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Leading the Way: Strategies for an Effective Leadership Presentation

This article will provide you with essential strategies and tips on how to deliver an effective leadership presentation. Learn how to create a clear structure, engage your audience, and deliver a strong message. Get the tools you need to make your next leadership presentation a success.

Essential skills for success

Team building is important for any leader, as it helps to foster a sense of unity and trust among the members of the team. This can help to ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal and that each member is valued and respected.

Management skills are also necessary for successful leadership, as they help to ensure that tasks are completed efficiently, deadlines are met, and resources are managed appropriately.

Motivation is another important leadership quality. Leaders must be able to motivate their team members to work hard, remain focused, and stay on task.

Decision making is an important part of any leader's role, as it involves taking into account all available information and making the best decision for the team or organization.

Communication is essential for successful leadership, as it helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that everyone understands expectations.

Conflict resolution is also a key skill for any leader, as it is important to be able to address disputes and differences of opinion in a professional and effective manner.

Vision is also an important leadership quality, as it helps to provide direction and focus and can help to ensure that the team or organization is headed in the right direction.

Strategic planning is also an important leadership quality, as it helps to ensure that goals are set, plans are made, and resources are allocated appropriately.

Delegation is an important skill for any leader, as it helps to ensure that tasks and responsibilities are distributed among team members in an effective and efficient manner.

Overall, having a high quality presentation about leadership is essential for any successful team or organization. It can help to establish the necessary leadership qualities, such as team building, management skills, motivation, decision-making, communication, conflict resolution, vision, strategic planning, and delegation, which are all essential for success.

What are the essential elements of a successful leadership presentation?

Start with your audience. Each audience has unique elements that should be considered when planning a presentation.

For example, a leadership presentation to a group of middle managers should focus on actionable information that can be applied to their work. On the other hand, a leadership presentation to a group of executives should focus more on big picture ideas and long-term strategy.

Once you've considered your audience, it's time to think about your message. What is it that you want your audience to take away from your presentation? What are the main points that you want to highlight?

What strategies can be used to engage and motivate an audience?

A great way to engage an audience is to ask them questions. This is especially effective if you lead with a question that is open-ended and not too long or complicated. You can then use the answers to build a narrative that leads to your point. For example, here's a potential opening question: "What is your biggest struggle as a company owner?"

How can the presenter effectively convey their message?

When you're asked to give a presentation, make sure you know who you're talking to. You need to know their background, their interests, and their preferences. They may have specific needs that you should address. For example, they could be looking for specific information, or they could be seeking guidance on making a decision.

Make sure you tailor your presentation to meet their needs. If you don't, you run the risk of confusing or disappointing them. This is not what you want to happen, especially if you're looking to build a relationship with them or to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

How should the presenter handle questions from the audience?

Entrepreneurs have to do their homework and be prepared for any questions the audience might ask. As a presenter, it's important to be prepared for anything and to be able to respond quickly and confidently. The more you know about your topic, the more prepared you'll be for anything that comes up. So, practice presenting as many possible questions as you can.

What are some tips for delivering a successful leadership presentation?

As they say, practice makes perfect, so the more times you deliver your presentation the better you become at it. It's important to remember that presenting is a skill and like any other skill, it improves with time and practice. It's also important to remember that the more times you deliver your presentation, the better you become at it.

Even if you aren't presenting to an audience, it's still important to practice your presentation a few times. This will help you make sure that your slides are up to date and that you are ready to go. It also helps to make sure that your ideas are organized and that you are ready to answer any questions that may come up.

What can I do to ensure I remain confident?

The most critical aspect of this question is that the presenter should remain composed. In the context of presenting, this means remaining calm and collected, and not letting nerves or anxiety get in the way of the message you are trying to convey. Keeping composed is an important technique because it demonstrates confidence and authority, which are key factors in presenting successfully.

Other techniques to ensure the presenter remains confident include drinking plenty of water, maintaining good posture, and taking deep breaths

How can the presenter make his presentation memorable?

Guaranteed: if you don't make your presentation memorable, you won't increase your chances of getting hired. If you're an entrepreneur, you're often the person who is selling yourself, so you need to be able to market yourself in every way possible.

One way to market yourself is to be more personal and interesting. You need to stand out from the rest of the crowd. You need to be able to spark the audience's interests, make them laugh, and keep them engaged throughout your presentation.

Tell a story. You can start by adding more personal stories to your presentation, as these are sure to spark the audience's interests.

You can also add humor to your presentation to make it more memorable and to get the audience laughing. Humor is a great way to engage the audience and to create a memorable experience for them.

