The Mother of Reinvention

When I started my company in 2004, it was because of necessity. I saw an unmet need for a business that specialized in providing women’s leadership services. I tried selling the idea to my employers, who had lots of intellectual property that could be re-purposed for this rapidly emerging market. My employers  thought women’s leadership was a non-starter. They just didn’t get it.

During the same period, I started to crave some career development.  After five years in the same job, nothing challenged me anymore. I felt uninspired and demotivated at work.

When the restlessness grew painful, I saw it as a wake-up call. It was time to reinvent myself.

 

Just A Pinch of Pain

Reinvention is available to any of us at any time. It’s available to individuals and to organizations. What does it take? Just a pinch of pain and a teaspoon of creativity.

• Necessity is the mother of re-invention. Often we deny the need to reinvent ourselves because of the amount of change involved. We’d prefer to avoid disruption, so we maintain the status quo. Only when the pain is great enough, do most of us admit the need for change. The first step in reinvention is admitting the pain. For me, that meant acknowledging the need for a new job.
• The second step is to reframe the pain into possibility. How many times a day do you say the following words:
  • “If only we could…”
  • “I wish that they would…”

When these thoughts occur, fill in the blanks with as many possibilities as you can. Be outrageous. What do you wish? What would you do if you could? Make a list. When I did this, the first item on my wish list was to find a consulting job and the last was to start my own company!

• The third step in reinvention is to convert one of the possibilities into an opportunity. For me, back in 2004, the opportunity required me to leave the safety of a secure job. It required me to facilitate a pro-bono leadership seminar that I hadn’t yet developed for a bunch of women whom I hadn’t yet met at a conference that I had never attended. As it turned out, it was magical. I was on top of my game that day. I acquired several new customers who helped me to launch my business and it’s still going strong today.

When you scan your horizon, can you see any opportunities for realizing your possibility?

 

What’s Your Story?

There is one thing that can get in the way of reinvention. That’s “The Story.”

We all have a story that we’ve created about who we are and what we can be. We replay The Story so often that it becomes interchangeable with the truth, even when it’s not. The Story has a way of becoming prophecy. It can be limiting or it can be expansive. Don’t be afraid to change your story if the old one is limiting you.

In 2004, I’d been listening to the same story since I was a little girl. It said, “You are a follower, not a leader. You will always be runner up, but you will never be first.” I needed a new story. It went like this, “You can win if you try. It won’t be easy, but you can do it! It’s time to be number one.”   I marched out there that day and pretended to be a winner. My energy was a huge magnetic force. I captivated my audience. It was like an out-of-body experience and I’ve never looked back since!

Want to reinvent your life? Your career? Your business?  Then reinvent your story. Try rewriting it with a protagonist who must overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, in order to achieve seemingly unobtainable goals. With planning, preparation and perseverance against the odds, s/he succeeds. Guess what happens then. They all live happily ever after. Now that’s a story worth retelling.

 

For more information on how to reinvent your story, contact Jill Quist at info@quistsolutions.com. 

Taking the High Road

I’m a very privileged person. Every day, my life is filled with choices and by and large, they’re privileged choices. Will I buy Starbucks brand or Costco? Will I make dinner tonight or buy take-out?  Do I want to take this call or should I let it go to voice mail? Will I admit it when I’m wrong or insist on being right?

I made some mistakes recently with a client. This week I had the opportunity to deal with them (ouch).  It left me with a hole in my ego the size of Lake Michigan, but what I learned was worth the price of admission.

Over promising, under delivering

What happened was that I got a plum assignment with very high volume and very tight deadlines. I probably should have rejected it (you know the old saw that “it’s better to under promise and over deliver”?), but no, my team and I can handle anything, right? Wrong.

Did you ever have a project where everything and I do mean everything, goes wrong? Well this was that project. It was fraught with problems from the get go. We made some sloppy mistakes, we had to navigate some uncharted territories, and there were several issues that were outside our span of control…blah, blah, blah. The end result was not terrible, but it wasn’t stellar either. The client was, in a word, underwhelmed. He let me know that he was disappointed and he wrote me an itemized list of the reasons why. Oh yeah, if that wasn’t enough, the next day he followed up with another list from one of his direct reports. All very deflating stuff.

Humble pie al a mode

So what did I do? I immediately wrote my client that we would schedule a team debriefing and get back to him in a few days. Then I promptly ate six scoops of Edy’s full cream Limited Edition, Girl Scout, Chocolate Mint Cookie ice cream and took some time out to lick my wounds.

