Still a Speech Coach

April 5, 2012

Being a speech coach has been a major part of who I have been for the last eight years. Beyond being with my family, it was my single biggest loss as a result of my new job and life. I have kept my finger in it slightly by staying in touch with my team in Colorado. But it was hard to make a real impact on these students from so far away. It appears, however, that this part of my life will continue with a decidedly different team.

It started when our new Gift Shop Manager, Tian, came onboard ship in early March. As I was completing a walk around in guest areas one evening I crossed in front of our boutique shops on Deck 5. Tian strode out of one of the shops like a bullet from a gun and rapidly introduced himself to me. He described a professional development opportunity that his regional manager had given him and was told that he was supposed to talk to the T&D Manager about it. The goal was for him to improve his presentation skills particularly when he was ‘selling up’ to executives and senior managers. I agreed that I would meet with him later that week to create a plan and determine the next steps to help him move forward. In that meeting we decided that the first step for us was for me to hear him do a presentation and I would do an initial assessment to determine his areas for growth.

Having seen a number of bad business presentations in my life I was pleasantly surprised in the basic quality of his performance. There was definitely ground for improvement but a firm foundation was definitely in place. I provided him very direct and specific feedback . . . my speech team can tell you what that sounds like . . . and Tian responded by taking careful notes and thanking me for the feedback. I later followed up with a written summary to ensure he had remembered everything we talked about. Several days later he asked me if I would mind sending a similar summary evaluation to his regional manager as they wanted a firsthand assessment. Our next step was to have him rework the presentation based on the critique and deliver it again to me a week later. I was pleasantly surprised to see how coachable he was as he had addressed in whole or in significant part every item that I had mentioned. We came up with a new list at the end of this session which was designed to raise his game even more. There is no question in my mind that he will continue to improve and continue to move up in his career.

The next request came from our Shore Excursion Manager, Carolina. She had attended one of my training classes and determined that I had presentation skills that she needed to learn from. So she asked me to attend a presentation on the European ports that was soon to be held for our guests. Due to my schedule that day I needed to join her ‘in progress’ and sneaked into the balcony of the theater with notepad in hand. Her presentation was wonderful and I had very little critique to give. However, I did identify three things that I thought would take her to an even higher level and emailed those to her that evening. Her response to my suggestions was as if I had just provided her with the eternal truth of the ages! I was happy to help but kept thinking that what I was doing was pretty simple and obvious.

This past week I was approached by Kimberley, a supervisor in shops who Tian had recommended to come and see me. She had an upcoming class to teach to the gift shop team and so I sat in to provide an assessment. Once more a very solid and professional presentation but seemed to lack the passion that this young lady has  for her work and for her team. We spoke for a bit on a few topics related to how to engage both head and heart and I’m sure she'll add these new skills to her repertoire.

The word appears to be getting out that I might have something to say about the art of Public Speaking. I am once again clearly a speech coach. Just this time at sea.

And the adventure continues . . .