Musings at Altitude

Back in the old days (it’s amazing that I look at the late 90’s as the “old days”), business leaders found credible success by establishing a virtual presence.  They’d call folks more than visit, and they’d use emails to provide background.  Staff meetings were held in chat rooms or on instant messaging.  They had team members spread out in multiple continents at any one time, making physical presence a real gift but not an expected part of business operations.  Even with their clients, phone calls were used to open new doors and expand relationships, and only when their particular presence truly could make a difference would they spend the money and take that time to be physically present at a meeting. 

Back then, it was comfortable conducting the business of the corporation through that virtual presence. 

Yes, the good old days.

But times have changed dramatically.  The virtual presence that became a standard form of business operations and communications back in the late 90’s has been replaced by what seems to be a desperate need to be physically present to get critical decisions made and to participate in the “side bar” discussions where the naysayers and skeptics work the leadership hard to get their points across and to get their opinions on the path and plan heard.  If you’re not present, the amount of work needed to reverse the impact of those unwanted and often times harmful side bar sound bites can be enormous and ultimately impossible.  In the trauma and triage of today’s business environment, the comments that are “first in” are often times the only ones that come out, because business leaders are off on the next emergency and can’t spend the necessary time to get multiple opinions or to vet several credible options to solve or fix one issue.

If you find yourself on the outside looking in on one of these very important discussions that you can’t be physically present for, here are some suggestions for what to do:

(1) Over prepare.  Make sure you know more about the issue or the decision that needs to be made than anyone else that will be in that particular meeting.

(2) Turn the dialogue into bullets with sound bites.  As the issue is being discussed, make sure you present information in an easy to remember style.

(3) Listen intently, to both the active participants and the whispers (if possible).

(4) Point, then counter point.  Respond specifically to what was mentioned and don’t veer off into other issues.  Keep the discussion on topic and on target for a decision.

(5) Play back frequently.  Make sure folks participating in the process heard the critical points made and followed or tracked the options for next steps.

(6) Follow up.  Don’t let it go cold if the issue that needs a decision or the path you believe needs to be taken is the subject at hand.

(7) Give thanks.  In most companies, the intensity is high and the pace extreme.  Take a moment and thank those that spent some time understanding the issue.  Even if a choice is made to go a different direction, the fact that you prepared, presented and folks listened is a valuable thing.

And in the end, don’t take things personally.  Those at the top of most organizations are weighing what you feel important against a myriad of other issues and other data, and even it’s a “no brainer” to you, it could come out differently than what you desire.

It’s not personal.

Trust me.

Good luck!