Self-righteously, I considered writing a lengthy defense, justifying our actions and responding individually to each blow. In the final analysis though, I took a different route. I had to own our failures. As soon as I accepted that, I started to feel relief. This is what I did:

• I wrote a formal letter of apology and waived the entire project fee.
• I accepted full responsibility for our mistakes and identified corrective actions we would take. 
• I countered, without laying blame, on the items that were not our doing.
• I closed with the sincere hope that we’d be given an opportunity to restore his confidence in the future and reminded him of other, good work we had done for him.
• Then, I hit the “send” button and let go of the results.

Lessons Learned

My client responded immediately. He thanked me for my letter, told me it was not necessary to waive the fee, acknowledged all the good work we had done, and chalked it up to “lessons learned.” As good as it felt to receive his gracious note, the pay-off was not in the results but in the actions I had taken. Back when I decided what I had to do, that’s when I had a good night’s sleep. That’s when I was at peace with myself.

The real lesson for me was that it pays to swallow my pride. It pays to take the high road. It’s hard to be honest with myself when my ego is involved. It takes courage to admit it when I’m wrong. Taking the high road is full of risks because the outcome is so uncertain. Your heart may be in your throat for the entire ride. But in the end, it’s worth the trip.  When you take the high road, you get to see the best scenery. 

Sometimes We Flop Before We Fly

Let’s face it. No matter how much effort we put into our work or however many training courses we take, we’re people—and people make mistakes.  

Take Homer Simpson. “D’oh!” is a phrase that he repeats over and over again when he realizes that he has done something, well, stupid.  Homer’s “D’oh” is the same as the cringe I feel at the moment I realize I’ve messed something up. Ugh—please just allow me to beat a hasty and humble retreat.  

Now what?

It’s vital to make mistakes because that’s the way we learn and grow. The critical parts of the equation?  Learning and growing. So I make a mistake—now what?  I am thankful for the mistakes I’ve made in my life because without them, I would have missed the opportunity to reevaluate my actions and internalize the learning.  It is this internalized learning that allows me to excel in the workforce and in life.

Liberate yourself with these 4 steps

1. Reflect – Consider how to turn the mistake into an opportunity. Take time to learn the impact of the mistake and hone in on how you can prevent the mistake from happening in the future.

2.  Communicate – Own up to the mistake and be truthful those who are affected, but don’t beat yourself up about it. And don’t let others beat you up either.  Keep positive as you crystalize your intention to move forward with what you have learned.

3. Don’t dwell on the past – Put the past behind you where it belongs. While there is nothing you can do about the past, you have control over what you do today. Dwelling on past mistakes has no benefit anymore.

4. Move on to the next – Keep going. Never forget what Thomas Edison said, “Most of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close to success they were when they gave up.” Smart innovators learn from their mistakes.

Flop before you fly

What separates success stories from failures is the quality of their resilience in the face of mistakes. Management expert Peter Drucker explains, “The better a man is, the more mistakes he will make, for the more new things he will try.”

The Wright brothers flopped many times before they flew. Some of the world’s most successful innovators—Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, to name just a few—only succeeded after years of experimentation, trial and error.

Walt Disney was rendered shoeless after a series of financial blunders that left him so broke he couldn’t reclaim a pair of shoes from the cobbler.

Consider this quote from the legendary Steve Jobs when he delivered the Stanford Commencement Address, “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure of everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

The reality is we all make mistakes.  The point is to not give up.  Mistakes are opportunities to bring something new to the table the next time. Steady on. Stay the course.

Even Homer learns from his mistakes.  When you get over the hump, you too can shout out a little “Woo hoo!”

 

For more information about Quist Solutions, LLC., visit our website at www.quistsolutions.com.

Bringing Mindfulness to Work

Does it ever strike you that multi-tasking is highly over rated?  Our brains are cluttered by a never-ending list of competing priorities. Thankfully, we can choose to redirect our brains at any time. We can call a time-out from multi-tasking by immersing ourselves in the present moment, where we deal with only one task at a time.

Practicing mindfulness in this way not only reduces stress but it also increases the odds that we’ll achieve success in meeting our personal and professional goals.

Growing Evidence

The Wall Street Journal posted an article titled “Business Skills and Buddhist Mindfulness.” It stated, “Business school are beginning to embrace a practice that has grown popular in the corporate world–teaching and studying mindfulness, the originally Buddhist approach to increasing awareness of oneself and one’s surroundings.”

