Executing Business on the Fly
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Step 3—Keeping Your Team Calm, Motivating Them and Trusting in Them is Key to Making your Team Gel.
It was extremely important to make sure that my team felt that I was very confident in handling this meeting. They needed to feel a sense of strong leadership, but I also needed to pass on a sense that they also would be stepping up to be more integral in the presentation and that I trusted them to do so.
I needed my designers to be much more vocal in the trend part of the presentation so that I could be the now needed person to handle the business side of the meeting. I made sure to practice with my team that day and every second we had prior to the meeting so they could speak backwards and forwards and feel comfortable.
Analyze and Adjust Accordingly—Preparation for Meetings Makes it Look Effortless and Gives Your Accounts a Sense of Confidence in Your Company
After much nervous energy and butterflies in my stomach, our meeting ran fluidly, comfortably, and successfully. I was extremely proud of my team and we left their offices feeling like we had accomplished everything that we set out to do and so much more. We made some good connections with their team members and it seems as though we may have the opportunity to continueforward and work with this account on product development.
Once our CEO was back and feeling better, he asked how the meeting went and I could very honestly say that it was incredibly successful. I let him know that it was also a great life lesson as well. I really learned a valuable lesson about being thrown for a loop. It’s all about being able to analyze the situation, trust your instincts and adjust accordingly.
I learned about stepping out of my comfort zone in presentations geared to fashion and trend to being able to speak about the business side of our company with top level management and do it comfortably and with ease. I can’t say it enough but meetings are 90% about the preparation and 10% about the actual meeting. If you prepare accordingly, there is almost no reason why it shouldn’t be a success.
Related articles:
Part 1 – Stepping Out of my Comfort Zone
