In this installment of his exclusive series, Tim Wenzel, CPP, Co-Founder and President of The Kindness Games, explores the importance of timing for stakeholders and security leadership.
The biggest mistake I see at The Table is people rushing into their conversation or presentation before the key stakeholders are ready.
This is most often seen with first timers, those who don’t get invited very often, or those who have a lot to lose…
What do these groups have in common? The pressure is self generated. They build up this moment to become an impossible obstacle that they must overcome.
Imagine you’ve shown up for the biggest race of your life. The trophy is coveted. The runners are taking their places and all of a sudden, this dude just takes off running before the starting gun sounds. What would happen?
Everyone on the starting line would look at each other, laugh a little bit and generally be confused about why this participant is off on his own before the race begins…
When you have the floor, wait until everyone is ready.
The morning of your meeting at The Table shouldn’t be your final prep session. This conversation should be well practiced with stakeholders, other clients, etc.
Don’t allow yourself to enter a high stakes conversation on new material unless you are a seasoned advisor and conversationalist.
Leading brainstorming or thought leadership conversations at this level requires a specific expertise.
You should already know the objections that are coming, you should have your answers prepared, and ideally, you have stakeholders ready to support.
Less is more! You needn’t explain the entire universe of a topic.
Get to the point, stick to the point and make sure the point is impactful and relevant.
There is nothing more embarrassing than your audience losing patience and telling you to fast forward or to be having a great conversation that you could end on, moving the initiative forward, just to discover there are ten more slides you have to cover…
Make sure your content fits the occasion and audience. I try to not display a presentation because many people will get distracted and you will lose their attention.
You should always email the presentation so they can review it later, even if you aren’t using it for the meeting.
For others, they are visual people, they need structure, so a visual is a must.
Your content should be a third of the time allotted to you. The rest of the time should be used for questions and conversation. This is where the value happens.
It is common for people in an organization, even high ranking people, to have a fear of the bosses.
When I am scheduled to meet with executives, it is quite common for people within the organization to put their anxiety on me. Well meaning cautionary notes:
“You’re talking to so and so? Make sure…”
“Don’t make the mistake of…”
“Make sure you have all your data…”
Listen to what they are saying and ask questions to find relevant advice, but often these people are having sympathetic anxiety on your behalf.
Don’t let it affect you or your game plan.
Important people and stakeholders keep busy schedules and often move from meeting to meeting.
When they arrive, they are often on their phone or computer wrapping up thoughts from their last session, managing emails, messaging staff, etc… They won’t be ready until this is off their mind.
It is normal for executives and other stakeholders to spend the first several minutes they are in a room finishing their latest task up.
Wait until they are ready. They will not catch up if you jump the starting line.
Arrive early, ensure you have plenty of time to be set up and wait for your stakeholders to arrive.
Once people start to filter in, make introductions as necessary and begin light conversation to begin building rapport and keeping your nerves at ease.
Once the big players arrive, acknowledge them, say hello and go back to your ongoing conversation, essentially ignoring them until they invite you to begin.
Once the stakeholder have cleared their minds and are ready to hear you, they will tell you to begin.
Once the starting gun has sounded, you have the floor, execute your game plan.
I ended my series last year with an article about The prophet.
I discuss how to propose solutions that an organization is not yet ready for. The concept of “waiting until they are ready” easily extends to the thought leadership role of The prophet.
The process described above can be extended out to a longer timeline, over many meetings which moves the needle bit by bit to prepare an organization to be ready.
As security professionals, we are often ready for the next phase, long before the organizations we serve.
It’s quite helpful to understand how you can exert influence over time to move your organization toward success in a manner which inspires confidence while you wait until they’re ready.
Engaging in this kind of thought leadership strategy will set you up as an authority.
Trying to force stakeholders to be ready by brute force will set you up as a threat.
Foresight, strategy and patience produce readiness.
Find the full A Seat at the Table series here. Keep an eye out for the next installment, coming soon!