How To Talk To Higher Ups Without Fear - Communicate With Executives

Are you in a role in a company where you are very consistently perhaps weekly or daily needing to meet with higher-ups? Well in this video I'm going to share with you the steps on how to communicate with higher-ups, be in meetings with them without fear and just having the confidence and presenting your work in sharing your ideas as well and advocating for your ideas in a way where you have that confidence and that executive presence. I'm going to share with you four focus points that when you implement these in your organization that you will have the clarity and the confidence to speak in front of higher ups as well so these focus points again there are four of them and I'm going to use the acronym FAST F A S T those are so those are the four focal points just to give you an acronym that's easy to remember so F A S T are those are the four focal points and we're going to begin with the first one that starts with F so the first one is to focus on impact right impact is not the impact you want to have in the organization, but it is the impact that they already want to be working towards. In other words, there's an alignment towards the greater vision of the company or the organization. There's an alignment with where they are going and definitely where they see themselves going. This is what they've been dedicated towards. Your higher ups, the higher ups in your organization have already dedicated their career, their life's work towards moving in a particular direction. So this is where you're focusing on the impact that you have towards that direction? What is that piece of it for you? And the biggest mistake that I see career professionals making is that instead of focusing on impact, they focus on impressing. So this is the first acronym F in FAST is to focus on impact, not on impressing. So you see what the problem is that when you focus on trying to impress them, then necessarily in order to impress an individual, I have to put myself in a higher position so that I can be impressive and therefore I need to be somehow seeing myself higher up and therefore necessarily they have to be somewhere below in order to be impressive and this can cause one of two things right it could be for example that if you were to see yourself higher than then if you're the kind of person who values humility who hesitates to brag or hesitates to sell yourself then this will cause a lot of cognitive dissonance to impress and that's why oftentimes if you are included in this sometimes most people feel hesitant to when they try to impress somebody it just doesn't come out they just can't do it they just can't sell it and that's because there's cognitive dissonance and the other thing could happen is that let's say you do move forward and you try to wear that persona or put on that persona and you do try to be impressive, chances are trying to be impressive could come across in ways that you don't intend. It could come across too brash or it could come across too bragging. It would come across too overly confident, right? So that's why I say instead of focusing on trying to impress somebody, that's not what they're looking for, right? When you impress, there's an inequality there because in order to be impressive, I need to be higher than, better then and so on. But what if there could be equanimity? What if there could be equanimity between you as a valued member of the team and the higher ups as well as an equally valued member of the team? So that's why when you focus on impact, you are establishing equanimity between you and them and each other instead of focusing on trying to impress. Because when you are impressing, there is an imbalance there. And sometimes that imbalance, that's what's causing the fears and the anxieties because it does not resonate with who you are as an authentic person, right? So that's the first step and that is to focus on impact. Focal point number two, right? F-A-S-T. So A is articulate your principles, articulate your principles, right? When it comes to speaking with higher ups, most of the time, what I see happening as an executive coach is that a lot of individuals give their higher ups the play by play of what they did. In other words, they're sharing their methodology, right? In terms of here are my processes. These are the steps that I took to have the success that I did. Here's what I'm recommending. And they just literally account the play by play of what's going to happen or how we, of the method that they followed. And higher ups are not interested in methodologies or processes. They want to understand what's the thinking behind it. What's the thought behind it? And those are your principles. But when it comes to extrapolating your principles. There is a concept where you are thinking based on principles. Principles first. And so in this concept, this is where you understand that you own your principles. Let's face it. You've had success in your career so far. All of the things that you've been able to achieve in your career so far, they didn't happen by accident. All of the achievements, just look on your resume. All of those achievements did not get there by accident. They got there because you've been following principles, you've been applying principles all throughout your career path and they have been tested and true. So if you articulate that, then this is what's going to differentiate you from all of those individuals who share their methods or their processes that are less interesting for higher-ups. Because when you share your methodologies, it's still not possible for them to see and connect the dots on how are you helping to achieve the ultimate outcomes? How are you moving forward, the goals, the real objectives, how is this aligned with the impact that they're looking for, that the organization that they want to make, right? So when you share your principles, this is how you can connect the dots for them. So if you're somebody who is kind of like, I get this, I get this, yeah, I can see how that's important. Yes, I'm seeing that in my organization. If you're the kind of person who's kind of like seeing that right now, but you want a little bit more, a little bit more support in terms of how do I understand what my principles are? How do I extract them? How do I articulate them? Then I invite you to work with me. Every single week, this is what I coach on, I teach on inside of my coaching program, to extrapolate your own principles, articulate them in very clear and concise ways so that they can understand your thought process behind it and they can see the value that you bring. So if you're serious about achieving this outcome in your path and how