Compare and Contrast....
…..Boris Johnson's style of speech on two consecutive days and what we can learn from this for our workplaces, managers and leaders.
Our Prime Minister gave a pre-prepared speech to camera that was broadcast on Sunday 11th May then a live but prepared speech with unprepared live Q&A on Monday 12th May. Without dwelling on the politics or the approach being taken to end our Covid-19 lockdown, what can we learn from the delivery of these speeches?
Communication...Boris seems much more comfortable delivering pre-prepared information that he does with a live Q&A. In his prepared speech, Boris is almost statesman like. By contrast, when he is live and facing a question where he does not know or does not want to give the answer, all of his non verbal signs scream 'get me out of this'. He also has the classic response to any silence or pause in proceedings, he talks to fill it. And sometimes he really shouldn't!! In the workplace, doing this is often when you can get yourself (or someone else) in to hot water. It so reminds of the Ronan song line "you say it best when you say nothing at all".
Team working...knowing Boris' natural communication style, perhaps his team role is not as the person for the speeches, interviews or TV spots on a regular basis, even though he is PM. Luckily for him, he has had other MP's who have filled in for this role very ably. Whichever method you choose for identifying the skills in your work teams (Belbin, Disc profiles, Myers-Briggs, etc), do take notice and allocate the tasks and priorities according to individual strengths, otherwise you could get someone giving a presentation to the Board who waffles, ad libs and makes promises that cannot be delivered.
Trust...it is so obvious from watching these two speeches that trust can be won or lost by all of the presentation performance, not just the content. From a statesman leader who has the nation's best interests at heart to a haphazard politician waffling and looking for help from the experts - which do you find more trustworthy?
Leadership....whilst Mr Johnson appears to have (mostly) united his party behind him since being in the top job, any time he gives a performance such as his answers to the live Q&A on 12th May, that is when you see some of his party feeling ok to criticise him. What does that say about his leadership? For me, I think it should be concerning and that, perhaps, any unity in the Conservative party is only on the surface but we will only know that with the benefit of hindsight.
What are your thoughts?
