Opportunity #2 – Leverage Personal Content Creativity
The Challenge: Much of our business-oriented thinking is grounded in traditional academic, analytical, linear ways of thinking. Facts and figures, processes, tasks, financial pressures, and people clamoring for decisions all draw us away from using creative and exciting ways to engage and influence. The key to influencing your audience is not to drown them in facts and figures, but to show up authentic and effective. We must originate our key points out of our passion, our experience, our wisdom, and our focus on driving positive financial impact. As leaders, we also need to share the “why” behind our message. Why provides context, why brings meaning to your message, why connects you and your message with your audience.
Action: Expand your thought process beyond your comfort zone. Set a time limit of 3 to 5 minutes to force the mind to ideate quickly. Don’t attempt to edit in the moment – let one idea trigger another. After, take a moment to reflect on your mini-brainstorm. What thoughts and ideas stood out? What would make you jump on your feet to say, “I’m in.”
As a leader, you also need to motivate others to create continuously. You can do this by:
- Reducing the number of, and time in, meetings.
- Reduce and simplify the structure of slides.
- Advocating brainstorming.
- Having unconventional meetings – take the meeting outside, take a meeting walk.
- Creating a culture where your team questions, “Is this the best we can do?”
- Modeling creativity, critical thinking, and thinking BIG.
Decker Value: We trust you are beginning to develop an understanding of how we approach your enterprise’s communications. What if you could lead a team of colleagues who show up in an influential and engaging manner to drive impact in each communication moment? We can help create that culture.
Dive into the other segments of this 5 part series on Accelerators for C-Suite Communication: Opportunity #5: Clear & Consistent Messaging | Opportunity #4: Skipping Opportunities to Tell Stories | Opportunity #3: Loosen Up | Opportunity #1: Improve the Clarity of Your Message