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Workshop Two

BIBLICAL WISDOM

Proverbs 15:1 (NIV)

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Mark 11:25 (NIV)

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Bobby Knight, the former coach of Indiana University’s basketball team, had an angry outburst and assaulted one of his players. The university sent him to “anger management” treatment. He subsequently had another major angry outburst and was fired—despite having been one of the most successful college basketball coaches in history!

The correct way to stop the whistling teakettle is to turn off the burner. Likewise, the answer to ending angry outbursts is to find the root cause of the anger, and then “turn it off.” Forgiveness will turn off the burner.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

By the completion of this workshop, the student will be able to: * Evaluate scenarios in which listening has been compromised. * Examine conflict management in the workplace. * Describe barriers of effective listening. * Compare ambiguous and specific language. * Investigate the use of praise and criticism in the workplace. * Create slides using a professional design selected in PowerPoint.

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Workshop Two Assignments
The following assignments will be submitted prior to Workshop Two.

Individual Assignments

Activity 2.1: Reading 1. Read chapters 3, 4, 5, and 11 in Communicating at Work, and chapters 3 and 4 in Point, Click & Wow! 2. Read the Computer Solutions strategic case on page 66 of Communicating at Work.

Activity 2.2: Computer Solutions 1. After reading the Computer Solutions strategic case in Communicating at Work and address the following: a. Which barriers to listening described in chapter 3 might have contributed to Marissa’s and Tran’s problems? b. Describe a series of messages, ranging from highly ambiguous to highly specific, that Tran and Marissa could use to express their concerns to each other. Which approach(es) might have the best chance of success? c. What kinds of behavior—verbal and nonverbal—might Carlo’s subordinates have perceived as harassing? What options did they have for reducing these problem behaviors? d. How could Marissa, Tran, and Carlo use praise to improve the situation they are facing? e. How might Marissa, Tran, and Carlo use the skills introduced on pages 135–137 to respond to criticism from one another and the other employees at Computer Solutions?

Use the Case Study Rubric for additional guidance in writing your paper. Your paper should be three to five pages long and accompanied by a cover page and reference page. Please follow APA style guidelines when formatting your assignment.

Activity 2.3: Communication Presentation: Outline and Key Slides 1. Create an outline for your presentation using the example on page 339 in Communicating at Work as a guide. 2. Begin planning the slide show that will accompany your presentation. Consider different supporting materials that can be used to enhance your credibility and delivery of your message. Refer to the PowerPoint Grading Rubric at the end of Workshop Four for additional criteria. 3. In PowerPoint select a design for your slide show. Use the information provided in chapters 3 and 4 of Point, Click & Wow! for guidance. If you are new to PowerPoint, free tutorials are available at http://www.office.microsoft.com. 4. You should have begun researching your topic and have some resources in place to enhance your presentation. These resources will help you with your references slide. Chapter 11 in Communicating at Work provides you information on supporting materials that may increase your credibility with the audience. 5. Create a title slide, an objectives slide (what you plan to achieve through your presentation), and a references slide (APA format).

Your assignment should include an outline and copies of key slides accompanied by a cover page. Please follow APA style guidelines when formatting your assignment.

Project Group Assignment:

Activity 2.4: Conflict 1. Recall a conflict each group member has been involved in within the workplace and discuss the following: 1) Identify the primary source of conflict described on pages 138–139 in Communicating at Work (topic, process, relational, ego/identity). Do you think the other party(ies) would agree about the primary source of the conflict? Why or why not? 2) Identify any secondary sources of conflict. 3) How did each dimension affect the way the participants approached the conflict? 4) How was the conflict managed? If you had to resolve it again, would you do so differently based on what you know now about conflict? If the conflict still exists, how do you plan to resolve it?

Group members are to write a one- to two-paragraph summary of their respective conflict. The group paper itself should be two pages long and accompanied by a cover page. Please follow APA style guidelines when formatting the assignment. Each group is to be prepared to report its findings during Workshop Three.

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS

Scripture: Matthew 6:12, 14–15 (NIV)

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. . . . For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Questions to Consider:

1. Can anger and forgiveness coexist in a person? 2. Is it ever appropriate in the workforce for a subordinate to ask a superior for forgiveness? What about the reverse situation—should a superior ask a subordinate? 3. Are there any good reasons to hold on to an unforgiving spirit?

