When you enter a room do you own the room or does the room own you? When you take a seat at the table are you seen and heard?
A common misperception is that leaders and speakers who exhibit good delivery skills know how to read the room. Not necessarily. Polished platform skills are one-sided communication.
Speaking to an audience with confidence doesn’t mean they are with you.
To engage and gain buy-in requires the ability to read the room. Speaking is a leadership skill. When the leader fails to read the room, it can have serious repercussions. The leader risks losing audience
· attention
· trust
· credibility
· influence.
We’ve all seen the speaker who loves the spotlight and proceeds to bloviate without noticing that they’re speaking to themselves. Nobody is listening!
One woman in a small healthcare company was given the opportunity to deliver her CEO’s presentation. The goal was to share the CEO’s origin story and to explain the healthcare products and their benefits for healing disease. She was an inexperienced speaker and was not up to the job. She read her PowerPoint slides. spent too much time on details, and spoke so long that the CEO told her to wrap up her talk. This woman had no awareness of the audience and didn’t know how bored we were. We couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Another misperception is that reading the room means observing body language. That’s only part of it. It’s taking stock of the body language, the energy in the room, the amount of engagement and then making adjustments. The question top leaders ask is “Are they with me?”
How do you recognize signs of resistance? Here are a few:
· Silence
· Bored facial expression
· Slumped posture
· Lack of eye contact
· Side conversations
· Low energy in the room
· Questions designed to trap you
Often, when a speaker realizes the audience has checked out, they push harder. Doing the same thing louder won’t win back the room. Instead, do something different.
· Ask a question
· Pause
· Match their energy
· Add a new example
· Tell a personal story,
· Shorten long examples.
· Invite discussion
· Acknowledge resistance
It’s okay to say to someone gently, “You look confused.” Or “You seem skeptical.” Check out your observations.
I was once hired to deliver a supervisory program and could feel the resistance in the room. Nobody was participating except for one man who had a positive attitude. Continuing with the presentation would be futile. I stopped and asked them what was going on. They were reluctant at first, but I said, “Seriously, talk to me.” The group revealed that their management sent them to improve their skills when working with their direct reports. But this group felt that their managers needed the program and that they had the hardest job being sandwiched between their boss and their direct reports. They were resentful that they were being asked to change but their managers were not invested in being better leaders themselves. It helped them to share their resentments. They questioned the value of being in the room with me when nothing would change with their managers.
I acknowledged that we couldn’t change their managers, but these would be skills they could use with their direct reports to be better supervisors themselves.
At the end of the session, a woman came up to me and apologized. She said that she really did believe in these skills.
Without reading the room and adjusting to the audience, the tension and resentment would have continue to increase. Instead, the group felt heard.
Reading the room is an essential leadership skill.
Remember this the next time you’re in front of an audience:
If you can’t read the room, you can’t lead the room.
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