Presenting for Accountability

When presenting new strategies, tactics, skills, etc. with the expectation that the audience will carry away knowledge, skills and accountability, try these techniques.

1) Deliver context for importance from a value and benefit perspective. Share the big picture and how the knowledge, skills, information that will be presented fit into the picture.

2) Involve the audience in the presentation such that they have to think through and synthesize the information. Use questions, small group processing, partnering, etc. and have them present their findings for others to learn from. This also holds them accountable for results and outcomes from their discussion/dialogue.

3) Use visuals (not Powerpoints) to provide a context and framework for the information presented. Ask the audience to put themselves in this picture as a leader for the application of the information, knowledge, skills. Have them create personal visuals, then ask them to individually post and present them within the larger context visual. This will build social accountability for the leader role they share.

4) Model and have them model the behaviors associated with application of the knowledge, skills, etc. in a behavior rehearsal, scenario, case study. This must be done in a way that the behaviors can be seen and/or heard, not just cognitively processed.

5) Ask them to identify and plan for (write down a plan) an immediate opportunity for application on the job, that day. Have them share it with another person for feedback, expansion and ideas. Partner them with a person for observation on the job and immediate feedback after the application.

6) Provide a job aide for application that is simple, clear and reusable. The devil is in the detail, so Do It Right The First Time (DIRFT) and you won't have to be redoing it, repairing it, and having it fail due to the audience not assuming accountability for leading change.

7) Schedule a conference call or update session to share how the first application fared and what they did to make it better the next time they applied the knowledge, skill, etc. This could be accomplished on a shared website, etc. as well.

Thoughts?