What elements can be included in a leadership presentation to inspire the audience?

A leadership presentation is a chance to share your story, vision, and values. You have to be genuine, and have a clear purpose and message. Otherwise, your audience will see right through any artificial presentation or sales pitch.

So include elements that showcase your character and humanity. Think about what makes you unique and special. If you're starting a company, what are your company's values? What do you stand for? Share those things and more with your audience. By being authentic and open, you'll be able to inspire your audience and make them feel connected to you and your leadership.

In conclusion, a successful leadership presentation requires a great deal of preparation and practice. Essential elements include an engaging opener, a well-structured body, a clear and compelling message, and a memorable conclusion.

Strategies to engage and motivate an audience include using stories, visuals, and analogies. To effectively convey their message, the presenter should use a strong, confident delivery and practice active listening. Questions from the audience should be handled with respect and answered honestly.

Preparation for a leadership presentation should include researching the audience, crafting a compelling story, and rehearsing thoroughly. To make the presentation memorable, the presenter should use stories and humor, and create visuals that will catch the audience's attention.

Finally, elements such as inspiring quotes, a call to action, and an array of visuals can be used to help make the presentation motivating and inspiring. With these tips and techniques in mind, leaders can deliver successful presentations that will engage and motivate their audience.

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7 brilliant ways successful leaders start presentations

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“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” —Plato

When we speak, we have about 60 seconds to capture our audience’s attention, establish credibility, orient them to our topic, and motivate them to listen, says Darlene Price, president of Well Said, Inc., and author of “Well Said! Presentations and Conversations That Get Results.”

If you waste those precious opening seconds with a joke, an agenda, an apology, housekeeping details, a string of thank-yous, or a rambling, pointless paragraph littered with “ums” and “uhs,” your audience’s minds are likely to drift, and you may not get them back. “You need to put the art in the start, the most important part of the work,” says Price.

That’s a tall order for any speaker — and it requires us to develop and rehearse a well-crafted, attention-getting opener.

Price offers seven options:

1. Tell a captivating story.

“Of all the starters in your toolkit, storytelling is among the most powerful and consistently successful,” Price says. “As humans, we’re hard-wired to enjoy and learn from stories. From bedtime stories and campfires, to Broadway theaters and boardrooms — heroes, villains, conflict, plots, dialogue, and lessons learned draw us in, remind us of our own lives, and hold our attention.”

The story can be about you personally, which tells the audience first-hand why you’re invested in and passionate about the topic. Or you can tell a story about another person who the audience can learn from. “Another option: Tell a fable, wisdom tale, historic event, or anecdote,” Price says. “The idea is, start with a brief 60- to 90-second narrative that launches your speech and captivates your listeners, and make sure the story encapsulates the key point of your message.”

She suggests you consider these questions as you craft your version of “Once upon a time”: What challenges have you (or another) faced in relation to your topic? How did you (or another) overcome them? Who or what helped you or harmed you? What lessons were learned? What do you want your audience to gain, feel, or do as a result of the story?

2. Ask a rhetorical, thought-provoking question.

“As Shakespeare wrote in ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?'” says Price. “As a speaker, you ask rhetorical questions for persuasive effect; you don’t expect the audience to answer aloud, rather silently to themselves.

When crafted and delivered well, rhetorical questions influence an audience to believe in the position of the speaker. “Clearly, Shakespeare’s character Shylock is leading his listeners to think ‘yes’ four times in order to justify revenge against Antonio. What do you want your audience to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to?”

In addition to yes or no questions, you can also arouse curiosity and motivate your audience to think about the answer, she says.

3. State a shocking statistic or headline.

Price says the vice president of sales for America’s leading healthcare IT company successfully sells software solutions to hospitals by starting her presentations with the following:

“According to a new study in the Journal of Patient Safety, medical errors leading to patient death are much higher than previously thought. Preventable adverse events, known as PAEs, cause up to 400,000 deaths per year for patients who seek care at a hospital. That means medical errors are the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. Our vision is to create a world free of medical errors, and we need your help.”

“The statistic, bold claim, or headline needs to be directly related to the main purpose of your presentation,” Price explains. “Its impact ideally persuades the audience to listen and respond positively to your recommendation and next steps.”

4. Use a powerful quote.

“Employ the wise words of a well-known person, because the name allows you to tap into his or her credibility, likeability, and notoriety,” she says. The quote must have meaning and relevance to the audience.

Imagine you’re urging a group to reach consensus, or giving a talk on conflict management. You could open with: “Mark Twain once said, ‘If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.’ Even though some of us disagree on the xyz issue, each of us is necessary in reaching a resolution.”

