Case Study
Dick Moore Director of Technology at Ufi learndirect

Background

We were invited to pitch for the job of training each of the Directors at Ufi learndirect.

The aim was to raise their presence, presentation and communication skills so that they would not only do full justice to their status and evident expertise but also strengthen and enhance their leadership qualities.

Raising the profile of the leadership is of critical importance particularly when important changes are to take place in an organisation.

The Approach

We won the pitch and after a discussion it was decided that rather than train the directors in a group, each director would have one or two 1-2-1 coaching sessions dedicated entirely to their specific needs. Each of the directors' style, personality and challenges were so different, that this made perfect sense.

We trained both in London and Sheffield and the facilities were splendid. We brought all the film and replay equipment and set the room up each time prior to the trainees' arrival.

Dick Moore was one of the directors we trained. He was already a confident and passionate communicator. He brought, as requested, a presentation he was shortly to deliver to a large conference.

We had an initial run through; this was filmed and replayed, with frequent stops for discussion and suggestions. Dick has a powerful personality and a message to match. He had over scripted his presentation, used too many slides, tended to move too often in a distracting fashion and like many very clever people he is inclined to speak too quickly, use too few pauses and fade at the ends of sentences.

The joy of working with Dick is that he has the rare capacity to take on board all that was said and put it into practice straight away. Once we had focused on the importance of a dynamic opening to capture the spirit and tone of the speech he engaged and talked to his audience with energy, fluency, humour, enjoyment and conviction, free from the constraints of too many PowerPoint slides. The ones he used were visual and helpful and suited his style and the narrative line gave him the structure he needed.

The whole experience suited his persona and physicality so much better than the approach he had adopted before. His enthusiasm was a delight and the progress he made was impressive.

The Result

The splendid thing about the whole experience is that great training doesn't show. It just makes the speaker appear as if he is a "natural"; and the skills and knowledge he has acquired can be used when preparing for future speaking occasions.

The approach of using the relevant and appropriate techniques associated with powerful performance means that the benefits are long lasting and become part of the speaker's portfolio as opposed to a quick short-term polish.

Dick's own words reflect the success of the coaching experience.

"What they don't tell you when you get promoted is that you remain accountable for all the things you used to be responsible for but with less control and are now responsible for a new set of relationships without any direct control.

It was a seminal moment when I realized that my job is 90% influencing and delegation and the delegation part is 90% influencing. While I believed that I was proficient at giving presentations, speeches and running meetings Susan Ford and her team in a 3 hr session demonstrated areas for improvement and gave me an entirely new tool set.

In the nicest possible way my presentation technique was de-constructed and put back together in a way that I would not have believed possible.  As for evidence, at the annual company conference my presentation scored equal to the invited motivational speaker Michelle Mone.

You will guess from the above that I am a fan of Ford and Co. and you would be right, no matter what your skill level, if you are planning to do a presentation, three hrs with Susan will lift you scores two points on a leckert scale.  This was the most effective piece of personal development I have done in 30 years of attending training events."

Dick Moore
Director of Technology learndirect