Could This Be Screwing Up Your Presentation?

When something is hurting, such as a poison arrow, what’s your first response? You want to pull it out!

So, why is it when something is hurting, (awful reviews on your presentation) don’t you want to pull out the arrow?

Real World Survival Skills

If you are in an organization that does reviews, quarterly reviews, evaluations or personal performance reviews, you know what survival means. You have to get good marks–or you could lose your job.

In many organizations, performance reviews are closely linked with compensation. The better your scores, the more buckaroos.

It’s no wonder that pulling out the poison arrow seems even more attractive now. It’s not only killing you. It’s also affecting your paycheck.

One of the biggest, and most ignored problems in presenting is this: pride.

We naturally take pride in our work. We are wired to do the best, perform for an A+ grade, and meet every possible standard. Especially if you have any type of disciplined military training.

And this is where things can be problematic.

What Happens?

If you are extremely proud of your presentation skills, what is likely to happen?

#1. You won’t ask for help.

#2. You won’t ask for feedback.

#3. You will deny feedback if it’s given.

#4. You will plan fiendishly in order to not make mistakes.

#5. You will deliver on time and on task.

Now, the first three seem like they are the roots of the problem. But the last two items are equally core contributors to a poor and lousy numbers on your performance review.

It only makes sense that everyone needs to get help, ask for feedback and listen to outside coaching observations. That’s how we learn. That’s how we are able to grow into new skills and higher levels of performance.

If you keep yourself isolated in an ivory tower, you might think you are great–but you won’t really know for sure.

But, what about the last two?

Let me tell you a story.

True Story

Recently I reviewed presentations of 17 finalists in a leadership program. Each presenter had to give a report-out of a project in order to graduate the program.

These presentations were reviewed and assessed by four experts. Each expert added a different perspective. These aspects were a. the program requirements b. leadership competencies, c. work relevance, and d. (yours truly) presentation impact.

Now, John, the presenter in question, (I changed the name to protect confidentiality) gave a logical but boring presentation about a local project. It wasn’t great. But it wasn’t underground awful either.

However, the feedback was alarming!

One of the reviewers claimed she didn’t believe John ever did the project. She thought he was lying. She threw a royal fit about his tight-lipped presentation.

The rest of us were shocked. Why did she have such an extremely negative response to his presentation?

As we discussed this amongst ourselves, here’s what we noticed.

John was new to the organization. He had recently finished in the military. He was performing to what he believed was the correct military standard of formality. This showed in the structure of his script and his serious delivery. He didn’t crack a joke or make a smile. It was all facts, logic, and numbers.

Most likely, he was performing exactly what he thought the situation required.

But something was missing. Human contact.

John didn’t make the connection to his audience. And he didn’t realize this key element was missing. This is why one reviewer thought he was ‘faking it.’

On hearing the news, John went through classic emotions in stages, first, denial, then defense, then anger, and finally, acceptance.

He realized he needed to expand his skills, learn how to include his audience, and adapt a more ‘civilian’ style of presenting. When I spoke to him a few weeks later, he was over the emotional jolt. And he making strides with his new ‘connect-with-the-audience’ skills.

Well, thank goodness we figured that one out. And we were able to make amends and clear up this misunderstanding.

But it got me thinking.

What’s The Hold Up?

What stands in the way of learning new skills?

How often do we let previous training get in the way of learning new skills? Are we too proud to admit that we only know what we know? Isn’t this exactly why we don’t ‘pull out the poison arrow’ instantly?

If you have a certain favorite way of presenting, and it’s precisely what you’ve been taught, that’s a good thing.

But it’s not everything.

Conforming to traditional standards may be the exact reason why you are getting poor results on your performance reviews.

Live a little. Learn a lot. Try new things. This can help you quickly capture the power whenever you need to present in front of groups.