Smart companies are practicing it. B-school students are learning it. Why? Because mindfulness is about improving the quality of one’s attention and attention is key to productivity. Evidence is mounting that this simple practice delivers on its promise.  If you’re not using this technique at work already, get started  now.

Know Your Intention

For me, the greatest fringe benefit of mindfulness is that it helps me to clarify my intentions. “Intention” is all about taking the time before an interaction to identify the outcome I’d like to get. When I do this, without exception, the results are better.

I find it’s a good idea to share my intention with a coworker or mentor, or someone who will supportively make sure that I follow through with what I say.  This reinforces the mindset you adopt when you speak your words and apply it in action.   As I make an intention, I move past the fear that prevents me from doing what I say.

Some examples of intentions at work:

• Make a commitment to slow yourself down if you move too fast. (I have a pebble on my desk that reminds me to “breathe.”)
• Say, “today I will be more aware of…………………………”
• Before the meeting begins, you can intend to be open and to listen generously to others. You can intend to be interested rather than interesting.
• When you first sit down at your desk, you can intend to make a “to do” list for the day and then do everything on that list.
• After you finish your 3^rd task, you can intend to take a 15 minute break and choose anything to do during that time—not related to work.
• You can intend to recognize 3 people for positive contributions they’re making.

Developing mindfulness and practicing intention will create greater manageability in your life and at work.  By understanding exactly what you want from your interactions and bringing your intention to what you say and do, you redirect your energy towards intentionally achieving that goal.

Paying It Forward At Work

Sharing the practice of intentionality is just as important as doing it yourself.  Ask yourself, are you supporting others in your work environment to achieve the best result?  This alone is the art of setting an intention.

By doing this, you make it clear to yourself and others, just what you plan to do.  Be serious about your goals, take action today, and don’t let your intention slip away from you.

For more information about Quist Solutions, LLC., visit our website at www.quistsolutions.com.

 

Trust: The Secr…

Trust: The Secret Weapon for Your Business

Trust in the workplace is just as important as getting an adequate amount of sleep at night. Without sleep, we feel groggy and cannot function as well as we would like. Similarly, when we fail to create a trust network with our boss, coworkers, clients, and suppliers, we make it much more difficult to perform at work and achieve success.

People want to feel good when they walk into the office. Right? I know I do. I want to feel positive when I go to work, safe to bring new ideas to the table, confident to communicate openly with my colleagues in fulfilling our corporate mission. If that’s NOT happening for you at your company, trust might just be your secret weapon.

How do you identify a high-trust organization?

By observing the behavior of your people.  Business guru, Stephen Covey, explains how in high-trust, high performance companies, we can observe the following behaviors:

• Information is shared openly
• Mistakes are tolerated and encouraged as a way of learning
• The culture is innovative and creative
• People are loyal to those who are absent
• People talk straight and confront their real issues
• There is real communication and real collaboration
• People share credit abundantly and openly celebrate each other’s success
• There are few “meetings after meetings”
• Transparency is a practiced value
• People are candid and authentic
• There is a high degree of accountability
• There is a palpable vitality and energy – people can feel the positive momentum

When we don’t trust, we end up doing everything ourselves. That’s a heavy burden. It makes us feel overworked. We become paranoid about other people undermining our positions, eventually turning our work environment into a place of paranoia, backstabbing, and creating an overall negative energy.  We let our preconceived notions of others destroy potential relationships that could be ripe for collaboration and mutual accomplishment.

Managing the quality of your business environment (and the relationships in it) is arguably the most vital component to a successful company because it is directly related to the way we work and how well we perform.

Solution: 7 Ways To Cultivate Trust

The more effort you put into trusting others, the more success you will find.  It’s a simple concept, but not always easy to put into practice. These 7 steps will help:

1. Be on time. (Speaks to reliability.)

2. Prepare. (Speaks to credibility.)

3. Do not gossip. (Speaks to trustworthiness.)

4. Keep confidential conversations confidential. (Speaks to reliability & credibility.)

5. Honor your promises. (Speaks to personal accountability.)

6. Admit when you don’t know something. (Speaks to humility–and being human!)

7. Own your mistakes. (Speaks to openness and authenticity. Creates safety for learning new things.)

As with most things, building trust in your organization must start at the top. You want to build a trusting workplace? You must model trustworthy behavior and you must cultivate trust in others. It’s that simple.(For a more in-depth analysis, visit:  http://randomactsofleadership.com/2009/04/29/7-ways-to-earn-trust/ )

Without placing an emphasis on trust in your business, your long term goals may be seriously at risk.   A trusting workplace can give your company a more positive, more pleasant, and less stressful environment.