5. Show a gripping photo.

A picture is worth a thousand words — “maybe even more,” Price says.

“Use photos instead of text, when possible,” she suggests. A quality photo adds aesthetic appeal, increases comprehension, engages the audience’s imagination, and makes the message more memorable.

Price offers the following example of an effective use of an image:

The president of an electronics equipment company needed his managers to cut costs. Rather than showing mundane charts, graphs, and spreadsheets, he opened the meeting by asking, “What sank the Titanic?” When everyone in unison replied, “an iceberg,” he displayed a beautiful high-definition image of an iceberg on the screen: the tip of the iceberg was clearly visible above the water; the much larger portion was dimly visible below the surface of the water.

“The same thing is about to happen to our company,” he continued. “Hidden costs — the dangers beneath the surface — are about to sink this company. I need your help.” This visual metaphor spawned a creative, productive brainstorming session that inspired every business unit manager to diligently hunt for what they labeled the “icebergs,” says Price. The result was saving millions and ultimately the company.

6. Use a prop or creative visual aid.

“A prop is a magnetic tool that hooks your audience and keeps them watching — or listening,” Price says. A visual aid can also help emphasize a point.

Price uses the example of a sales VP at a large insurance company, who happens to be an avid tennis player. She says he wanted to kick off his annual meeting with a bang — so he “brilliantly used his tennis racquet to emphasize ‘acing the competition,’ ‘rallying together as a team,’ and winning a ‘grand slam’ through great customer service.” Year after year, other speakers were compared to this leader’s creative ability to present a motivational message, she says.

“Think about how you could use items like a big wall clock, a colorful gift bag, juggling balls, a deck of cards, a bunch of carrots, or another prop, to introduce your topic, captivate the audience, inject humor, and drive home your message.”

7. Play a short video.

Imagine kicking off a product management meeting with a video of compelling customer testimonials, or opening a fundraising event for endangered species by showing an Amur Leopard playing with her cubs in the wild.

“Videos evoke emotional responses,” Price explains. “Unlike text and bullet points on a slide, you can employ people, pictures, and sound to reel in the audience, add drama, and communicate the gist of your message quickly.”

As Walt Disney said, “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”

This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider . Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda  subscribe to our weekly newsletter .

Author: Jacquelyn Smith joined Business Insider as the careers editor in February 2014.

Image: an empty meeting room is shown. REUTERS.

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Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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5 Principles of Purposeful Leadership

• Hubert Joly

Understanding why you’re in the room is more important than being the smartest one in it.

The traditional model of the leader-hero who saves the day, knows it all, is the smartest person in the room, and is too often driven by power, fame, glory, or money is not appropriate in today’s environment. People today expect a different kind of leader. While each company needs to define its own leadership point of view, the author presents five attributes that characterizes leaders who are able to unleash the kind of human magic you see at work at some of the most high-performing companies. First, be clear about your purpose. Second, be clear about your role. Third, be clear about whom you serve. Fourth, be driven by values. Finally, be authentic.

Growing up, I thought successful leaders were supposed to figure out all the answers on their own. Being smart — and making sure everyone else knew it — seemed to be their most striking attribute. The best schools were supposed to lead to the best jobs, which produced the best leaders. Power, fame, glory, and money were the measure of professional success. Early in my career, prominent business leaders like GE’s Jack Welch were revered for their intellect, strategic sense, and hard-charging style. They were considered infallible geniuses, inspiring a quasi-cult following.

• Hubert Joly is the former chairman and CEO of Best Buy, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and the author, with Caroline Lambert, of The Heart of Business . He has been recognized as one of the top 100 CEOs in the world by Harvard Business Review, one of the top 30 CEOs in the world by Barron’s, and one of the top 10 CEOs in the U.S. by Glassdoor. Joly is now keen to add his voice and his energy to the necessary refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and people.

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Developing Effective Leadership Skills Workshop

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In today's rapidly changing business landscape, the need for effective leadership skills has become more critical than ever. Developing these skills is not an easy task, but it is possible with the right guidance and tools. That's where this design comes in handy. Designed by experienced professionals, this template will be the canvas that helps you share all the tips for developing leadership skills, from communication and decision-making to team management and strategic thinking. With its user-friendly interface and engaging visuals, this template is guaranteed to make your workshop a success

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CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

Nov 27, 2014

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CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP. PRESENTED AT THE QEM LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE BY EUGENE M. DELOATCH, PH.D. AUGUST 10, 2009. LEADERSHIP/LEADER RELATIONSHIP.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP PRESENTED AT THE QEM LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE BY EUGENE M. DELOATCH, PH.D. AUGUST 10, 2009

LEADERSHIP/LEADER RELATIONSHIP • Leadership defined - a process by which a person (leader) influences others to work at, and accomplish a common task in a more cohesive and coherent (effective)manner, than would occur absence the process • A leader is one who is engaged in leadership • Where do (effective) leaders come from? • Are leaders “naturally” born?, or • Can leaders be made?

