Team Communication Lessons fron the Marvel Avengers
Team Communication Lessons from the Avengers How Diverse is Your Team? What are the communication challenges that you face with your team? How might you relate to the team members of the Avengers and their issues? The Marvel Avengers are a powerful team of diverse individuals who work together to fight earth-shattering and even universe-threatening challenges. How does this strange group of superheroes work together and defeat these challenges? They communicate as much as they might dislike the exchange or even each other at times. They communicate because that’s the only way they are can fight together as a team. Who should be the team leader? How might the diversity of your team guide how you communicate with them as a team and as individuals? Perhaps the leadership role is determined by job title. What if that isn’t the best choice for this particular challenge? Are you willing to select the best team leader for this challenge? Recognise Team Member Strengths and Weakness Hulk might be considered the strongest. Does that make him the natural leader? No, because he’s not the best communicator, and thus not a good leader. He’s short on empathy. Strength doesn’t equate to leadership. Yet his message is always clear and simple. “Hulk smash”. That’s both a verbal and physical message. He smashes the enemies, and the team can count on him to consistently smash. Hulk has one clear message, and he delivers it well. Captain America might be the best team communicator on the team. That might be because he has no superpowers, simply enhanced physical prowess and thoughtful team building insights. He is the best listener and observer of the team. He also recognizes their individual strengths and how best to deploy them. That’s what a good leader does. Leverage the strengths and weaknesses of your team and communicate clearly on their roles. Thor is the Norse god of thunder, yet he is chumming around with an earthly group of superheroes. Even though he had godlike powers and is the apparent heir to the throne of Asgard, he’s willing to be a team member of the Avengers. That suggests a humbleness we don’t associate with gods. And he’s willing to listen to the other members and accept direction from the current team leader. Thor might be as strong as Hulk and a lot less temperamental plus he’s a god. There could be massive ego there, yet he’s a team player. Do you have anyone like that on your team? Ironman, aka Tony Stark, is a genius in robotics and weapons plus a billionaire. Why would he waste his time with this group of lesser intelligence? Because he believes they are stronger when they work together, despite his ego. Tony exudes an oversized ego and maybe he has a right to that. Yet, he realizes that the team must work together to accomplish their goals. The original Ant Man, Hank Pym can shrink to microscopic size and grow to 50 feet tall. He was one of the founding members. He is another scientific genius. His powers have fluctuated over time. He has reinvented himself in different roles, including, Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliah, Yellow Jacket. He has experienced emotional shifts and challenges while still a valuable member. The Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, was another of the founding members who hasn’t received enough credit in the Marvel movies. She was the first female member. Curious that her superpower was as a tiny insect-sized person. Why was the first female member a tiny person? Was that a sexist positioning? There might be sexist bias on your team. Are you aware of that? What can you do to address the real and perceived bias? The Original Avengers Ironman, Antman, Wasp, Hulk, Thor Hawkeye was an early addition to the Avengers team. He’s the guy with a bow and arrow. How out of place does that seem in a world of guns, lasers and superpowers? Do the other team members ridicule him for his lack of strength or superpowers? No. That’s not how team members communicate and build team trust. In addition, he started out as a circus performer and criminal. Wow! How would you trust this guy on your team? The Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, also lacks superpowers, yet she displays no fear when encountering the threats. She even stands up to Hulk and interrogates Loki, the Norse god of mischief, Thor’s half-brother. She has human fighting skills and understands interrogation and influence. She’s a specialist with communication along with the nuances because she was a Soviet spy – KGB. Then she switched sides and joined SHEILD as an operative before joining the Avengers. Wait a minute, she was a Soviet spy who became a traitor to her country to spy for the other side. How could any team trust this person? She clearly needed to prove herself to her new team. The Scarlet Witch was a mutant and daughter of Magneto, the leader of the evil mutants. How could you trust her with that heritage? Yet, she was allowed to join the Avengers. She wielded hex powers. That was a form of magic. She cast spells that challenged probability. Vision was the first AI, (Artificial Intelligence) addition to the Avengers. In the original story, Vision was created by Hank Pym, Ant Man, as his lab assistant. Later, Ultron, another lab assistant created by Hank Pym gained sentience and took control of its own existence. And Ultron then claimed control of Vision. Ultron challenged the Avengers for control of the Earth in its mission to eradicate humanity. Fortunately, the Avengers defeated Ultron. Then Vision became a free being and joined the Avengers. How would you view and communicate with this team of former spies, enemies and egotists? And you think you have a strange and difficult team. Yes. I’m still a fan of Marve comics and I believe we can find communication lessons from fiction. Access More Presentation Skills Resources Looking For A Speech Coach? Learn
What is a Superior Presentation & How Can You Get There
What Is a Superior Presentation & Why Is It Important to You? What is a superior presentation? A superior presentation must be better than the competition. What does that mean to you? Who or what is your competition? If you are delivering a sales presentation, your competition might be other suppliers of your product or service. If you are applying for a job, your competition might be other job candidates. If you are presenting your ideas or solutions to your team, the competition might be ideas from other team members. The most challenging competition you face is the collection of thoughts in the minds of your audience. What are they thinking or feeling while you’re speaking? That is your toughest competition because that is where the decisions about your message reside. What are they thinking and feeling at that moment about your and your message? Distractions in the Mind of Your Audience The thoughts and questions in their minds might be: I don’t understand this person. That doesn’t make sense. Oh, I tuned out and wasn’t listening because it was boring. That’s confusing. I don’t know if I believe this person. Why am I here? What’s the point? How long is this going to take? These thoughts and doubts are the most significant competition that you face for your message because you need to burst through those objections in their mind before you can land your message. Why do you need to deliver superior presentation? The opposite of superior presentation is inferior presentation. And guess what? Inferior never wins. The facts don’t always win. The better message wins. Superior doesn’t mean perfect. It means better than the rest. The runner who wins the races wasn’t perfect or the best. They were simply better than the competition today. That’s something else to keep in mind. Your competition changes every day because conditions change and people change. And some presenters get better because they invested in their presentation skills. The key elements of a superior presentation A superior presentation is about the audience, not about you. It provides relevant information in a way that is easy to understand. A superior presentation grabs attention and is easy to listen to. It feels real and builds trust. A superior presentation conveys confidence, clarity and credibility. Don’t be offended by the word superior Superior is not about ego. It’s simply about developing your skills and getting better every time you present or speak. What will you do to make your next presentation better than the last one? What will you change? How will you get more productive feedback? Is it time to attend a presentation skills training program? Is it time to work one-on-one with a presentation skills coach? You can boost your presentation skills and become better than you were yesterday and better than your competition when you develop your skills and intend to be better every time you speak. Then you are assured of delivering a superior presentation. What will you do today to be better than you were yesterday? What will you do tomorrow to be better than you were today? Superior Means Better What can you do to make your next presentation better than the last one? What can you do to make your presentation better than the competition? What are you doing to ensure that your next presentation is superior to your competition? George Torok is the founder of Superior Presentations. He helps business speakers deliver the intended message more effectively. You can arrange group training for your team or one-on-one coaching for yourself and senior executives. Your presentations and communications can be superior – or inferior. Your choice. Presentation training can be delivered across Canada and USA online to meet your convenience for your distributed team. You can arrange onsite training locally in southwestern Ontario including Burlington, Hamilton, Mississauga, Toronto, Oakville, Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Brantford, London and surrounding areas. Access More Presentation Skills Resources Looking For A Speech Coach? Learn More Here