Do you have a tendency to over-prepare for meetings with executives or
meetings inside of the boardroom, but you're noticing that it's very
inefficient and a lot of time spent on preparing for meetings or
presentations?
Well, in this video, I want to share with you a coaching call that I
had with my executive clients and on this coaching call, one of my
clients asked me a really great question.
And what she asked me was with respects to her role as an executive
needing to constantly and very often be in meetings with senior
executives, she's got to be making presentations in front of senior
executives.
Then there's a challenge in terms of, well, how do I prepare for these
meetings?
And so if you're somebody who is frequently in meetings with senior
executives and your expectation for you is needing to present in
really short five minutes or 10 minutes in and out, and you want to be
effective at it, but you don't know well, do I do I need, I tend to
over-prepare, but that's not a good use of my time, but I don't want
to be under-prepared as well.
Then in this question on this coaching call, this is where I answer
the question of what is the right level of preparation?
How do you prepare efficiently, but you are prepared for that meeting
and that presentation, but it doesn't take up so much of your time
that it's inefficient.
So I answered this question very precisely in this coaching call.
So this is the behind the scenes look at a real coaching call with my
clients.
And if you're somebody who's serious about getting that type of help
it's specific to your situation, I can work with you on that, just
like I work with my current team of executive clients.
So all you have to do is submit an application below this video, the
link below, and that is an application just to have a discussion with
me or someone from my team on if this is the right fit for us.
And if I can truly help you with what you're looking for, if it is the
right fit, then I'd be more than grateful to invite you into these
coaching calls so that you can receive the support that you need with
exactly the situation that you are facing so that you can take your
career and your life to whole new levels and contribute your greatest
potential.
So I look forward to seeing you there.
So your question now is moving forward.
How do I know what's the right level of preparation?
Because under preparation is not good.
Over preparation is not good, but they're not good for different
reasons, right?
For different reasons.
They're they're, they're they don't, they don't serve me.
So how do I know what's the right level of preparation?
And the key is that the level of preparation that is appropriate is a
moving target.
It's a moving target.
So if you're setting the goal that I want to know, what is the right
level of preparation and that way I can know that each and every time
it's an unattainable goal to have, because it's a moving target, what
you can say instead of setting a goal for the right level of
preparation, because that's not possible to know.
Well, you can do instead is to set a goal for how do, what is the
outcome I want to achieve at every meeting from this point forward,
what's the outcome?
So the outcome could is things like, what is the effect I want to have
on my audience?
The effect like the effect I want to have on them?
Is it one where they see me as the go-to person about this topic?
Or maybe is the effect that I want them to see me as a authoritative
confident executive presence, executive presence, is that the effect
that I want to have.
So this is the goal you're setting in terms of what is consistently
the outcome I want to have from this point forward.
What is the that consistency?
That is a target that's attainable.
And it's one that gives you greater clarity.
So instead of searching for the answer to the other question, what's
the right level of preparation.
There's no answer.
There's no one answer to it because it depends on the time and
situation.
Here's how you can think about preparation though.
There's three types of preparation.
One type of preparation is the technical stuff.
So in other words, your knowledge, your subject matter expertise,
right?
Your knowledge of that industry, the products, the service that your
company provides, like that's all technical things.
And that as you know, takes time.
And as you know, that's also a moving target because the market always
changes, right?
There's new products that your company creates there's products that
they discontinue.
So that, that knowledge, that technical knowledge is also a moving
target.
But that's one form of preparation is to stay on top of things.
The second type of preparation is the self preparation, the inner
preparation.
So the inner preparation are things like your emotions, your
self-mastery of how you present yourself and your mindset.
That's the inner preparation.
And the third type of preparation is the logistics.
So logistics, they, it includes anything from infrastructure.
Like, for example, do I, are we on Zoom?
Are we on Google Chats?
Are we using Microsoft Teams?
How do I make sure I send invitations out?
How do I, how am I going to set the agenda for it?
Who's going to be talking, right.
Am I, uh, what's the culture going to be like, are we going to do a Q
and A afterwards or so that's the logistics, Right?
So there's the three areas of preparation that we need to be mindful
of.
But as a coach for 10 years, executive coaching 10 years, the most
important one is the inner preparation.