STUDENT SUPPLEMENTS * Pearson’s Smarthinking Tutor Service * Accessing Smarthinking Step by Step Screen Shots * Typical Interview Questions and Behavioral Questions * “Scared Speechless”

Accessing Pearson Tutor Center for IWU

Go to www.pearsoncustom.com/iwu

If you haven’t registered, please use the Pearson Access Code that comes with your Critical Thinking textbook by Clicking Register to redeem that code(this will create your username/password to log in to the site)

After registration, Click Log In under MyCompLab. Log in with your username and password.

Once in MyCompLab, click Join Your Instructors Course. Enter the following course id: IWU000526996C and then select Click Here to Start Working(you will only need to do this the first time).

On the next screen, click the Composing Tab. On the next screen, in the white space, paste or type your essay/paper in. Title your essay/paper and then click Tutor in the bottom right and then Select Connect with a Tutor

You can submit your paper on the next screen(choose how you want the paper evaluated and any instructions for the tutor).

These are the instructions that you will see when you click on: INSTRUCTIONS TO SUBMIT YOUR PAPER TO THE TUTOR SERVICE.

Typical Interview Questions 1. What have you done to make your current organization’s vision and values meaningful to others? Which strategies have worked and which have not? 2. Tell about a time when you have helped others to recognize the need for change. What did you do? What was the outcome? 3. Describe a time when you conveyed a vision for your organization to others. How did you do this? 4. What job change has been the most difficult and why? 5. Can you give an example of when you agreed to take on a project even though you already had a heavy workload? How did you handle the extra work? 6. Tell how you went about developing your last project work plan. What were the factors you considered as you developed that plan? 7. Give an example of how you knew things were going well with a project. How did you know? 8. Describe a time when you discovered an error in a process or task. What did you do? 9. What types of scheduling have you done on your current/previous job? Tell about some of the things that you have had to handle. 10. How much meeting scheduling do you do (have you done)? Describe the largest or most challenging meeting you have arranged. 11. Describe how you’ve gone about learning a new technical task. 12. Tell about an aspect of your work that you do not know or understand as well as you would like. 13. When are you most satisfied with your work? What is it that satisfies you? 14. When are you most dissatisfied with your work? What is it that dissatisfies you? 15. Tell about a job where continuous learning was necessary and important. What satisfied/dissatisfied you about that and why? 16. What strengths do you have? 17. Describe the three most important events in your work experience. 18. Considering the responsibilities of this position, where do you see your greatest contributions?

Behavioral Questions 1. How do you track projects that you are working on? 2. What is your method for managing your time? 3. What aspects of a job are most important to you? 4. Tell me about a significant problem you encountered in your most recent position. How did you approach it? 5. What do you like most about your work? What do you like least? 6. How do you motivate yourself? 7. What were some obstacles that you faced in your last position? 8. Would you consider yourself a leader? 9. How successful were you at meeting timelines within your last position? 10. Give an example of the last time you had to be resourceful. 11. How do you like working in a team setting? How many people are on your current team? 12. What would your current supervisor say about your overall work performance?

Scared Speechless:
Understanding and Conquering Stage Fright
By Tad Simons

You’ve heard the statistic. According to the Book of Lists, public speaking is most people’s No. 1 fear, beating out heights, insects, financial problems, deep water, illness and—the kicker—death.
Does this mean that most people would rather die than give a presentation? Not really. By its very nature, death is an once-in-a-lifetime ordeal, which makes it easy to push down the list. But public speaking—and the nervousness that comes with it—is something virtually every professional must grapple with. Those who don’t learn how to control their anxiety risk becoming boring, ineffective presenters, or worse, crippling their careers by avoiding job positions or promotions that would require them to speak in public, however infrequently. But those who do find ways to conquer their fear of speaking tend to see their career options broaden, their financial pockets deepen, and their job satisfaction soar. After all, Tony Robbins doesn’t make a fortune by being shy.
Can fear of public speaking really ruin your professional life? Yes—but only if you let it. The good news for presenters is that stage fright can be controlled. All it takes to thwart this most persistent of professional demons is a sincere willingness to work on the problem and a solid understanding of what, exactly, you are trying to overcome.

What Is Stage Fright?

