CHAPTER

9

Side Talk:
Keeping Your Poise

Rickey and Suki, do the two of you have something you’d like to share with the rest of the group?

—Rick’s third grade teacher, her voice dripping with sarcasm in order to embarrass the two side talkers

Doesn’t it really bother you when a couple of executives begin having a sidebar conversation during your presentation? It’s something that’s not only distracting for you as the presenter, but it also distracts the rest of the people around the table. There are some ways to deal with this. Unless you’re actively trying to limit your career, however, direct confrontation is not one of them.

Andy Billings is Vice President of Profitable Creativity (Organizational Effectiveness and Leadership Development), and has been with Electronic Arts for 14 years. He has a PhD in behavioral psychology with an emphasis in organizational change.

Andy’s presentation to the executives was a proposal to change the ways new products are developed to increase both creativity and profitability. He knew that it would be great for revenues, great for margins, and great for the company’s engineering talent. In short, it was a win-win-win.

He had barely begun when two executives started having a sidebar conversation. He tried to ignore it, but instead, he lost his cool. “Hey guys, what is sooo important that the two of you can’t pay attention to this presentation and make a decision?” he challenged aggressively.

He certainly got them to stop talking, but the sarcastic smack-down was definitely not well-received. “I think we’ve heard more than enough,” one of the executives said with disdain after a few more exchanges.

Andy reflected later, “Boy did that confrontation feel good in the moment … Unfortunately I didn’t get what I wanted. What a mistake.”

Reflecting on his belligerent misstep Andy explained that 15 other people across the company were depending on him to deliver. “So now we have all the business units and the cross-functional teams stalled. It will be hard to get this project teed up again. This didn’t help my career at all.” Not only did Andy not manage to score or even move the ball forward, he earned himself a monster penalty.

Executive Advice

When speaking to the top level, you can’t shush your audience.

—Audrey MacLean

It connotes arrogance if the presenter says, ‘Can I please have your attention,’ so it’s better if the sponsor pulls them back in.

—Corinne Nevinny

If the sponsor or the CEO notices we’re not getting people’s attention on this important decision, then it’s best for the sponsor to call time out to refocus the group.

—Ned Barnholt

It’s never appropriate to lose your temper with executives. When two people in the meeting began to have a sidebar conversation, Andy had several options. He could have ignored them and focused his attention on the person responsible for making a decision on his project. Or he could have stopped for a moment of silence in an attempt to regain their attention. He could also have done a group check-in, i.e., “Does this make sense to you? Am I on the right track?” He could have called on one of the people talking and asked for an opinion on his presentation. Failing all this, Andy could have asked his sponsor for help.

A Better Approach

For his second presentation, Andy used a gentler approach to re-engage the side talkers by politely calling one by name and asking for an opinion on his proposal. When that didn’t work, he turned to his sponsor for help, “Ned, maybe you can help me—do you think we’re on track in the discussion?” That allowed his sponsor to bring the attention back to his presentation. Andy was heard, and he was able to go back to his team with the news that they could now move forward. “I think what I did better the second time around was just let the executives have their meeting. When they were ready, they came back to what I wanted to do. I didn’t lose my poise and I got what I wanted.”

Summary

To avoid the traps of Side Talk:

• Do not use direct confrontation

• Politely re-engage

• Appeal to your sponsor