Communicating Business

In a little over an hour, I will host the first session of the main task of my new role, which is onboarding new Sales Executives into their position at the company. While most of them are highly experienced and competent as sales professionals already, each organization has its own tools, processes and methodologies employed, so alignment needs to happen. The company I work for is growing quite rapidly and is looking to expand its global presence, especially in the US.

Most of the sessions are not me training directly, but using Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that deliver their specialized field. My role is coordination and then facilitation of the sessions, as while people can be highly skilled in their role, they aren't always able to communicate it effectively and often forget that they already have a massive amount of background knowledge and understanding that the newbie doesn't hold yet. This means that without a facilitator, the participants can get a little overwhelmed and not have the context to move forward, leaving them somewhat stranded in limbo of being trained, but not really understanding what they need.

So, facilitation in itself is a specialized position, but it is one that is often overlooked in organizations, as it isn't a money-spinner operation and the person doing it isn't "skilled" as a specialist. As far as I know, there is no degree in facilitation, though there are likely lots of overlaps in communication and psychology.

There are also many frameworks for communication that can be employed, but for me, I generally default to using the why, what, how, what if approach, as it covers many components of all of the frameworks, without being too complicated. Essentially, all it is is making sure that for each key aspect of the conversation, participants know why it is important to consider, what are the conditions, how they interact with the environment and ways to apply it for improved results. This is a very basic frame, but easy to remember, practice and apply, giving far better results than no framework at all.

"Framing" is important, because it sets expectations of the conditions and readies the mind to interact. For example, going into an interview as an experienced professional knowing ones worth can give justified and relaxed confidence. Knowing that the resume was padded with "experience" can make person overcompensate, being confident to the point of arrogance, which is generally a sign that they are far less capable than they make out.

However, for example in sports, often that overly-confident approach is employed in an attempt to disjoint fears, as at the bleeding edge of a sport, any questions can be the difference of winning and losing. However, that is an exceptional case and people who deal with people, will often get far worse results if they do the same, because very few of us like dealing with highly arrogant people.

Personally, I am not a very confident person and generally don't like talking about myself. In group work situations where we are forced to introduce ourselves and areas, I am generally the one that says my name, title and that is about it - while many other people list all the things they are responsible for. Unfortunately, this is far too understated for many people who value that list, so I am not seen as overly professional by many colleagues, even if they like me. However, those who have been in my sessions realize that it is there I can "verify" my position and can demonstrate professionalism. In my opinion, a professional does the job well, not talks about doing the job well.

But, since the stroke last year, I know that sharp edge has been blunted and what I used to be able to do naturally and easily though vast experience, has become labored and difficult - it is much like my breathing after getting asthma. I am hoping that I will be able to recapture some of the skills the more I deliver, but whilst I do think that I will be able to do the job, I don't think I will ever have the feeling of being a professional again. Getting paid for it isn't enough.

In the session coming up, my own supervisor is the SME and she is brilliant at her job, so while I am facilitating, she doesn't actually need me there for this at all and could do it alone. However, it is also good to have her there also, as since it is the first session delivering this at all and my first delivery in months, I will likely miss something along the way, so it gives some firsthand fodder for us to go over in our 1:1 session tomorrow. It is always good to have the people who control your salary, watch you fail live. I might not be confident in my skills now, but I am confident I will survive failure.

Overly confident?

Ok, not too long til the session kicks off, so I better get my desktop set up and ready.

Taraz [ Gen1: Hive ]