Consistently every single time it is the most important one.
The reason why is because the first type of preparation with the
technical stuff, we're so programmed to be on top of it anyway.
That's the one we focus on 90% of the time anyway, is that technical
stuff.
Well we went to school for it.
We went through, right?
We focus on it every day and we measure ourselves on it, right?
Well, that's how we measure our success or failure it's so highly
focused on the technical things.
So we're pretty much, we're pretty much programmed for that one too
prepared for that one.
And a lot of times we see that as the only way of preparing is the
technical part.
We focus on that as the only way of preparing and we ignore the other
ones, but the most important one is the inner preparation.
With respects to the inner preparation there's no such a thing as
being over-prepared or under-prepared It's literally just, are you
prepared or not?
You can't be over-prepared for it because that inner preparation is
also an ongoing journey.
It's a lifelong journey.
It's not a destination.
We can't say, okay, I've done my preparation inwardly.
I'm ready to go.
Like, we never feel that way.
Because for every level that we get at, there's a whole new level of
preparation that requires all over again, internally.
We get promoted, oh, now that's a whole new internal preparation all
over again.
We have, we have a no a whole physical, a whole, a new geographical
area that we need to be in charge of.
Now that's a whole new inner preparation all over again.
A new manager or a new boss comes in.
Now that's a whole new inner preparation we have to do all over again
as well.
And that's why it's the most important preparation we have to do
because even the smallest changes that happen within the company
requires us to be inwardly prepared for that new change.
And you know, how the most difficult part of change is the inward pres
the inward preparation.
And as you navigate through your career path and you're moving up,
you're moving forward and you're getting respect and you're getting
responsibility every time you gain something it requires a whole new
inward preparation again, every little cheese that happens in your
career, a whole new inward preparation, again.
Because it challenges you in some way internally, there's some sort of
challenge that comes up internally when something changes externally.
Yes, you can never be over-prepared for that, but it's something that
needs to be on top of our mind is that we're constantly evolving is
that we welcome that transformation.
And that's something we work on equally, not just the technical part
that we work on that the internal internal preparation equally, and we
weight it equally as well.
For the third type of preparation, the logistical stuff.
We're also programmed to focus on that too.
And for some people that's the most important one they focus on is the
logistics.
And they prioritize that one.
And then the technical thing, they put it secondary, but they're so
focused on the processes, the logistics part of it, the infrastructure
that they forget, the other ones, but it's a bit equal balance of all
three.
And there's no such a thing as over preparation, it's a concept we
invented to overwhelm ourselves, right?
And when we invent that concept of over preparation, it causes us to
be concerned that we're spending too much time in preparation.
Doesn't it?
You know what I mean?
It causes the panic.
Oh my gosh, am I inefficient?
Am I spending too much time in preparation am I wasting time?
And that's where it just creates more panic to focus on that.
So instead of creating that pressure and noise within you, just ask
yourself simply for every meeting that I'm a part of, for every
presentation that I'm going to do, what's the effect I want to have.
What's the outcome I want to create for my audience, the effect that I
want to have on them.
And then let that statement inform you on how you need to prepare,
right?
Because if, for example, your outcome, you said to yourself, okay, the
effect I want to have on my audience is I want them to see and to know
that I'm the go-to expert in this topic.
And therefore I want all the departments to respect me when I make
decisions in that domain, that this is my lane.
I'm the go-to expert, I'm the leader in this domain.
That's the effect I want to have.
So then as a result of that goal, that outcome you want to create now
that informs you on how you need to prepare, right?
You see how that works.
Now, you know what technical preparation you need to make in terms of
knowledge, skills, expertise, experiences you need to accumulate that
informs you on what you need, how do you need you to prepare there?
It also informs you on the logistical side.
What infrastructure do I need to build around me?
Is there a new technology I need to begin to learn how to use?
What platforms am I best at in terms of presenting?
How am I going to communicate my processes?
That's logistics.
And finally, it will also inform you on how to prepare internally,
because if I want to be seen as the go-to expert, how do I need to
show up?
What mindset do I need to have?
What emotions are coming up?
Anxiety, nervousness, what emotions could potentially show up that I
need to be mindful of, and I need to manage those?
So it is very informative when you start with outcomes, how you need
to prepare now becomes clear.