The first thing to understand about the anxiety associated with public speaking is that it is a perfectly natural reaction to a perfectly unnatural situation. It is simply your body revving up its innate “fight or flight” response—a survival mechanism left over from the days when there were only two ways to deal with a hungry predator: wrestle it or run like crazy.
Physiologically, the response works like this: the moment a threat is perceived, an alarm goes off in your brain, triggering secretions of two essential and very effective stimulants, adrenaline and cortisol.
As these stimulants course through your body, they increase your heart rate and raise your body temperature, preparing your body to defend itself. Extra blood goes to your hands, legs, and brain, priming your muscles and nervous system for action—and causing your palms and forehead to sweat. Because the stomach organs are vulnerable to attacks by sharp-toothed beasts, blood immediately leaves the area, causing “butterflies,” nausea and cramping. To get more oxygen to your muscles and brain, you begin to breathe faster. Your mind, flooded with blood and oxygen, begins to “race,” simultaneously formulating a battle plan and looking for an escape route.
As the fear intensifies and the impending threat gets closer, thinking becomes a hindrance, because hesitation at this point could mean death. So, in self-defense, the rational functions of the brain shut down, allowing the body to react instinctively in whichever way it deems most appropriate—fight or flight.

Taming the Savage Speaker Unfortunately, few of these “natural” responses are useful in the modern business world. It may be a jungle out there, but reacting like it’s one isn’t going to increase your chances of a sale or promotion—or make you a better presenter.
Luckily, these primitive survival mechanisms don’t need to go haywire when you get up in front of a group of people to speak. That’s because the perceived “threats” that trigger speaking anxiety (fear of failure, fear of being judged, fear of forgetting what you are going to say) are hardly ever real. That is to say, they are largely imagined threats—illusory fears and disaster scenarios invented by your highly developed human brain to prevent you from willfully hurling yourself into stressful situations. “With the fear of public speaking, it’s the perception of the situation that does us in, not the situation itself,” says Scott Sindelar, president of the Arizona Speakers Association and a licensed psychologist who counsels professionals with public speaking anxiety problems.
Fortunately, the speculative nature of these fears is one reason psychologists and speaking coaches usually succeed in getting people over the public-speaking hump. “The reason people can overcome stage fright—as opposed to other fears—is that human beings can change their perception of a situation,” Sindelar says. “In public-speaking situations, there are ways we can control what is going on around us. You can’t do that with, say, fear of flying.”
Fear of public speaking is also manageable because the causes of the anxiety and panic and stress are specific and easily identifiable: They happen whenever people get up to say something in front of a crowd. Other, more serious forms of psychological dysfunction—such as obsessive behaviors, panic disorders, biochemical imbalances or mental illnesses—are much more difficult to treat because their causes are difficult to isolate. There could be any number of reasons why someone would obsessively brush their teeth until they bleed—or no reason at all.
With or without the guidance of a coach or counselor, most people can learn to cope with the pressures of public speaking by practicing a variety of stress-management techniques—such as breathing and relaxation exercises, visualization, biofeedback, “cognitive restructuring,” even yoga—and learning to apply these methods whenever the mental and physical manifestations of public-speaking anxiety arise.

The All-in-One Fear

Still, our minds have a very powerful way of convincing us that threats—even imaginary ones—are real. And the truth about fear of public speaking—and the reason it is many people’s No. 1 fear—is that it embodies so many of our most formidable and pervasive fears. These include our fear of: failure, embarrassment, losing control, being judged, not being perfect, disappointing our superiors, showing our weaknesses, exposing our ignorance, looking like idiots, being laughed at, and going “blank.”
What differs from individual to individual is the specific source of the anxiety and the degree to which it impedes performance. Some people can’t stand the thought that people are judging them while they talk. Others are fine with that, but can’t stand the thought of standing up in front of a bunch of strangers. Still others don’t mind talking to strangers, but put them in front of a group of co-workers—people they see every day—and they lose it.
“Fear of speaking is really a lot of different fears rolled into one,” says Sindelar. “And sometimes it’s not even the speaking that they’re afraid of. If it’s a salesman whose livelihood depends upon the effectiveness of his presentations, he may be afraid of losing his job, not being able to pay his mortgage, letting his family down—any number of things that have nothing to do with speaking.”