HOW PEOPLE BECOME LEADERS • Three Theories • Trait Theory – natural personality traits • Great Events Theory – a crisis or an important event leads one to rise to the occasion • Transformational Leadership Theory- people choose to and learn skills to become leaders

MAJOR KEYS TO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP • Have honorable character and engender trust • Be able to communicate a vision for and render selfless service to ones cause

Characteristics of Effective Leadership • Is aware of one’s own strengths and weaknesses • Is technically proficient • Willingly seeks and takes responsibility • Is aware of situations and makes timely decisions • Knows one’s people and advocate for their well- being • Keep one’s people (team)well informed • Develops a sense of trust and responsibility in one’s people • Ensures that tasks are well understood • Uses full capability of the organizations resources • Leads by example

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[Updated 2023] The 5 Leadership Styles Along (With PPT Templates Included)

Lakshya Khurana

Leaders make an organization, whether a company, a school, or a government organization. The main goal of a leader is to establish an environment conducive to success, with unrelenting focus on encouraging communication and teamwork among people they lead. 

Leaders also provide direction, vision and inspire and motivate people to achieve organizational goals. Competent management and effective leadership are necessary for businesses to meet their goals.

How you manage your team depends on your personality and how you interact with others, regardless of the size of your team (it may be 10 or 10,000). Knowing your preferred style of leadership is the first step to enhancing it. 

In this blog, we'll discuss the most-renowned five prevailing leadership styles with readymade PowerPoint Templates.  and then go into how to identify and cultivate your own style. 

If you want to improve your leadership skills , read our full blog here .

Coming back to leadership styles, the five most common leadership styles are autocratic, participative, delegative, transactional, and transformational. Each style has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to leading people.

The leader takes complete control over all decisions, usually excluding staff from the process and dictates procedures and goals.

• Participative

Leaders are open to employee feedback, value their teams' opinions, and involve them in decision-making. Participative leaders pay close attention to the individuals they lead.

Autonomy and adaptability are values that such leaders support. The freedom this leadership style delegates can be advantageous when the people being managed are highly trained, educated about their occupations, and capable of working efficiently with minimum monitoring.

• Transactional

The transactional leadership style adheres to traditional managers' stereotypes, emphasizing organization, monitoring, performance, compliance, and goal-setting while motivating employees through incentives and penalties.

• Transformational

Vision is everything, as these managers encourage their staff members and use empowerment, empathy, and recognition to energize their groups, assist them in achieving their objectives, and inspire them to go above and beyond to realize a common purpose.

This primer done, we now dig deep into top 15 PPT Templates that SlideTeam has curated to help you identify and build leadership styles of your own. 

As always, each of leadership ppt templates are 100% editable and customizable. The content-ready nature means you get a starting point for your presentations and a much-coveted structure. The editability feature means you can tailor the presentation to your audience requirements.  

Let’s take a tour now!

Template 1: Leadership Styles Quadrant Matrix for Motivation Enhancement

Positive thinking and a clear vision create motivational leadership. Motivational leaders are action-oriented, establish clear objectives, and give their people the resources and tools needed to succeed. They bring out the best in their team members and encourage them to work together toward a common objective. The quadrant template offered here evaluates where you stand on the opposing forces of direction versus supporting behaviors. This is a clear visual indication of your leadership style and helps you decide what to do to improve. Get this template now, and start work on your leadership skills with immediate effect. 

Template 2: Leadership and Board Leadership Styles Best PPT PowerPoint Presentation Gallery Deck

Increase focus on issues affecting individuals with our predesigned leadership and board leadership PPT Template. Use the presentation template to discuss leadership styles like commanding, visionary, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, or coaching. It will help you to improve your leadership and provide good governance for your organization. Download now and deliver your ideas. The tabular format mapping each leadership style to a leader’s mannerisms makes it clear to distinguish between the types.  

