Executives Need Communication Coaching to Navigate Today’s Boardroom Transformation

Executives need communication coaching to navigate today’s boardroom transformation. The rules are changing.
BY ANETT GRANT — APRIL 18, 2023

Today’s executives need communication coaching to navigate the changing boardroom.

One of the biggest transformations in decades is happening in boardrooms today. The rules are changing. The AV is changing, and most significantly, presentations are changing. “Presenting today is going through radical changes,” says Anett Grant, communication coach to 61 of the Fortune 100 companies for over four decades.

Here are the changes that Grant has identified. Executives need to recognize these changes to navigate forward with precision and power through these boardroom transformations.

The Shift in Timelines

Before, when executives had to make a 20-minute presentation, they would allocate 15 minutes of the presentation to walk the board through their PowerPoints, and then leave five minutes of the presentation for questions and answers.

Today, when executives have to make a 20-minute presentation, they can allocate five minutes at most for the PowerPoint presentation and reserve at least 15 minutes for discussion and Q&A.

So, executives can’t rely on the old practice of polishing and perfecting their presentations anymore. They now have to master the skills of spontaneous speaking.

“Today’s boards demand NASCAR-level skills – precision in handling tough questions coming at them from different angles while speaking at 150 words a minute,” says Grant.

The Merging of Conviction and Character

Before, in a typical presentation, executives were expected to deliver their message with conviction – bland conviction – the less personality, the better. Then, executives were expected to show their character at board dinners – after hours.

Today, driven by COVID and technological changes, executives are expected to demonstrate conviction and character in the same meeting. Executives must shift from their dry data delivery to dynamic delivery of the presentation and the story.

Executives need new skills to paint the picture that spotlights the business and highlights their character. They can’t save their stories for dinner. They have to deliver their stories in the meeting with relevance and precision.

It’s like going from black and white to Technicolor. Today’s executives must tell their stories with the reds of passion, the blues of analysis, and the greens of vision.

So, executives need communication coaching to finetune their skills to paint the picture that spotlights the business and highlights their character – all in the same meeting.

The Perspective on Numbers

In the past, numbers were in the forefront, presented like a newspaper – with headlines and supporting data. Executives were expected to take the board through the numbers in detail.

Today, numbers are the wallpaper. The numbers are in the background. The numbers are still there, but the expectations have changed, and executives are expected to provide a high-level view of the meaning, the implication, and the vision.

Board members have no patience to understand how you built the clock. They just want to know what time it is.