ultimately you desire to take your career path into the inner circle and to become an executive level yourself, then I invite you to book a call with me. Below this video under the description, the first link in the description is a link that will book a call with me and either myself or someone from my team will come onto the call and it's just to explore whether or not this is the right fit for you and if we can help you with what you're looking for. And so if we do find it's the right fit, then I'd be happy to work with you every step of the way to support you into greater levels of communication, clarity and confidence, and to achieve that executive presence and take your career to the next level. So I hope to see you on the other side. If you are serious about this outcome, then I'll see you on the other side. Focal point number three. So far we have F-A-S-T, right? We did F, we did A. F was to focus on your impact, A was to articulate your principles, and S is to speak on their values. Their values. Notice that, their values. Because let's face it, your higher-ups, those executives that you're in meetings with all the time, they have a very unique system of values. This is what they've been dedicating their career towards, how they dedicated their career. All of their achievements are in complete alignment with what they value most, with what is most important to them. So this is where if you want to speak in front of higher-ups, command the room, gain their attention, and have them to understand and to really see the value you have to bring in your knowledge, your experiences, and your expertise. That's why it's so important to speak in accordance to what they value. And most of the time, once again, the biggest mistake, another mistake that I see a lot of career professionals make is that when they're speaking in front of higher-ups, one thing that they're going for is for agreement. Agreement, which means I want them to buy in. I want them to agree. I want them to see things from my perspective. I want them to just respect my opinion and my recommendation moving forward. And so they're striving for agreement. But when you strive for agreement, agreement does not necessarily mean that they are aligned with what they value most. Because let's face it, every human, yourself included, every human is only committed to one thing, and that is the fulfillment of their values, their own values. And when the values are aligned, then they will see it as positive. They will be open to it. But when the values are misaligned or when there's a challenge of values, this is where another person can see it as a challenge and unsupport, right? And therefore not be open to it. So if you will find a way to communicate in accordance to what they value most, but first of all, is to understand what is the highest on their values, then this is where they will be open to what you have to say. This is where you can get their attention, that they will be open, that there could be a collaboration and equanimity could be restored, equality between you and the teams. So that is the third focal point, is to speak in accordance to their values. So if you are resonating with this, if you're really resonating with it, give me a thumbs up as well. I want to know that you're listening. And remember to subscribe to my channel. Ring the bell below as well so that you can receive a notification every time I release a new video. and now we're going to focus point number four, F-A-S-T. The final focus point is T, which is transcend towards equanimity. I've used this earlier. So what do I mean by equanimity? I've used that word earlier. Equanimity is a calm state, right? This is where your mind is calm. This is where you have that composure. This is where you have that that confidence as well, a state of stability within your mind. That is what equanimity means. So you're transcending towards that. This requires self-governance. This requires being aware of what's important to you and what's important to your higher-ups as well. But this can be established. A state of equanimity transcending towards that can definitely be established once you are working towards an equitable fair exchange in the relationship. So a fair exchange is sustainable because now you're not trying to give away your knowledge, give away your time for nothing in return, but you're also not expecting them to do the same. So a sustainable fair exchange in a meeting with higher-ups means that there is an equitable exchange between inputs and outputs because when you're working towards something, which is the real objectives of the organization, you have to put input into it. Your energy, your focus, your work, you have inputs. The higher-ups also have inputs into it, their inputs look different from yours but every team member inputs something in their time their resources their intelligence and their expertise, right everybody inputs something towards a common mission a common vision so a sustainable fair exchange and relationship means that your inputs and therefore the outputs which is the payoff that you're working towards that, they are equal, there's a perception of equality in that in that input versus output for each individual. So when you work towards that fair exchange of inputs and outputs, this is a relationship that is sustainable. And in that space of sustainable relationship with you and your higher-ups, this is how you can restore the equality, equanimity within you, the equality without you, and as well to have the state of mind of calmness and composure, right? So in summary, we have the four focal points to meet with higher ups, speak with higher ups without fear. And the acronym that I use is FAST, F-A-S-T. F was to focus on impact, not on impressing. A is to articulate your principles and not on your methodology. S is to speak on their values, right? Not focusing on agreement. And T is to transcend towards equanimity, which is a calm mind composed state where you have a sustainable relationship. So by the way, if this resonate with you, once again, give me a thumbs up and comment below as well, because I want to know that what you learned from this, what was your key takeaway? So after you have taken notes from this video, then let's go on to the next video because you want to maintain the momentum, learning momentum, right? Expansion of your mind, that momentum moving forward. One video may not be enough. So I want to invite you to another video that I created recently. It's going to start playing right after this. And this is how do you speak up in front of higher ups? How do you speak up and be unafraid to speak in front of them? And that video will be playing coming up next. So I'll see you there.