Template 3: Six Leadership Styles for Every Business

The six leadership styles that US author and world-renowned authority on emotional intelligence Daniel Goleman developed are illustrated in this PPT Template. For project managers and business owners, the idea has enormous advantages. It aids in creating a brief evaluation and a clear connection of the effects of leadership on people and their surroundings. Most often, leaders must be able to change their leadership styles as the situation demands. Download now to study the six styles that range from visionary to autocratic.

Template 4: Leadership Styles Economy Study Considering Business Level Strategies

Strategy formulation is an essential process in business. Talk in-depth about leadership considering business-level strategies and their significance. Use this PPT Template to research theories and inform your audience about diverse leadership styles and economic studies. This PPT template is a handy tool for providing direction for your actions.

Template 5: Leadership and Broad Leadership Styles Talk PPT Presentation Portfolio Styles

Use this fantastic PPT Template, designed to describe broad leadership styles. This slide presents a leadership style based on the relationship and tasks. It also explains how leadership styles can use employee capabilities to establish high-performing teams. Download now and demonstrate how a leader should manage their team to complete a project or business venture.

Template 6: Customer Management Systems Leadership Styles Concentric Marketing Commerce Strategies

The customer service industry has to use leadership strategies pretty frequently. Analyzing each one and finding the best for your business is key for business success. Use our readymade PPT Templates to compare and contrast leadership styles and create concentric marketing commerce strategies. Download and obtain the information.

Template 7: Four Leadership Styles Hersey and Blanchard Corporate Leadership

According to the Hersey-Blanchard Model, no leadership style is superior. The approach advises that leaders should adapt their techniques to those they lead and their strengths rather than concentrating on workplace conditions. Our predesigned PPT template on four leadership styles helps discuss the task and relationship-relevant leadership styles. Download now and see leadership as a fluid dynamic than mere fixed personality traits. 

Template 8: Leadership Styles Based on Authority Democratic Corporate Leadership

Leaders must showcase specific emotional intelligence skills like self-confidence to have their way. They must create a vision and motivate others to follow it. Use our predesigned PPT template to discuss leader’s action plans according to their leadership style. It will help them to decide what should be done and how to do it. The ultimate aim is to achieve strategic business goals. Get this template now!

Template 9: Four Effective Change Leadership Styles for Managers

Influential leaders adapt their behavior or approach to leadership in response to conditions. This PPT Template presents data on leadership styles. You can discuss authoritative, rational, positive influence, and supportive leadership styles in detail and choose what fits best for effective business results. This PPT offers an excellent foundation for defining the extent of change and determining how to support the workforce during the transition. Get this presentation template now!

Template 10: Situational Leadership Style Matrix with Followers Readiness

Leaders must modify strategies to suit conditions. Leaders deal with levels of follower-readiness by altering their relative emphasis on work and relationship behaviors. Use our PPT template matrix to showcase leadership style behavior according to tasks. Use this template to also discuss development levels of followers and build strategies. Get this template now!

Template 11: Leadership Styles Based on Authority Consultative PPT PowerPoint File Shapes

Recognizing your leadership style lets you give staff members the right direction and feedback. Disperse knowledge on authority-based leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic, free-rein, and persuasive using our PPT Template. Download this presentation template now!

Template 12: Key Behaviours of Four DISC Leadership Styles

Introducing the DISC model PPT Template to discuss the critical behavior of leaders to understand themselves. The DISC model analyses four personality factors to determine a person's overall behavioral style and preferences, i.e., Dominance(D), Influence(I), Steadiness(S), and Consciousness(C). Using this PPT template, you can discuss behavior and its impact on the organization. Download and share your ideas with your team to create the maximum impact with minimum fuss. 

Template 13: Organizational Multiple Leadership Styles Matrix

Leadership styles and techniques can differ depending on how complicated an organization’s structure is. Highlight organizational multiple leadership styles with this matrix chart PPT Template. Business leaders can use this presentation template to discuss leader details, goal alignment, unstructured issues, acceptance, fairness, disagreement, and common acceptance. Download now!

Template 14: Addressing Strategic Leadership Styles Strategic Planning Guide for Managers

This PPT Template allows you to display details about leadership, mostly on innovative, directive, and collaborative styles. You can discuss the qualities of each leadership style and advantages and disadvantages. Compare and contrast and make decisions. The slideshow is helpful for strategic planning managers and entrepreneurs. Get it now!

Template 15: Leadership Styles Integrated Model for Employee Management

This predesigned PPT Template works as a guide to improve the performance of others. You can use this integrated model to discus motivation, recognition, delegation, flexibility, structure, and global focus. It will be helpful to modify your leadership style according to the situation. Download now and start on the path to build a strong leadership style.

LEADERSHIP IS A MUST!

