We just wrapped up a very fast client project that sandwiched our Thanksgiving break. We had a day or two of R&R before powering way up for what we believe to be a very rewarding project: adding an authentic human touch to the Skanska All Hands presentation.
Chris came to me with a challenge. He said “we do these meetings every year, and frankly we could use a little help”.
Challenge accepted.
Chris is a very people-focused leader who exhibits a perfect balance between emotional intelligence and unemotional honesty. What we learned very quickly is that he is very open and ready to get uncomfortable and to color outside of the lines – and he brought his team right along with him.
He immediately embraced our suggestion of making his speech and his team’s sections of the presentation much more personal to each of them. We coached them, (cajoled, bantered and joked about old cultural references), shaped each of their sections to fit their styles and provided visual design for each slide to support their threaded stories. We had four packed days.
The evening prior to the big meeting, Chris addressed the concern on some of his team’s faces. He knew that this would be a tough sell right to the very end.
They went ahead and followed the presentation as planned. The result? The team succeeded in doing everything they had set out to do. They engaged the 200 audience members who responded positively to their presentation. Some folks who normally might have needed to leave for work earlier, stayed even longer after the presentation was over to share their enthusiasm. And they finished under 2 hours which everyone celebrated.
The feedback has been outstanding! Thank you Chris and team. You are all SUCH an amazing group to work with.
