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Enjoying Your Work Richard Brislin |
Prepare and practice to
make oral presentations
go smoothlyWhen talking with young managers, conversations often turn to aspects of work that they find enjoyable and unenjoyable. When focusing on tasks that they particularly dislike, many mangers complain about making oral presentations in the workplace. They are nervous about being poorly prepared. They are anxious about being the center of attention. They feel that executives are judging them against the standards of the most effective public speakers in the organization. They feel that managers at their same level would like to see them fail so that there will be less competition during the next round of promotions.
When managers ask, I give them advice about reducing stress and anxiety. First, I suggest that they obtain experience speaking in front of others. If they attend church services regularly, they could volunteer to do readings. If they are active in youth sports, they can voice their concerns at organizational meetings attended by parents and other community volunteers. If they have some free evenings, they can take courses in public speaking offered through university outreach programs.
Managers can also benefit from research studies that have investigated the components of effective public presentations. In organizations, many presentations deal in some way with planned changes or modifications in the way that people go about their work.
For example, an organization might be planning to change its software for the management of inventory. There are often both positive and negative aspects of any proposed change. Positive aspects might be that the new software is easier to use and that it provides clear visual displays of various kinds of inventory. With the software, it will be easy to identify materials that the company needs to purchase. Negative aspects might be the cost of the software, the time needed to train workers in its use, and the resistance from workers who are perfectly happy with the old software.
Speakers often ask, "Should I present just the positive reasons for my recommendations concerning change, or should I present both the pluses and minuses?"
When members of the audience are intelligent and well versed in the matter under discussion, the answer is "both positive and negative." With this decision, speakers communicate that they are well prepared and sophisticated enough to know that all recommendations for change come with a downside. Speakers are also giving credit to their audience since experienced executives know that change involves pluses and minuses. As one executive told me: "I always recommend that both sides of an issue be covered. If people say that there are no downsides to their recommendations, sophisticated audience members will not believe them."
Another advantage of covering both sides of an issue is that it takes speakers' attention away from their anxiety and nervousness. If they invest the effort necessary to do a thorough job covering both the advantages and disadvantages of their recommendations, they will experience the self-confidence that comes from being well prepared.
If they focus on thoughts such as "I must be sure to highlight both pluses and minuses," then they will not be focusing on thoughts such as "I feel tense and nervous."
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The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration, University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu