A previous Progress Project topic was ‘nailing those nerves’. And I’ve got a confession.
More often than not in my professional life, I walk the talk and practise what I preach. In fact, it’s one of the things I think I do quite well. For example:
On leadership programmes where we talk about the necessity of Psychological Safety, I role model it and create it with them first, so they’ve experienced it first-hand
On presentation skills programmes, I role model the story structures and body language that increase impact
On Build it Quickly, I role model how to bring to life workshops virtually
Over the past year, I’ve challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone – because I firmly believe that’s how we grow.
I wanted to test my presenting skills in different formats, as I’m super comfortable with standard workshops and programmes (online or in-person).
This led to over 20 opportunities from speaking on stage to facilitating super-sized workshops (up to 90 attendees) and for all of these, I walked the talk on nailing nerves.
But then in April, I was invited to speak at Disrupt HR and that’s where it went a little… wonky.
The audience wasn’t large (around 60 at a guess) but the format was totally alien to me. 5 minutes exactly, with 20 slides that auto-rotate every 15 seconds. Which meant, I didn’t feel in control.
I mentioned in a Progress Project email that I was speaking and invited local folk to join me. It was fab to see Bev, Cate, Stephen, Sherry and Kris (thank you all for coming!!! It meant so much)… but I couldn’t enjoy the time with them as I was so consumed by the nerves.
My mind went into overdrive “What if I mess it up? What if I forget what comes next?” and I quickly spiralled into near panic. Not least because it was being recorded and shared globally.
The more people told me to relax, enjoy it and reassured me with ‘you’ll be great!’ the more my inner voice screamed “But what if I’m not????”
I wasn’t present, I wasn’t relaxed, I wasn’t enjoying it. It showed in the presentation. I was too quick, too rushed and not at my best.
But you know what? I’ve reflected and learnt from it. I spent too much time focusing on the content and not enough on nailing the nerves. I know what to do, I know it works – and next time, I’ll focus on this FIRST.
The great news is, I can really empathise with people on my programmes who have their own nerves to deal with.
The better news for my well-being is that I’m now able to put it in perspective. It wasn’t a disaster, I didn’t die and actually, I landed a few points quite well.
So whilst I still want to advocate ‘walking the talk’ – I also want to share that even when things don’t go the way we want them to, we can learn from it.