Leadership is both pleasing and challenging. The opportunities for rewards are numerous, but so are the obligations. Everyone has what it takes to be a leader in their field. Here is the road map to becoming a good and effective leader. Use these templates to make the necessary modifications and establish excellent leadership in your organization.

FAQs on Leadership Styles

What are the four main leadership styles.

No company can run effectively without leadership. Your leadership style determines how you influence those around you and how your actions affect the success of your business or division. The four main leadership styles are:

In autocratic leadership, a single person controls the organization or team. An autocratic boss dictates everything to subordinates. 

The democratic leadership method entails soliciting feedback and subordinates; the idea is that everyone can participate in decision-making.

• Laissez-faire

It entails empowering your staff, remaining detached, and trusting them to complete the task without continual supervision or questioning.

Transformational leadership involves establishing an ambitious goal and organizing your team around it.

What are the seven leadership styles in management?

Business leaders can adapt and lead effectively in any situation by being aware of the traits of below seven different leadership styles:

• Autocratic or Authoritative Leadership
• Democratic or Participative Leadership
• Coaching Leadership
• Strategic Leadership
• Transformational Leadership
• Laissez- Faire Leadership
• Charismatic Leadership

Each of these styles has both pros and cons attaches to it. The best course of action for a leader is, of course, to see which style fits which situation. This is very hard to do in practice, but good leaders do give it their best shot. 

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Healthcare Leadership: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

Industry Advice Healthcare Leadership

There’s an immense need, now more than ever, for effective leadership in healthcare. Specifically, the global pandemic has highlighted the importance of innovative healthcare leaders who are able to quickly formulate effective solutions. Additional challenges such as healthcare accessibility and affordability require effective forward-thinking leaders.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can make a mark in healthcare today, here’s an overview of what healthcare leadership is, why it’s important, and what makes an effective leader in the healthcare system.

What is Healthcare Leadership?

Leadership is often defined as an ability to manage a team effectively. This definition, however, is only a part of what makes an effective leader. Healthcare leadership isn’t about maintaining the status quo, but identifying challenges in the system and finding solutions to those problems.

According to Dr. Robert Baginski, the program director of Northeastern University’s Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) in Healthcare Leadership program, “Healthcare leadership is taking an active role in the direction of healthcare today.” It involves more than managing a healthcare organization, overseeing staff, or dealing with insurance. Baginski continues to explain that “Healthcare leadership ideally should be guiding healthcare in the direction that we feel it should go in the future.”

Importance of Leadership in Healthcare

Effective leadership in healthcare is incredibly important, especially when considering the expense of modern care. Here’s a closer look at the various ways that effective leadership can make a lasting impact.

1. Improves Quality of Care

Effective leadership is integral to quality healthcare . If a healthcare team is uncoordinated or unfocused, patients often pay the price. Great leaders facilitate communication, boost productivity, and put others first. This ability is critical to quality patient care since healthcare often requires a rapid response to issues that arise. In such situations, communication and efficiency are vital.

2. Creates Adaptable Leaders

One of the most prominent examples of needing adaptability in healthcare is the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the American Psychological Association identified seven crucial leadership qualities necessary for combatting the pandemic.

• Effective stress management
• Empathy and optimism when sharing information
• Building trust with expertise and dependability
• Honesty and transparency
• Consistent communication
• Openness to feedback
• Should be role models

When unpredictability and uncertainty is rampant, effective leadership is crucial. An excellent leader won’t just be able to navigate a stressful situation but also lead others through it and find solutions for the future.

3. Encourages Forward-Thinking

Leadership and management are often used as synonyms, but the reality is that leadership involves much more than the day-to-day operations of a business. Healthcare in particular has a need for leaders who are looking to the future of healthcare and how to improve it.

While healthcare leadership is important to every country, according to the World Population Review , the United States has higher healthcare costs than any other country. Furthermore, while the number of uninsured individuals in the U.S. is lower than ever , the healthcare system is highly dependent on access to this type of coverage.

According to a report from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker , compared to similar countries, the United States has:

• The highest pregnancy-related mortality rate
• A higher-than-average rate of diabetes and congestive heart failure
• A higher percentage of reported medication and treatment errors than the majority of comparable countries

According to Baginski, improvements to the healthcare system are possible with effective leadership. “Ideally, I feel healthcare should be looking to the future, toward solutions where we can provide the best and the most healthcare to those who need it most, regardless of insurance status, access to money, or where they live.”