Anticipation—It’s Making me Sick

What all of the anxieties associated with stage fright do have in common, however, is that they are anticipatory. That is, they are fears about something that hasn’t happened yet.
As a speaking engagement encroaches, people often begin anticipating all the bad things that can happen, escalating their fears and creating a self-defeating—and often self-fulfilling—inner dialogue of defeat and catastrophe.
The truth, according to Lucinda Bassett—founder of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety and a member of the National Speakers Association—is that “the actual situation is never as bad or as anxiety-producing as the anticipation. The anticipation is often the worst part.”
In her book From Panic to Power, Bassett tells of a time when she was preparing to give a speech to a national group dedicated to people with phobias and anxieties. She knew her subject and was well prepared, but her mind kept throwing negative “what-ifs” at her: “What if I forget what I’m going to say?” “What if my presentation is too long?” “What if it isn’t long enough?” “What if I can’t do it?”
To calm her nerves, she decided to take a bus tour of San Francisco the night before her presentation instead of going over her notes. To her the tour sounded like a great idea, until someone at the convention heard what she was doing and told her, “I can’t believe you’re taking a bus tour the night before an 8:30 a.m. presentation.”

“Boy, I’d Never Do That!”

“That did it,” she writes. “Now I was really questioning myself.” Ultimately, Bassett took the bus tour, and she ended up delivering a fine presentation—but only after employing many of the techniques she writes and speaks about.
“Anxiety is nervous energy turned inward,” says Bassett, whereas “enthusiasm and vitality are that same energy turned outward.” The key, she says, is turning that energy around to make it work for you instead of against you.
For instance, when your mind starts conjuring up catastrophic what-if scenarios, Bassett suggests replacing them with positive what-ifs: “What if I do a great job?” “What if exposing my insecurities makes me seem more real to my audience and more approachable?” “What if this experience gives me a whole new level of self-confidence and advances my career?”
Instead of allowing anxiety to undermine a presenter’s self-confidence, Bassett advises presenters to see their nervous energy as the very source of the vitality and enthusiasm they need to succeed behind the podium.
Perfectionism—or fear of making a mistake—is another huge bugaboo for presenters. To put presentation mistakes into perspective, Bassett suggests treating mistakes as opportunities to change and improve, and to see them as an ongoing part of your professional development rather than as career-impairing blunders. Many professional speakers agree wholeheartedly with her advice—and use similar techniques every day.

Even the Pros Feel It

Peter O’Toole, Laurence Olivier, Kenny Rogers, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, and many other public personalities you’d never suspect have all experienced serious performance anxiety; some have suffered so acutely that it has threatened to ruin their careers. And yet they go on.
Whenever Tony “Mr. Presentation” Jeary steps in front of an audience, he’s nervous. So are Marjorie Brody, Diane Booher, Dottie Walters, and many other professional presenters who make their living in front of crowds.
What these professionals have in common is that they all have found ways to walk through their “wall of fear” and get the job done. Tony Jeary, author of Inspire Any Audience and one of the most experienced presenters in the country, recalls a time 12 years ago when his agent booked him on his first big speaking tour, covering 40 cities. “I had some early success, but I was still young and pretty nervous about it,” Jeary says. “At the first stop, in Seattle, I spent three hours pacing around the parking lot, trying to psyche myself up.
“There were 600 people in the room, and when I started my presentation they all started laughing. I literally looked down to see if my fly was open. Finally, I asked them, ‘What are you laughing at?’ It turned out that my slides were upside down,” Jeary chuckles. “That day, I learned something about preparation.”

The Boy Scouts Had It Right

Indeed, say the pros, you can do all the breathing exercises and positive visualization you want, but the best way to beat the presentation jitters is to virtually make a religion out of the Boy Scout motto, “Be prepared.”
Jeary’s personal theory is that most nervousness comes from fear of the unknown. “Identify every possible unknown and make it a ‘known,’” Jeary advises, “and you can’t help but feel more confident.” Who is in the audience? What do they want to learn from me? How big is the room? Where’s the microphone? What’s going on in the city at large that may affect my presentation? Insofar as possible, Jeary answers these and a hundred other questions for himself before every presentation. “It makes you feel in control—and in presenting, control is everything,” he says.
Diane Booher has learned a few lessons about preparation the hard way, too. She was asked do a session of her seminar “Get a Life”—in which she discusses how professionals can balance their work and family life—for a well-known American company. “The person arranging the session thought it was going to be light and fun, and that the presentation would be a good break for her people, who were very stressed and busy,” she says. “I started into my presentation and it didn’t take long before someone objected. ‘You don’t understand the culture here,’ they told me. ‘At this company, you have to work 12 to 14 hours a day. We’re not allowed to have a life.’ As it turned out, what I had to offer was entirely inappropriate for this particular audience. Only one person had a child, and most weren’t married.”
The vital lesson: Never trust an event coordinator to tell you who your audience is. Nowadays, Booher makes every effort to get the names and phone numbers of at least a few of her prospective audience members—and calls them beforehand. “Five minutes on the phone is all you need to make sure you’re on the right track,” Booher says.

