Landing programs and messaging are super important, so you want to translate them in a way that will engage folks. Engagement is number one. With it, you will be able to move very quickly. Key to your accomplishments is driving alignment and engagement with your stakeholders, who will be the most important people in implementing those programs.

When crafting executive messaging, assume you only have five minutes with a senior audience. You must land all the important stuff on that first slide. The first slide needs to make the goal clear. Because senior audiences will be able to look at an excellent summary in two seconds, grock, what they want to know to address your ask for support. You could have 1000 appendix slides, but you need to land the important stuff upfront

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou. To be a courageous leader, you must lead with the desire to build trust and accept vulnerability. How you show up constructs a foundation of how you make someone feel and that progress can initiate positive or even motivational actions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Building next-level partnerships comes from knowing your colleagues; it will add another dimension to your professional relations.
• When you develop long-term relationships, colleagues will not hesitate to call you after a meeting because they want to clarify a topic they weren't aware of during a program update, were caught off guard by a specific detail, or sensed frustration due to noticeable body language. Perhaps they could see that everyone wasn't on the same page and reached out to discuss it.
• If you want to embrace this fail-fast culture, you must be willing to speak up, be vulnerable, and, ideally, have an open culture around you that supports it.

BEST MOMENTS

“You work with two categories of folks. There are the listeners, colleagues who are going to listen and then respond, or there are people who are just waiting to talk and are not actually listening. My challenge to the listeners here today is to think about: Are you a listener? Are you someone who's waiting to talk?”

“Have a solid plan to ground all the stakeholders. If there isn't enough information, they might not be on board. It's important to know early on whether or not everyone involved agrees with how to measure the outcomes and agrees that we've achieved our goal. You need to have people in the room nodding their heads and engaging in the conversation.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

My free guide

Check out my programs and workshops

ABOUT THE HOST

Heather has had more than 25 years of experience working with 1000s of customers and securing hundreds of millions of product funding. Early in her career, she was successful at rapidly growing start-up organizations, and over the past 15+ years she has a record of aligning diverse teams to deliver value for customers and strategies for organizations. All through having a focus on solving customer needs to achieve business outcomes.

CONNECT & CONTACT

Visit my community on Mighty Networks

Find me on LinkedIn

Email: info@listen-evolve-inspire.com

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I recommend going into each interview with a mindset of accurately knowing what your users experience. When you ask 'why' questions amongst the scenarios a user shares with you, you will begin to peel back the onion of reality for each user. They will take note and feel heard. Even when you think you know the answer, ask your users why they do or say things. The answers will sometimes surprise you. Never say "usually" when asking a question. Instead, ask about a specific instance or occurrence, such as "tell me about the last time you. Another good practice to follow is to keep historical records about how you made decisions. What data patterns and use cases led you to make particular decisions?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Pay attention to nonverbal cues. Be aware and capture when body language and emotions occur in the context of the conversation.
• And don't be afraid of silence. Interviewers often feel the need to ask another question when there is a pause. If you allow for silence, a person can reflect on what they've just said and may reveal a deeper insight, share an example, or tell a story.
• Gather facts, not opinions. Ask 'why' to get the juicy bits of what's really going on for your users. Don't ask 'Would you…?', Ask 'When was the last time you have…?'. Other good examples are:
• Ask: "Why do you need to____…?"
• Ask: why is ____ vital to you?'"
• Or, Ask: "why is ____ such a pain point…?’"
• Or ask, 'What are the most significant limitations you are struggling with?'

BEST MOMENTS

‘‘Your goal is to listen and learn, not to inform, impress, or convince your customer of anything. Avoid wasting time talking about your own benefits because it will cost you time, which you can use to learn about your customer.’

‘Clear communication can lead to good relationships and can show your leadership acumen. Follow-through reinforces that you are serious about your partnership and are a leader of your product and career.’

‘After you and your users dig into each question, recap what you heard to verify you heard them accurately. Ask if there are next steps that are important to them. You may not satisfy the subsequent steps, so connect them with contacts who will follow through.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

My free guide

Check out my programs and workshops

ABOUT THE HOST

Heather has had more than 25 years of experience working with 1000s of customers and securing hundreds of millions of product funding. Early in her career, she was successful at rapidly growing start-up organizations, and over the past 15+ years she has a record of aligning diverse teams to deliver value for customers and strategies for organizations. All through having a focus on solving customer needs to achieve business outcomes.

CONNECT & CONTACT

Visit my community on Mighty Networks

Find me on LinkedIn

Email: info@listen-evolve-inspire.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Commitment to your professional evolution by developing a powerful operating model requires intent. How you change the interactions with your internal and external stakeholders influences the consistency in your achievements. I'll talk about how two specific books and their authors have helped me consider what to incorporate into my systems and why I would consider changing my operating model.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Have you ever been so inspired by a book, podcast, or speaker because the topic resonated with who you are and want to be more of in the future that you began to act on that idea or feeling?
• You may have even begun taking action. Writing down critical points of what you heard and jotted down a list of ways to keep that feeling in motion and move in that direction of change.
• Dedication to follow through is the ultimate challenge, turning that inspired feeling into a habit long enough to become a practiced pattern, ultimately bringing the initial feeling full circle into a reality.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I don't know about you, but I already have a life of habits that make up how I operate. If I want to add a new way of operating, I must first work out how to harness that feeling and turn it into an endured action.’

‘Choosing to 10X yourself to that higher level of operating is how you unlock your next level of thinking and freedom.’

‘Pay attention to what inspires you to be more of your authentic self.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

My free guide

Check out my programs and workshops

ABOUT THE HOST

Heather has had more than 25 years of experience working with 1000s of customers and securing hundreds of millions of product funding. Early in her career, she was successful at rapidly growing start-up organizations, and over the past 15+ years she has a record of aligning diverse teams to deliver value for customers and strategies for organizations. All through having a focus on solving customer needs to achieve business outcomes.

CONNECT & CONTACT

Visit my community on Mighty Networks

Find me on LinkedIn

Email: info@listen-evolve-inspire.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.