4. Produces Innovative Leaders

One of the most prevalent challenges facing the healthcare industry today is the chronic shortage of healthcare professionals . An increasing number of healthcare professionals are experiencing burnout, and approximately 47 percent of healthcare workers in the U.S. are planning to leave their current position within the next three years. A 2022 survey of 1,000 healthcare staff found that 48 percent don’t believe their organization is doing enough to address burnout.

The healthcare industry is in need of leaders who are able to identify the problems that are leading to burnout and resolve them. Baginski explains that good leaders do two things differently when compared to ineffective leaders:

• Identification: Recognizing problems as they arise, and proactively considering potential problems. For example, the same survey reported that 57 percent of healthcare workers are concerned that their highly repetitive tasks will ultimately lead to burnout.
• Innovation: Finding solutions to those problems and contributing to the future of healthcare. To address the repetitive tasks in healthcare, many healthcare workers are hopeful that technology and automation will improve their overall experience and allow them to focus more closely on patient care.

What Makes a Healthcare Leader Effective?

Individuals who take on a leadership role in healthcare need several skills to be effective. Five essential leadership skills in healthcare are:

• Mentorship: An effective leader doesn’t stand above others but seeks to foster leadership qualities in them.
• Challenging the status quo: Leaders aren’t content with the status quo but are always seeking opportunities to innovate and improve.
• Educating others: In addition to mentoring others at the individual level, effective leaders seek to educate others outside of their direct influence.
• Humility: An effective leader isn’t afraid to accept feedback or criticism. Since much is unknown about healthcare, mistakes are often inevitable. A good leader will admit their mistakes or skill and expertise gaps.
• Creating opportunities for others: Leaders always look to the future. Instead of sole personal improvement, an effective leader will prioritize helping the next generation of healthcare professionals obtain leadership traits.

One of the most detrimental traits to quality healthcare is complacency. Self-satisfaction often leads to stagnation rather than proactivity. An effective leader recognizes their limitations and understands that there’s always something new to learn. According to Baginski, “Bad leadership is keeping things as they always have been because that’s the way they’ve been done previously. That doesn’t get you anywhere.”

Ready to Develop Your Leadership Skills?

If you’re hoping to advance your career in healthcare to a leadership position, it’s important to ensure that you’re prepared. One of the best ways to obtain the relevant skills and qualifications to advance to a leadership role is to obtain a relevant degree.

“Get all of your education and your experience first, and then get all of your information before you address that problem,” says Baginski. “Learn how to critically assess information and get all your ducks in a row before you start to confront change.”

If you want to become a more effective leader and advance your career, consider obtaining Northeastern University’s Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) in Healthcare Leadership . This degree will provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to take your first steps into a successful leadership role.

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How to Create Slides That Suit Your Superiors: 11 Tips

When you’re pitching ideas or budgets to execs in your organization, you need to deliver slides that fit those particular people just right. This checklist identifies the key considerations.

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I recently interviewed 20 of my customers, all in senior roles at Fortune 100 companies, and asked them their biggest pain point in presenting to higher-ups and even colleagues. What I heard consistently was that it can feel like Goldilocks bouncing from one option to the next, testing to figure out what’s “just right.” Does the audience want deep reports? Sparse slides? Something in between? Like … what?

Teams often come to presentation meetings with vast amounts of backup content just in case an exec wants to take a deep dive on any given point. There’s often a struggle to anticipate every direction attendees might want to go. It’s frustrating, and it’s not efficient.

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There are many ways to build slides. I’m not just talking about crafting them well versus poorly. I’m talking about all of the important decisions regarding how to organize them, how much text to use, when to lean into a chart, the best ways to use bullets and color, and whether to include an appendix with additional information. Before you make your next proposal or request of the executive team, use this list of 11 tips for your next set of slides as a guide.

Four Things You Must Have in Every Exec’s Slides

Before we drill down into the harder aspects, the ones where your executives’ tastes may vary widely, let’s quickly cover four aspects that you can consider the building blocks — the basics you should never proceed without.

Start with an executive summary. Begin the slide deck with a tight executive summary that follows a three-act structure. First, start with stating the current realities. Second, clearly state the problem or opportunity your idea addresses and its potential impact. Third, explain how your recommendation solves the problem or exploits the opportunity and the next steps you’re proposing.

Have a logical organization. The arc of the deck — the package from beginning to end — should make sense. If your audience reads only the headline of every slide, the order should be coherent and make most of the case for you. The content below each slide’s headline must support the statement made in the title. Remove everything that doesn’t support your point; as writers will tell you, you sometimes need to “kill your darlings” when you’re editing.

Begin the slide deck with a tight executive summary that follows a three-act structure.

