Why does one part of the organisation (region 1) assume that the other part (region 2) has a bad attitude? Because in the absence of real data they have invented their own version of events.

When a job is delayed? “They’re lazy!”
When only bad news comes out? “They’re useless!”
When no explanation is forthcoming? “They don’t respect us!”
When their presentations are dry? “They’re boring…”

The reality?

When the job was delayed? The new machine falls over – it is leading edge stuff but in that part of the world they don’t like to boast.
When only bad news came out? The national culture is to get on with the job quietly and without fanfare – publish problems but handle success discretely.
When no explanation was forthcoming? The people involved are embarrassed and are working like hell to put things right before anyone notices.
When their presentations were dry? They hate doing them – they are seen as a distraction from creating solutions. Creating a PowerPoint presentation is low grade compared to creating ‘the new kick ass machine’.

Are the folks in region 2 lazy, useless, disrespectful and boring? Nope. But they are really lousy at PR and they are naive communicators who need to learn about the effects of their behaviour as perceived by others hundreds of miles away.

That sounds very fixable.

You have recently noticed that your line manager has been paying more attention than usual to your work, tasks and projects. Up until now Annette, the Country Manager, has always left you largely alone to get on with things. This has not always been the case with your VP colleagues but you assumed that she would leave you alone as long as she trusted you. Having said that, you have just taken on a global initiative that requires you to network with the Main Board and all the other Country Managers. Whilst this is interesting for you, and means a much higher profile across the organisation, you can’t help feeling rather crowded out by your boss’s attentions. What is she up to? Is she jealous? Worried? Has she stopped trusting you? Is she at some point going to start making your life harder locally so that you can’t focus on the global initiative?

What do you do next?

A. “These things happen”, you tell yourself. Annette is bound to feel anxious about being overtaken – it’s quite natural. You are just going to have to tough it out and stay out of her way and hope that she doesn’t overload you with other tasks so that you fail in the global project.
B. You ask for a meeting with Annette to probe her on what has changed in your relationship. This is one opportunity that you can’t afford to have scuppered by a jealous boss. You need to find out what is going on.
C. You decide that Annette needs to be persuaded to trust you with this massively high-profile task. On the basis that she is out to protect her reputation, and maybe even yours, you are going to keep her well fed with information, updates and little bits of HQ gossip and reassurance until she realises that she can loosen her grip on your schedule.
D. You conclude that 1. You really are not prepared to put up with being micromanaged and that 2. You really don’t know what is going on. You decide that you need to have a very frank discussion with Annette about where she is with the project and to find out what she is most worried about. Hopeful you will then be able to sort out a game plan for how to make the most of the opportunity without having to worry about being stabbed in the back.

I’ll publish my chosen option here on Monday afternoon. Let me know yours as soon as you like.

I unearthed this short article yesterday – I wrote this some time ago.

Here is the updated version…

Most people know that at some point in their professional lives they will have to deliver a presentation. Whether the material is as dry as a tinderbox or whether it is just plain controversial, observing certain guidelines can really cut down on preparation time (and those nerves) as well as vastly improve the final effect that you create with the audience. Here are six simple things to consider before you start:

1. A clear objective. Most people start with a load of content and try to shoe-horn it into a PowerPoint show – instead start with the question: “What effect am I trying to achieve with their opinions and with their emotions?

2. Involvement. Plan to get your audience involved in the first 30 seconds – or less. They have to understand what is in it for them – why they should pay attention to you rather than their Blackberry or their own head noise?

3. Simplicity. Keep things as simple as you dare. Regardless of the IQ level of the audience, people are so poor at keeping things in their heads whilst trying to pay attention that most of what ends up on the screen or in a script might as well be in a handout for all the audience is able to retain. You will also be avoiding Murphy’s Law: ‘If it can go wrong it will go wrong’.

4. Relevance. Think carefully about what you keep in the presentation. Be brave about culling the material until you can cut out no more without the whole thing not making sense. It is great to watch a presentation that sticks to the point and it makes the content so much more memorable too.

5. Humour. Don’t feel pressured into having to be funny. Starting with a joke is not compulsory. Instead, consider beginning your presentation with a relevant observation about something that has happened to you on that very day. e.g. In a presentation about sales figures or targets you might start out with: “On my way here today I stopped off to buy a chocolate bar – I found they were on special offer. It made me wonder why the sales director for that company had done that…”

6. Personality. Something happens to people during the walk from their chair to the podium. They are transformed into people that their own families wouldn’t recognise. Since most people’s ultimate presentation need is to be believed, it is important to allow the authentic, real you to peep through the numbers and words.

Spending a few minutes thinking about each of those six tips will not only make preparing your next presentation quicker and more fun but it will also probably mean that you enjoy the experience of presenting so much more. Good luck.

As I said, he was a bright guy and he soon realised (if my memory isn’t tricking me) that every piece of behaviour had a price for someone. And that, I suppose, is what this is about. What price I am prepared to pay, in terms of effort, to make life for the people around me more civilised, more palatable – nicer?  I am suggesting that whilst we don’t frequently go out of our way to make life worse for one another we don’t often take even small opportunities to make it even minutely more pleasant.

These small gestures, which can really make a difference to someone’s day, have somehow been factored out of business life as unecessary, idealistic, trivial and ‘soft’. So, if you have a moment right now for a little experiment, look around and think of something very small that you can do to make someone just a little happier. To misquote Clint – “Go on punk, make their day.”

Then post and let us all know – you may start something!