I attended a great lecture today – it was informative and compelling.
Unfortunately, it was given to an audience of 20 who were pretty well-informed and had no need of being compelled–they were already on board with the thrust of his speech.
It got me to thinking about the need for concrete next steps. The speaker had some next steps – host more lectures, call your congressperson – but little detail and only one slide of the entire 90-minute talk.
This is not enough. We need more concrete next steps – specific, and detailed, plans for moving forward. I hypothesize that if this speaker, who travels regularly to talk on the topic, came back four times, he would give essentially the same speech.
And how many of us, after a few years on a board or in any group with a common mission, haven’t heard the same speech, or experienced the same meeting, multiple times?
We need concrete steps. We need forward motion, not just the same speech given again, no matter how well-delivered.
If you are a leader, I implore you to give more time, both in your preparation and in your meetings or speeches, to concrete action steps. Without them, we are all bound to spin our wheels.
If you think you know the next action steps, make sure they figure prominently in your speech or meeting. If you don’t yet know, make sure to reserve time for discussion and consensus.
If you find yourself giving the same speech or the same meeting agenda more than twice, you have squandered the human potential in the room.