TOOL
Being influential is a challenge for many leaders, but particularly when in a team, organization or even just leading a meeting where you’re not the most experienced or lack formal power.
If you’re worried about your ability to influence within a group, there’s a lot you can do to understand the power dynamics and increase the likelihood you’ll feel and show up as powerful and influential.
Read MoreWhen organizing a working group meeting, you may decide that part of the reason for gathering is to collect input and expertise from your members. Remember that giving your participants something to DO is a powerful way to engage them and give them purpose, so don’t hold back. Then, focus on giving your conversation structure so that you can manage the loud voices and democratize the input.
Read MoreIn her book Executive Presence, Sylvia Ann Hewlett describes executive presence as resting on three pillars: gravitas, communication and appearance. As a storytelling and presentation skills coach, I work with clients on all three of these pillars. Here’s my tip: If you’re aiming to develop your executive presence, consider developing your storytelling skills as one way to do so. Here are a few reasons why becoming an intentional storyteller can help build your executive presence.
Stephanie Judd authored this article as a Forbes Council contribution.
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Because working groups are often established to work through aspirational and shifting goals, and because participants are usually loosely organized, it’s critical that participants understand why they’re meeting, what they are expected to contribute, and what they can expect in return. Although you may already have a cursory idea of agenda topics for meetings, getting clear on your “why” will take your meeting from the typical boring event to a powerful gathering with better outcomes.
Read MoreWolf & Heron, a consultancy that empowers high-potential people to engage and inspire others with storytelling, has announced that founder and managing partner Stephanie Judd is an invited speaker at the 2022 Product Management Festival (PMF). The event will be held in Zürich, Switzerland from November 9 to November 10, 2022.
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This Google Docs reflection document includes prompts and questions designed to help you prepare for a conversation when you want to influence someone.
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This Google Sheets template will help you map your power on a specific issue. You’ll identify the relevant people and then evaluate their power, support and the quality of your relationship with them to understand your champions and detractors.
Read MoreEVENT SUMMARY
The event was intended as forum for thoughtful conversation about the future of leadership development. Download a summary of the conversation.
Read MoreWorking groups are a particularly challenging group to organize and facilitate. Members typically participate in a working group as volunteers, or as an “add on” to their day-to-day jobs. They’re usually made up of members who are more experienced and senior than the person charged with spearheading the group, and the lack of power structure makes accountability to the group a bit thin.
Read MoreREFERENCE
This reference offers a few examples of KNOW, FEEL, and DO statements that we worked through with our clients. Compare the “before” and “after” states and see our markup.
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This Google Sheets template will provide you with a framework to define success for your meeting or presentation. One tab offers a structure for you to think through a single meeting. Another tab offers a template for thinking through a multi-session gathering or retreat.
Read MoreWe empower your high-potential people and executives to engage and inspire others with storytelling. Download our one-page overview and keep it on hand as a reference.
Read MoreLike many event-based learning, there’s always a risk that the skills, knowledge, energy and momentum developed in our workshops may get lost in the mess of daily worklife. We have pre- and post-event activities built into the Influential Storytelling program to help people integrate storytelling directly into their workflow, but there’s always more you can do to make storytelling part of your organizational culture.
Read MoreA key hurdle for leaders stepping into their own leadership is their personal belief that they’re not ready. This article explores Impostor Syndrome, who it affects, and how to combat it effectively: check in with yourself, reframe your thinking, seek outside perspectives, and take a small step.
Read MoreWithout building the right technical and soft skills to attain a leadership role, you may find your career stalled out at the current level. In this article, Stephanie Judd is featured as one of 16 coaches who share their top tips for ambitious managers who want to get to become senior executives.
Read MoreEvery month we host an Ask Me Anything forum where people bring their burning questions about meeting design or facilitation. More often than not, the questions we get can be summed up as, “Why is the meeting so boring? I feel like I’m pulling teeth trying to get people to engage. It just feels like a waste of time.” If you’re in a position where it feels like everything is bad about one of your critical business meetings, start by tackling the agenda.
Read MoreEVENT SUMMARY
The event was intended as forum for thoughtful conversation about how L&D Leaders and organizations can be successful within the current context. Download a summary of the conversation.
Read MoreOne of the most powerful things you can do throughout your story—but especially at the beginning—is to use language that allows your listener to visualize what’s happening. When your listener is able to visualize the story, it becomes more experiential to them, it’s easier to follow, it feels more tangible and authentic in its specificity and it’s easier to remember.
When we’re coaching someone to do this, we encourage them to find the scenes, to avoid generalizations, to go beyond the plot and uncover the cinematic potential within their story. Think SHOW, not TELL.
Read MoreThe product management field can be a cutthroat one, and Product Managers know that becoming a more compelling communicator is a great way to differentiate themselves from the pack. But many of these PMs have misconceptions about storytelling. Here are three common storytelling myths held by PMs and why you shouldn’t believe them.
Stephanie Judd authored this article as a Forbes Council contribution.
Read MoreA Parking Lot is a productivity and facilitation meeting tool that captures off-agenda conversation topics and ideas so as to prevent a meeting from veering off course. Items can be added to the Parking Lot and assigned to folks or noted for discussion at a later date.
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