The Yoga of Public Speaking

Imagine providing information to over 100 proud professionals that, at first glance, could be taken as a sign that they were not doing their job.  Last week, I presented some data to some employees that seemed to indicate, at first blush, that they had not entered data correctly into one of our systems.

Before I get fired, let me be very clear: this group of employees care about their jobs and do them well. That pride may have sparked the initial reception I received, which was that I should get the fuck out of here.  I was told in no uncertain terms that my numbers were inaccurate and that they resented any attempt to use those numbers to evaluate them or their programs.

Remember, all of this is happening as I stand in front of 100 people.  My natural reaction in such situations is fight or flight.  You call me out on something, and I want to either get out of dodge or immediately crush you.  That defensiveness has gotten me into trouble in the past, specifically in professional settings.

Fortunately, that's not what I did .  I admitted that this system was still in its infancy, which meant we were still working out its kinks.  I acknowledged the very real possibility that some people had entered the data and that the system was, for whatever reason, just not showing it.  I agreed that any attempt to use this data for evaluation immediately was wildly premature and promised I would do my best to stop any attempt to do so.  I made a point to show where the data showed instances of success, and specifically successes where an employee had overcome the technical difficulties and learning curve to get information into the system during the past month.  What I was most interested in, I said, was getting this data right, so that, in the future, the employees could use this tool to approach their supervisor to begin a conversation about how to solve problems.  We ended up using the time to diagnose problems with the system, so that our team can fix them.  At the end, I got a nice round of applause, and everything was all good.

Yes, this situation makes me think about yoga. One of the things yoga can teach us is that we're not going to be perfect or right at every moment.  Sometimes, everything just comes apart.  Sometimes, you don't have all the answers.  Sometimes, you will fall on your ass.

Over the past year I've gotten much, much better about acknowledging where my body is in the moment I am practicing, as opposed to where I think it should be.  I've accepted the situations where I can't get into poses that normally pose no challenges.  Today I couldn't stick an eagle pose to save my life, and I smiled through my wobbling.

Eagle Claw don't need no reason

"Your life becomes your practice, and your practice becomes your life."  Quite right.  As I've been able to accept a yoga practice that is imperfect, I've learned how to accept imperfections elsewhere in my life.  Now, when I report out a finding, I'm keenly aware that I need feedback to determine how valid it is, or whether I need to go back to the drawing board work with other people to make it better.  Now, criticism isn't an attack on my person.  Now, criticism is a chance to make a good thing better.

Almost everyone can accept that.  I'd like to think that the professionals to whom I presented saw someone who wasn't defensive and who wanted their help to achieve a common goal.  I find that people can forgive almost any screw up so long as I own it.