Make it skimmable. Help your audience to quickly grasp the point without getting bogged down in details. Create a clear visual hierarchy. Guide the reader’s eye through the content: Use bold headings, bullet points, and numbered lists to break down information into digestible pieces. Highlight key takeaways or conclusions in a different color or font size to draw attention to these critical points.

Focus on concise insights. Succinct statements with clear insights are everyone’s jam. Every slide should serve a purpose and contribute directly to the decision-making process. Distill complex information. Don’t use 100 words when 20 words will nail it. If you’re having difficulty trimming, consider using company-approved AI tools to help you take out the fluff.

Five Preferences to Confirm With the Person You Want to Reach

Now we’ll delve into what your particular audience does and does not want. If you haven’t yet, start by asking the person you’re presenting to what they generally prefer. They probably know themselves well but have not been asked to articulate how they like to receive information.

Ask how dense is too dense. Some executives prefer detailed slides with comprehensive data. Others favor a more high-level approach. You’re weighing how to balance informative content with readability, ensuring that slides are not overloaded yet are sufficiently detailed to support decision-making.

Confirm the delivery format and timing. Some execs like information presented to them. Others prefer a pre-read of the material followed by a discussion. I always recommend our tool Slidedocs (I’ve written a free e-book on them), which are visual documents using both words and images. The templates help presenters organize their thoughts into a document for a pre-read or a read-along. They are designed to be skimmable and able to travel through your organization without the help of a presenter.

I’m a huge fan of pre-reads and prefer to use my time in meetings to ask questions and build alignment. If your audience didn’t review your material in advance, ask at the top of the meeting whether they would like you to present it or would prefer to read through it and then discuss it.

Find out how much data visualization they prefer. Charts, graphs, photos, and illustrations often communicate complex data more clearly than words alone. When execs can see what you’re saying, they often can better understand the impact of your idea. Does the exec want to understand exact numbers? Bar charts allow them to move their eyes across a series of specifics. Does the exec want to know the shape of a trend over time? Line charts can show the pattern. (See “Classic Charts Communicate Data Quickly.”) Some prefer charts with annotations that draw attention to what you think is the most important point. Others want to make their own conclusions from the data.

One of my clients, the CEO of a massive commercial real estate company, doesn’t want anything visualized. He prefers numbers, only in a table, and only in two colors — black and red. You might think this is archaic. But the fact that he’s clear to his teams about what he wants takes all the mystery out of how to communicate with him.

When the stakes are high, have a conceptual thinker help with diagrams and concepts. If you don’t have one on your team, and when it’s high stakes, find an internal designer to help you or hire one. You can’t afford to have the baby (your idea) thrown out with the bathwater (terrible slides).

Identify which details need spelling out. How well do the people you’re presenting to know the landscape and function of the company and products you’re talking about? For example, if your engineering team threw a slide into a deck about an issue that requires executive approval, do the execs all speak geek? Or do you need to explain the technology so that they will really understand the ask? Either eliminate internal jargon and acronyms or unpack those bits, especially if your proposal deeply involves expertise outside of the executives’ domain.

Ask whether appendices will be useful. When you’re organizing a presentation, you often troll data, read through complicated reports, and even hire external experts to figure out what’s best for the company. Do your execs want access to that supporting data? You can add a document to the end of the presentation as an appendix to show all of the data and source material. This allows the main content of the slides to remain focused and accessible while still providing comprehensive background information for those who want more.

Two Tips to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Getting materials in place is the biggest step. They will be your best tools for selling your ideas. But there are two extra areas to pay attention to as a presenter: how you handle questions and how you use every experience to improve.

Anticipate questions, and practice your answers. Before you have your meeting, gather a small team to challenge every point you make. Invite colleagues you trust to role-play as “a rapidly inquisitive exec” or “the doubting naysayer exec” so you are prepared to present your idea well. They’re gonna grill you, and practicing will help you remain unruffled when it happens.

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Ask for feedback after the presentation. Establish a feedback loop with those you presented to. Ask what worked well and how you can improve. If attendees don’t have the time, find people who have had their ideas funded and talk to them about what they did that worked. Advice and some perspective will help you nail your performance even better next time.

Empathetically understanding your audience members and how they process information, whether it’s executives or peers, sets up your ideas for success. Clarity creates efficiency. When a presentation fits just right, you’ve given your great thinking the best chance of moving through your organization and having maximum impact.

About the Author

Nancy Duarte is CEO of Duarte Inc. , a communication company in the Silicon Valley. She’s the author of six books, including DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story (Ideapress Publishing, 2019).

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