Booher BanterBusiness Communication Consultant

What will be critical to successful leadership in the future? That was the question posed to me and four other authors (Ken Blanchard, Marshall Goldsmith, Jim Kouzes, and Jack Zenger) as panelists this past week at the American Society for Training and Development International Conference and Expo.

From my own consulting experience and from responses on surveys and studies from CEOs themselves as to what they see on the horizon, critical skills for leaders of the future will be:

• creativity
• communicating collaboratively with customers
• communicating quickly in their own operations

It’s not that organizations aren’t creative now. It’s just that by definition, creativity is an ongoing thing. What’s new today is old tomorrow.

These skills all require a focus on listening to your client, … synthesizing what you hear and analyzing the trends, … articulating that to your team, … deciding how to respond, … and then collaborating with employees on how to make things happen.

That’s why communication landed somewhere in the top 3 slots in all the CEO surveys (done by American Management Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers, IBM). If you focus on creativity and envision a new opportunity or product or service, you have to communicate it to either your own team internally or your suppliers to execute the vision.

And then the speed and flexibility in operating as an organization demands that we communicate cross-functionally in the most efficient way. That we know what information to pass on and what to discard. That we can run an effective meeting. That we’re responsive when customers ask questions or have concerns.

A recent Harvard Business Review article (March 2011) reported that organizations who respond to inquiries within the hour were 7 times as likely to qualify that lead as those who took longer than an hour to respond. They were 60 times more likely to qualify a lead than those organizations that took more than 24 hours to respond. How did companies do? More than a third (37 percent) do respond within the hour. Another 16 percent respond within 24 hours. But almost one-fourth (23 percent) don’t respond at all!

So leading people to be creative and then to communicate collaboratively and quickly with both clients and employees to get the job done will be the game of the future—possibly the only game in town.

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Posted at 1:43pm in General Communication | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Watching reporters on the TV news can be a good learning exercise—in what NOT to do. They stick a microphone in the face of a flood victim and ask, “What does it feel like to lose your home and all your priceless possessions?” (Are they expecting, “It feels great”?) They ask a teen whose father has just returned from the war in Afghanistan, “Have you missed having your dad at home this past year?” (Are they expecting, “No, not much. Hardly noticed he was gone”?)

But you have to cut reporters some slack. After all, they probably got the assignment 20 minutes before going on air. If you’re giving a sales presentation, however, a short timeline can’t be the excuse.

Some questions annoy people for their lack of a clear purpose. They seem intrusive at worst and pointless at best.

“So tell me a little about your operations now—what’s automated and what’s not?” A typical, but weak, approach for opening a sales presentation. If you start your discussion with a question, focus it and explain the benefits or the point of knowing the answer. To customers or colleagues, focused questions—not broad ones—will seem worth the effort to answer.

To be persuasive, ask a question that showcases a benefit:  “How much time do your engineers spend in preparing these charts each month?” Follow up with this explanation:  “This software package can generate such a chart with fewer than six keystrokes.” Raise a question:  “Do your managers look forward to performance-appraisal conferences?” Give a response:  “Our consultants can identify performance problems objectively with this survey before these problems lead to termination.”

Sometimes this questioning technique alone is the difference between having prospects tune out what they perceive as a formal, canned sales “pitch” and what they consider a consultative approach, specific to their needs.

Even though on social occasions we often lapse into a question-answer format to show interest in someone else’s experiences, we need to constantly remind ourselves of the need for structure and purpose with questions on the job.

Focus makes a big difference in whether you build rapport or destroy a relationship or opportunity—whether people are put off or persuaded by your ideas and information.

TV reporters are not working on commission; they can ask dumb questions with obvious answers.  You shouldn’t.

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Posted at 5:41pm in Communication—Sales | Permalink | 1 Comment |

The American Society for Training & Development will hold its annual conference May 22-25, in Orlando, Florida. This premier event for workplace learning and performance professionals will welcome 8,000 attendees from more than 70 countries. If you’re one of them, I hope to see you at one or more of these events:

AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING
Monday, May 23, 10:00-11:00 a.m. 
(McGraw-Hill EXPO Booth #1703)

Take a few minutes on the EXPO Floor to stop by the McGraw-Hill booth and say hello! Whether it’s your personal copy of one of my books or a new one you get at the conference, I’d be delighted to sign it for you!

