Three years ago, I was leading a call with 6-7 C level leaders, and I asked them:
Is there anything else?
In return, I got silence - just a little bit but enough to kill some energy
Later on, I asked: Do you have anything else?
More silence – a little bit more energy died
On virtual calls that already feel unnatural - silence is loud
What I learned is people do not like awkwardness, and they’ll avoid it; they do not want to repeat it
Pauses, silence, disconnects all of them kill energy
You do not want that in a sales presentation
I knew if I could facilitate more natural interactions, I would close more deals.
I started thinking, how can I lead calls that are less awkward?
Listening to a podcast, I noticed there had been no silence for the last 30-minutes; think about it on tv shows, radio podcasts - no silence.
I wanted to know how do they did that?
Here’s what I learned:
We are good at asking closed-ended questions, and we unaware that we do it
Like the kid in the sixth sense who sees dead people
I hear closed-ended questions, and I am here to tell you it is an epidemic
We ask, are you, can you, could you, did you, do you, have you, will you, would you or is it and we do not realize we are doing it
Broadcasters are really good at it, they ask questions that start with what, tell me or talk to me about, and their questions come with a target.
Here is an example of how you can avoid silence on a Zoom call:
“Steve, let me come to you and ask this…..and then we will throw it to Martha:
What are you currently doing about the reduced widget output on the line and how do you see productivity shaking out in Q1?”
In this overhead directed question, you give Steve plenty of notice that there is a question coming and put Martha on notice, so they both have time to say something smart
Move away from facilitation questions that are not doing good work for you
If you want your meetings to become even more interactive and want your team to lead better meetings and get an advantage over your competition, let’s schedule a call and get to work.
Stuart 818-422 3626
Schedule time with me: https://www.meetingbird.com/m/r1e7e3q8w
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