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Understanding what numbers mean is a core competency for
senior managers. Communicating what they mean should be,
too. Yet few do this well. Rather than motivating and
inspiring employees with the latest quarterly update or
competitive analysis, leaders bore and confuse them
instead. What causes the trip-up?
As a
result, managers put the cart before the horse by
presenting the evidence before they present their messages
or, worse, they present the evidence alone.
To make
numbers come alive and engage your audience, take these
four steps:
1.
Identify the key points you want to make.
Any communication can be divided into key points and
evidence. Distinguishing between them is not difficult,
you might think, but it is surprising how many
presentations are designed around PowerPoint slides packed
with an overabundance of evidence.
I once
heard a chief financial officer introduce his presentation
by saying, “I’m going to go through the numbers and then
hand over to the chief executive.” Painfully true to his
word, he spent the next half-hour taking the audience
through two or three dozen slides, each dense with
numbers. Then he handed the presentation over to the chief
executive, who took us through a review of last year,
division by division, slide by slide. When the question
period finally arrived, it was clear that the audience
hadn’t listened to either speaker.
Put away
the PowerPoint and force yourself to summarize in two or
three sentences the message you want your audience to walk
away with. Add a simple welcome statement, and you’ve got
the opening to your presentation.
A division
head, for instance, might open a presentation to his
marketing and sales team by saying:
“Thank you
for coming here this afternoon. I’m afraid the news isn’t
particularly good—our performance this quarter was weaker
than expected. The numbers I’m going to put before you say
one thing loud and clear: We need to redouble our efforts
to identify and serve our core clients’ needs.”
This
statement gives his audience a solid context in which to
view the data he will then put before them.
2. Muster
supporting evidence—and be selective.
The chances are good that you love numbers a lot more than
most of your audience members do. As a senior manager, you
“live” in them in ways most of your employees don’t. So to
choose the right evidence to present in support of your
message, you’re going to need to take a few paces back to
look at things from your audience’s perspective.
What tells
a more compelling story? Two pie charts side by side, one
showing market share a year ago and one showing market
share today? Or a dense spreadsheet showing monthly sales
broken out by product line and region?
You may
find the latter more compelling, but overloading your
audience members with data is a sure way to guarantee
they’ll forget almost everything you say. In most
presentations, you don’t need reams of data as backup, so
choose as little as you need to make a compelling case.
While we
more often see numbers-savvy executives make the mistake
of presenting evidence before—or instead of—clear,
specific messages, we sometimes see the opposite problem:
delivering key points and then not substantiating them. In
the absence of evidence, statements devolve into
platitudes, and platitudes won’t inspire anyone into
action. People need proof.
3. Be
consistent.
Achieving consistency does not mean saying the same thing,
the same way, over and over. If you’re a new CEO
introducing yourself to various constituencies, your
messages should remain consistent from speech to speech,
but your supporting evidence and illustrations should
change to suit the audience.
Your
fellow board members, for instance, may not be impressed
by the same examples that you might elect to use talking
to the staff on reception. And remember, your choice of
supporting evidence and illustrations should be informed
by culture as well as rank.
4. Follow
up.
It’s great that people walk away from a presentation with
a clear recollection of its three or four central points,
but will they remember them a month or two down the line?
Unlikely. And if they don’t remember them, those points
will not be communicated throughout the organization.
Use
subsequent presentations to reinforce your key points. For
instance, you might start a presentation by saying, “I
told you six months ago that we would respond more quickly
to customer requests, and this is the progress that we
have made toward that goal.”
Whether
you’re an incoming CEO or a veteran team leader, whether
you’re addressing an audience of hundreds or a group
sitting around a conference table, your presentation will
be much more effective if you put your key points out
front and center—and let your supporting evidence be just
that.
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Roly Grimshaw is the managing director of the Kingstree
Group, a London-based communications consultancy. |
