You may recall hearing about (or could have possibly experienced) this type of situation in your workplace: There are times when we attend presentations by competent technical people, including colleagues, whose relevant requests are eventually ignored by their superiors. For one or more reasons, the presenters’ reliability-improvement requests don’t seem to convince the managers in their audiences.
While such presenters may focus on facts and properly use very straightforward (and documented) cost justifications, their actual presentations are basically flawed. The problem? They fail to make their main points stand out clearly.
SOLVING THE PROBLEM
Skilled presenters mention their main points in an introduction. A good presentation allows the listener to immediately catch the objective. Our objective can be to inform, convince, or simply motivate our listeners.
Whether we use PowerPoint slides, extemporaneous speech, or a written narrative, we must make the main points extremely clear. And be sure you present them in a logical order. Furthermore, be prepared for listeners who raise questions or voice objections to any points in your presentation.
Making it easy for managers and others to follow along, understand, and accept what we are presenting will increase the success rate of our efforts. Emphasize your theme by repeating key thoughts and explanations. Repetition can be done thoughtfully and in a non-offensive manner by substituting synonyms.
Keep in mind, however, that it’s good to limit the number of points we present. The attention span of the audience may not meet our often overly optimistic expectations. Moreover, be advised that some members of your audience also may have entrenched biases regarding, say, a specific topic or approach. Thus, as I’ve mentioned before, set your expectations low, and you will rarely be disappointed.
MORE WORDS TO THE WISE
As a presenter, remember that you can only teach the teachable. If certain managers get their news solely through information channels that basically rely on two-dozen donuts to “sell” a strategy or product, don’t give up. Following the right steps (as described above) could make those managers more receptive to your particular message. In that case, you’ll know they’re teachable after all.TRR
EDITOR’S NOTE:
For sources of suggested reading on a variety
of reliability topics and best practices,
CLICK HERE
for a list of Heinz Bloch’s 22 books.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heinz Bloch’s long professional career included assignments as Exxon Chemical’s Regional Machinery Specialist for the United States. A recognized subject-matter-expert on plant equipment and failure avoidance, he is the author of numerous books and articles, and continues to present at technical conferences around the world. Bloch holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and is an ASME Life Fellow. These days, he’s based near Houston, TX. Email him directly at [email protected].
Tags: reliability, availability, maintenance, professional development