Beware How You Prepare

What it means to “be prepared” is different for different people, though. Some people know their subject so well that all they really need to do is identify two or three key topic areas and start talking. Others need to walk through every step of a presentation many times to feel comfortable.

Some of the most common preparation pitfalls include failing to identify the purpose of the presentation, trying to impart too much information, trying to make each sentence sound like the wisdom of the gods, trying to memorize every syllable, and trying to appear too polished. It is also possible to overprepare. In such cases, the more effort one puts into “preparing,” the worse the presentation is likely to become.

Solutions for the rest of us

Professional speakers have one distinct advantage over other people when it comes to conquering stage fright, however: They get to practice—a lot. Unfortunately, many professionals, especially top executives, present just a few times per year, so they never have the opportunity to fully develop the skills necessary to deal with public-speaking anxiety when they encounter it. And make no mistake about it, insists Scott Sindelar, managing stage fright is a skill—one that can be learned, but only with practice.
“I liken it to learning a golf swing,” Sindelar says. “The goal is to get people to the point where they deal with their anxiety instinctively, at a subconscious level, so that they’re not thinking about it when they’re giving a presentation -- they’re just doing it.”
According to Sindelar, the most effective approaches to handling stage fright tend to begin by identifying the specific source of an individual’s fear—the what-ifs that are shaping their perception -- then challenging the underlying assumptions behind those fears.
“If a person feels like they are a target every time the spotlight is on them, I challenge that,” Sindelar says. “I ask them, ‘Are you the target? Or is your task really to impart some valuable information to that audience—to help them get the information they need?’” As soon as the spotlight is shifted away from the self, says Sindelar, people immediately feel more comfortable.
Second, people need to learn how to handle the physical symptoms of anxiety—rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, sweaty palms and the like. Deep-breathing exercises, positive self-talk, plenty of sleep, and avoiding spicy or gassy foods and caffeine are all helpful, he says. But none of them can work without the crucial third step: practice.
“What people don’t realize,” says Sindelar, “is that all the great speakers—the ones who make it look easy—practice, and practice, and practice some more.” If your job requires you to do only a few presentations a year, Sindelar suggests joining a local Toastmaster’s club to hone your skills. Many people also benefit from seeing themselves on videotape, since the camera can alert them to certain habits they may want to improve or change.
The one approach to controlling public-speaking anxiety that Sindelar and most other professionals strenuously discourage is the use of such drugs as Valium, Xanax, or “beta-blockers.” Most forms of stage fright can be overcome without them, he says. And even if these drugs do work for some people, “all they do is increase your confidence in (and dependence upon) the drug. They do nothing to improve a person’s confidence in their public-speaking abilities.”
There is a certain solace in knowing that virtually everyone’s nerves get a little frayed when they step up on the podium. As Mark Twain said, “There are two types of speakers: Those that are nervous and those that are liars.” It also may be comforting to note that most professional presenters, like professional entertainers and athletes, have learned to see the pre-performance heebie-jeebies as a good thing—a sign that their minds and bodies are preparing themselves to be at their most enthusiastic and energetic best onstage.
“What makes me nervous is when I don’t feel the adrenaline pumping,” says Marjorie Brody. Likewise, Tony Jeary looks for—and welcomes—the butterflies in his stomach. “I’m always nervous before a presentation,” he says. “The day I’m not nervous is the day I quit presenting.”
Tad Simons (tsimons@presentations.com) is managing editor of Presentations magazine.
Originally published in the September 1998 issue of Presentations magazine. If you would like a copy of this issue contact the Circulation Department at 800-707-7749 or circwork@lakewoodpub.com.