’s readable lay-person stuff out there, and getting to know it makes you better at talking, persuading and delivering training, in ways that work.
Training needs to be learner-centred
Delivered as the user wants it, how they prefer to receive it, there in the medium they want and need it – podcast, video, key point summary, webinar, Skype coaching session, learn on the move, on the train, in the cafe, the sitting room – the learning edges have blurred. It’s not just about sitting in a classroom, now.
We need to understand and use the value of social learning. Bring in the social element, both face to face and digital.
And instead of ‘there’s a course on this in October, do you want it?’ be ready and quick to respond with what they need when they need it.
The world’s changing.
Trainees are changing.
Trainers and training need to change, too.
My Train the Trainer workshops and programmes develop effective teams