Don’t wait for the person next to you to make the first move.  You have little to lose by trying.  Why not you today? Why not right now?

For more information on how to build trust in your organization contact Quist Solutions at www.quistsolutions.com.

The Over-Thinker Syndrome

Sometimes we want a presentation to go so well that we drive ourselves a little, well, crazy.  We start obsessing over minor details, playing them over and over in our minds like a broken record, and before you know it, we’ve got Over-Thinker Syndrome. When this happens, our presentations get as overcooked as limp pasta. What’s worse, we come across as flat, wooden and stilted. The inevitable outcome? An unhappy, disconnected audience.

As we all know, there are 2 aspects of all speaking engagements: Content and Delivery. The Over-Thinker Syndrome undermines both.

Common Content Mistakes

By trying too hard to impress our audiences with our “thought leadership” we tend to load up our presentations with too many objectives, business jargon and complicated graphics.  After all, we don’t want the audience to think we’re stupid. Better to bore them with obscure erudition.

Common Delivery Mistakes

And then there’s the stress we put ourselves through! When we unconsciously allow our worries to take over, they inevitably lead us to frustration, anxiety, exhaustion, and sometimes even illness.  What’s more, our stress is no secret to the audience. It seeps out into our delivery, making us sound inauthentic and needy. We can see from their glazed eyes and stifled yawns that we’ve lost the audience’s attention. So we try even harder and the spiral continues. More glazed eyes, people shifting in their seats.  Did two people just walk out?! I’m breaking out in a sweat just thinking about it!

Be Interested, Rather Than Interesting

The good news? While we can’t control audience reaction, there is much we can do to make our presentations engaging and our delivery authentic.  We also have the power to reduce our stress. I can sum it up in one sentence: Stop thinking about what’s going to happen to you and start thinking about what you can make happen.

We can create engaging content with thoughtful planning and focus. Every presentation is more successful when we aim to be interested rather than being interesting. Ask yourself, what topic would interest the audience? What’s most relevant to them? If you don’t know the answers, then you need to ask.

When planning a presentation, I try to remember Steven Covey’s tip, “Start with the end in mind.” What do I want to leave the audience with? What call to action do I want them to take and how can I get them to do it?

Keep it simple. No more than 3 objectives. No more than 13 words per bullet. No smaller than 20 point font size.

Know and humanize your material. Research and learn the facts about your topic. Get to the heart of what you are trying to convey.  Once you understand the heart of the material, you’ll be able to present it with or without your notes. Don’t be afraid to tell stories. Your presentation will flow from the inside out and the audience will be engaged by your authenticity.

Face down the blank page. My older brother used to say, “Anything that’s worth writing is worth writing badly first.” I’ve always found this oddly comforting. So get on with it! Remembering that all you have is THIS present moment, right now, why not get your information down on the page and be done with it?  Once you do, you can rewrite it into something better than you could have ever imagined.   What’s the worst that can happen?

What’s the Worst That Can Happen?

We can control our creeping anxiety by remembering that our feelings aren’t facts. They’re interpretations. When we realize that, we can identify feelings like anxiety, see what they’re making us do and let them go.  With practice, this gets easier.

Here are some helpful tips on getting negative thinking out of your head:

1. Write the negative thought down on a piece of paper. Read it over, take a deep breath, and then tear up the paper like it never existed in the first place. Or keep a glass jar and toss the paper in there. It’s reassuring to watch the jar fill up with all the fears you’ve let go of.
2. Create positive affirmations for yourself and say them out loud (don’t worry; you can do this in the comfort of your own space, even in the shower!)

e.g., “I am a positive and smart individual who has prepared all of the information needed to execute my project today.” Or, “Even if I miss some information, my confidence will shine through with my presentation.”

Sooner than later, the negative thoughts will dissipate and you’ll be wondering why you were feeling so anxious in the first place.

Your audience wants you to be successful. Remember, your audience will trust what you have to say if you engage them with your interest in them, have valuable content to share and you share it from the heart as well as the head.

For more information about Quist Solutions, LLC., visit our website at www.quistsolutions.com.

You’re ALWAYS Communicating Something To Someone

Lindsay Lohan. Right message for court?

Like it or not, you are ALWAYS communicating something to someone. The question is not whether you’re communicating, but whether you’re communicating the right messages.

