You’re Onstage at Work: 
Improve Your Performance

By Marsha Scarbrough

You may not be in movies, music or TV, but even in business, you’re still a performer. Whether you’re interviewing with a potential employer, explaining your project to your superiors or the team that will implement it, selling a product to a customer, or talking about your upcoming IP0 on CNBC, you need to give a memorable performance.

“Customers, employers and employees have big B.S. detectors,” says Bob Dickman, principal of FIRSTVOICE, a company that trains people, teams and corporations in compelling communication (www.first-voice.com). “Most people are constantly hyping and manipulating, so when somebody is actually authentic and speaking from their core values, they really stand out.”

Dickman (bob©first-voice.com) is an actor who has appeared in feature films (White Men Can’t Jump, Bull Durham, The Best of Times) and on television (Dark Justice, All My Children). He’s worked as an acting coach for film and television productions and taught acting techniques at American Film Institute, Director’s Guild of America, New York University and UCLA Extension. He also spent a year in a Zen Buddhist monastery in Japan. FIRSTVOICE corporate clients include the Ford Motor Company world design team and Mattel worldwide Barbie products.

“The presence of the Samurai and the passion of the storyteller are essential skills for success in the new millennium,” according to Dickman. “People are craving experiences. They don’t want data dumped in their laps. They want to connect with you.” Having the presence of the Samurai means being in the moment and fearlessly showing who you are. “The real enemy is not the people in front of you. It’s your own mind, telling you that you’re not competent or you’re not doing a good job or whatever keeps you from being present.” Having the passion of the storyteller means communicating what you’re excited about at a high, energetic level.

“A story is different than a sales pitch because it’s about your own experience. In an effective story, you’re differentiating yourself from the competition.” He also points out that a story must have a beginning, middle and an end. “Aristotle said that in a great story, the audience identifies with what’s going on. You’re speaking to a universal emotional truth.”

Dickman’s acronym for the elements of a compelling story is the “PHAT Principle.”

• P stands for Passion.

• H stands for Hero.
  Who’s the hero or heroine of your story? It could be you, your product, your services or your customer. Selecting the hero clarifies the story by determining how you’ll tell it.

• A stands for Antagonist.
  Who’s the enemy? Where’s the conflict? What are the obstacles in the hero’s way?

• T stands for Transformation.
  How has the hero been changed by the experience? What’s the resolution?

The PHAT Principle can be applied to speaking in front of a million people or selling yourself in a job interview Instead of just painting a pretty picture of how competent you are, build a story about what the problem was and how you overcame it.

Dickman adds that the ultimate job of the storyteller is to make the experience interactive by inviting the listeners to tell their story. “It isn’t just a monologue, it’s a dialogue between you and your audience.” Opening such a dialogue creates intimacy. “The ability to be intimate in a public situation is what makes an outstanding actor. Make each person feel like you’re talking to them and them alone, and they’ll connect with you in a powerful way.”

He also suggests looking at the story from the audience’s point of view. Ask yourself what problem your audience needs to solve and how your story addresses that problem. “How can my services or my product come in like a great knight on a white horse with a lance and slay the dragon that is about to devour my audience?”

Stage fright is one dragon that all performers must slay. Dickman knows a few tricks for dealing with it. “Stage fright is a very natural thing. It means you care about your performance. If you don’t care, then you shouldn’t even show up.” The trick is to keep natural anxiety from escalating into crippling fear. “You just have to say, ‘Yeah, I’m nervous. It means that I care about my performance. Even though I’m nervous, I’m still going to perform well.’” Then relax. Find the muscles that are tense and consciously relax them. The next step is to breathe deeply into your abdomen. “When we’re scared, we stop breathing. The breath is what supports the voice. If you’re not breathing, literally you can’t talk.” Consciously breathe slowly and deeply. Return to normal breathing just before your performance. If your breaths become rapid and shallow, drop your attention down to your belly and breathe into your abdomen again. The technique is simple, but you need to practice it frequently. If you’re already in a hyper state when you walk in, it’s much more difficult to recover.

Another grounding technique is to put your attention on your feet as you’re walking. “Actually become aware of the connection between your feet and the earth,” he advises. “Otherwise, you feel like a balloon. You’re just a talking head floating up out of your body.” Grounding your body and conscious deep breathing are the two keys to keeping anxiety under control.

“What I’m teaching people isn’t a series of techniques to put on top of their own B.S.,” explains Dickman. “It’s looking into their own values and their own core voice. By expressing those, they’re able to impact the audience in a deeper way. . . and keep their own integrity.”

Career advice sponsored by Futurestep, an executive recruiting service from Korn/Ferry International and The Wall Street Journal.