LEADERSHIIP COMPETENCIES FOR THE FUTURE
Monday, May 23, 12:30-1:45 p.m.
(Session M113 in Room W 109B)

Join Marshall Goldsmith, Ken Blanchard, Jim Kouzes, Jack Zenger, Elaine Biech, and me as we explore the competencies required of the leaders of the future. As panelists, we’ll welcome your questions from the floor about challenges you face in developing future leaders in your organization.

TALKING TO THE TOP BRASS:  SUBSTANCE, STRUCTURE & STYLE
Monday, May 23, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
(Session M307 in Room W 304 CD)

When you face a room full of big egos and powerful decision makers, you need a strong personal presence and excellent facilitation skills to lead people through difficult discussions to sound decisions. My session will provide techniques you can apply in the conference room, in the classroom, or on a consultative sales call.

If you’re attending ASTD 2011 ICE, I hope to see you at my book signing, the Leadership Panel, or my Talking to the Top Brass® session!

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Posted at 3:20pm in General Communication | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Our consumer culture loves new things. We thrive on the latest trends, gizmos, and gimmicks. But sometimes the right message for the moment resides on your bookshelf or eReader inside the pages of a classic written a hundred years ago. As you aim to communicate with your audience, don’t always assume that you need to create something new in order to offer value.

After all, our politicians are still quoting Ronald Reagan’s truisms from 20 years ago. Our government still operates from a document written more than 200 years ago. Theatres still fill with patrons eager to see Shakespeare’s plays. Hollywood producers still do remakes of classic movies from the l950s. Financial advisors still swear by investment philosophies developed in the 1930s.

If you’re a writer or speaker, no doubt you have countless articles, books, and speeches in your archives that contain timeless ideas and offer great insight to others in their present challenges and situations. Don’t dismiss your older content because of the expectation for something newer, brighter, and shinier. Granted, some of the analogies might be out of date or the graphics might not represent the latest style, but the ideas are sound, solid, and significant.

Consider what you have prepared over your years as a communicator. Think of the benefit it could be to those who look to you as a thought leader but may never have seen what you wrote 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

Recently, I’ve partnered with NOVO Ink, an eBook publisher, helping authors with books in the faith and inspirational space bring out-of-print books back to the market. Why? Because I believe that the messages in those books are as relevant and valuable today as they were when I first wrote them. And I hope you’ll agree after taking a moment to check out my titles there (http://www.novoink.com/diannabooher ).

And just a note here: For those of you who primarily know me as a business book author, you may be surprised to learn that I’ve published 5 novels previously. In the weeks or months to come, I may link up with NOVO to bring those back to the marketplace as well. In any case, …

Consider how you can bring your content back into circulation in order to offer value to those you serve. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something…. Wait. That’s weddings, isn’t it?

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Posted at 3:11pm in Books, Communication—Written, Publishing Keys | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Whether blogging or tweeting, think tour guide. Consider past situations when you’ve been fortunate enough to have an experienced tour guide—possibly through the Smithsonian, the Louvre, or a historic center of interest. A guide doesn’t just function as a sign post:  “Here’s an eighteenth century military uniform.” “There’s the kitchen.” “Turn left and then walk straight ahead and you’ll see the Mona Lisa.”

Instead, the tour guide provides intriguing anecdotes about historical figures, illustrations of how equipment was used in past centuries, statistics to put past feats in perspective so you can compare with current frames of reference.
That tour guide’s insight elevates the information from dry to dramatic.

Serve your followers on the Internet in the same way. Aim not to be just a sign post to an article, book, or video, but a savvy person of opinion about the information you’re sharing. Add insight.

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Posted at 1:40pm in Social Media Communication | Permalink | Add Comment » |