Take Lindsay Lohan for example. I’m not sure which of her body hugging dresses was least appropriate for her early courtroom appearances this year. My vote goes to the putty colored, rubber textured sheath to the left. While some might argue that the dress had a modest neckline and her black tights could hardly be called revealing, others likened her costume to a condom. I’m not going there, but now that you mention it…

In the case of poor Lindsay, it’s hard to know what audience she was playing to and whether she was intentionally managing her message. If she was trying to impress the Playboy magazine editorial team, she probably succeeded since she recently landed a nude photo contract with them worth a whopping $1mm.  On the other hand, I’m not sure that her flagrant disregard of appropriate courtroom attire won her any points with the judge.

Clothing is one of the many nonverbal ways we express ourselves. As Lindsay demonstrates almost daily, it’s a powerful communication vehicle. In fact, research shows that the majority of our communication is nonverbal. Let’s look at a few other examples of unconscious, nonverbal behavior:

Example 1: You’re at a team meeting. Throughout the meeting, your colleagues are consulting their Blackberries, sending texts and responding to e-mail…the 21st century equivalent of checking their watches. What they’re telling you in not so subtle ways is that you’ve lost their attention.   (More on how to run effective meetings in a future blog.)

Example 2: Your office space is divided into a vast sea of cubicles. Nothing on the horizon even vaguely resembles privacy. Yet some anonymous someone is relentlessly snapping gum. A nervous tick? Perhaps, but distracting and inconsiderate nonetheless.

Example 3: You’re scheduled for a one-on-one with your manager. Nice as he is, he radiates tension. His shoulders are always hunched, his voice is tight, his foot is tapping non-stop, his smile never quite meets his eyes. It’s very hard to connect with him in a meaningful way since his tension builds your tension, and the beat goes on…

Many of us send confusing or negative nonverbal signals without realizing it. When this happens, it can break connection and trust in our relationships.

How to improve your nonverbal communication

Assess yourself: The first thing to do is to assess what you’re doing well and what you need to improve. You need to observe yourself. Set up a video camera or recorder to record yourself in action. When you view the results, look and listen for discrepancies between what you’re trying to say and what you’re displaying.

Ask yourself:

1. Is my eye contact missing, too intense or just right?

2. What is your face showing? What are the faces of those around you telling you?

3. Does your voice project tension or delight? Insecurity or confidence?

4. Is your appearance appropriate for the occasion and audience?

5. Are you close enough/too far away from your audience? What feels right to you? to them?

6. Does your body and posture look relaxed? What about the person you’re talking to?

7. What about the “temperature” of the conversation? Is there adequate give and take? Does everyone appear responsive?

We are always communicating something to someone. With words or silence. With action or  inaction. Not only the what, but the how, of communication sends messages to others. Advances in technology and virtual communication make it more important than ever to manage our nonverbal cues when we spend precious face time with each other.  Take it from Lindsay, nobody but you can manage the impression you create.

For more information, contact Quist Solutions at www.quistsolutions.com. 

Who’s On First?

Disconnects happen.  How often have you thought you communicated something clearly, only to learn that your audience didn’t understand? The funny skit Who’s On First?  by Abbott and Costello is probably the best example of disconnects in communication that I’ve ever seen.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng&feature=related

When major disconnects happen in the workplace they can be costly. Here are 4 examples of common workplace disconnects and ways to avoid them:

• Disconnect No. 1: Instructions are given but they’re not understood. Nobody figures it out until it’s too late;
• Solution: Confirm instructions in writing using action plans or other devices that contain the specific sequence of actions and deliverables, due dates, and who is responsible. After posting the final plan, use it to monitor progress and concerns.

• Disconnect No. 2: Accountabilities are unclear at work–people don’t understand who “owns” the issue, the solution or the results. Even worse, they don’t know how to find out.
• Solution: Use a written document such as a RACI chart to clarify roles, responsibilities and issues of ownership. Post the chart, follow it and reinforce it. (If it seems like I’m big on putting things in writing, that’s because I am. Nothing works better or faster than publicizing names in black and white against  imminent tasks. It’s guaranteed to surface any questions.)

• Disconnect No. 3: Leadership messages are not aligned with employees’ realities, leaving the employees disengaged and under the impression that leadership is completely out of touch.
• Solution: Find ways to engage your employees in conversation every chance you get. If you’re using social media, even if someone is ghostwriting for you, make sure you check the responses. Use Town Halls to ask, “What’s the one conversation we should be having that we’re not having.” Make it safe for them to have the conversation by starting off with your own example.

• Disconnect No. 4: Insufficient context is provided to explain strategies, business decisions, new programs, etc.  Just because you’re clear about the why’s and wherefore’s, your people won’t be.
• Solution: When you communicate the “what” of a decision, be sure to communicate the “why.”  Always share the WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”).  Employees need to understand why they should care and what benefits will accrue to them.

What disconnects do you experience in the workplace? Share them with us.

For more ideas on how to connect with your employees, contact us at www.QuistSolutions.com.

Is anyone out there listening?

Most of us take listening for granted. We take courses in “active” listening, learning how to paraphrase what others say, testing our empathy through role play and using responsive body language during conversation. Then we check the box and think we know how to listen.

Generous listening

Some years ago, I attended an intensive leadership program that taught “generous listening.” To be a generous listener, I would need to:

• Forget myself
• Suspend my own agenda
• Submit to another’s need for attention

Whoa! What a tall order. Maybe I didn’t know how to listen after all.

The gift of attention

According to Dr. Michael Nichols, author of “The Lost Art of Listening,” it’s “the gift of our attention and understanding (that) makes other people feel validated and valued.”

He suggests that artful listening is about being a witness to another, not a filter of our own experience. He goes on to say that a lack of sympathetic attention accounts for the loss of enthusiasm in our lives, even more than stress. By contrast, receiving simple acknowledgement makes us feel like we’re being understood and taken seriously. Think about that for a minute. What might a little generous listening do to increase employee engagement at work?

Want to increase your Employee Engagement?

Try these three simple exercises for a couple of days and see if anything changes in the way people interact with you:

1. Listen without an agenda. Be completely open to another’s experience and walk in his/her moccasins.
2. Go out of your way to ask others how they would handle situations–before you offer a solution.
3. Take note of how many times you tell someone about a problem of yours, only to be interrupted so they can tell you about their own similar situation or offer you advice.

When we’re with someone who doesn’t listen, we shut down.  Conversely, when we’re with someone who’s listening generously, we feel safe to contribute. Listening is a critical, overlooked and very cost effective way to increase employee engagement.

Want more from your employees? Give more of yourself. Just listen.

PowerPoint is the new poison.

I watched as her eyes glazed over in boredom and she stifled a yawn. She was lost to us!

No, this was not my twenty-two year old daughter during a parental rant, although that’s what it reminded me of. This happened during a PowerPoint presentation delivered by a colleague at a weekly team meeting. When I looked around the room, I saw that the presenter had lost 90% of her audience. A few people were actually nodding off. Why didn’t the presenter see this and what should she have done differently?

There’s an old adage: if the only tool in your toolkit is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. Used effectively, PowerPoint can be a great hammer, but not every meeting is a nail.

In Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations (http://www.amazon.com/slide-ology-Science-Creating-Presentations/dp/0596522347/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318520000&sr=1-1), written by the woman who created Al Gore’s presentation in An Inconvenient Truth, Nancy Duarte argues that PowerPoint presentations are comprised of three elements: the message, the delivery and the visual story. When’s the last time you felt like a PowerPoint presentation was a story?

Don’t get me wrong. PowerPoint has its place. It can be great for informing, updating and, when done well, for persuading your audience. It can and should be an element of many meetings—but not the main attraction. It should NEVER be used as a teleprompter (with you as a talking head) or a substitute for building rapport with your audience. PowerPoint is a flawed vehicle for engagement but there are a wealth of useful interactive meeting technologies and other social engagement tools available for building the 21^st century social business. They are well worth the investment if you want to improve innovation and productivity in your organization. For starters, I recommend looking at:

• OneRoom, a social software solution
• www.kiteticglue.com, an enterprise collaboration tool for teams and groups
• http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/socialcollaboration/, IBM’s social business software

There are also great tools to make your meetings more collaborative and engaging without using technology at all. Check out the book Visual Meetings–How Graphics, Sticky Notes And Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity by David Sibbet (http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Meetings-Graphics-Transform-Productivity/dp/0470601787/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318524926&sr=1-1).

Key point: technology, like PowerPoint, should be an enhancement, not a crutch. When the blackberries go down, our employees need mastery of basic social skills like strong communication, influencing, collaboration and knowledge sharing. We also need to encourage networking, inclusiveness and building strong partnerships both inside and outside the organization. PowerPoint is not the path to the future. And by the way, the future is now.

Watch our website at www.quistsolutions.com for upcoming webinars and workshops in these vital areas.