Welcome to the 19th edition of North Star Blueprints! In this weekly newsletter, we embark on a journey of personal and professional growth, offering observations, strategies, and inspiration to help you navigate life’s challenges and reach new heights of success. This edition will provide a summary of the daily insights I posted throughout the week, packed with valuable tips, thought-provoking ideas, and actionable advice on how to create better slides, schedule meetings, take notes, creating a line of succession, and on the value of optics, in the hopes of helping you to unleash your better self.
June 24: Presentation Slides – Final Touches
Having created hundreds of decks over the years I wanted to share some tips on how to finalize your slides. A well-designed deck creates a positive first impression and reflects professionalism, showing that you have put effort and thought into your presentation, which can help establish credibility and trust with your audience. These might seem minor but will take your slides from good to great, so don’t forget to go through this checklist as you finalize your slides:
- Spacing and Alignment: Ensure consistent spacing and alignment of text, images, and other elements.
- Grammar and Punctuation: Review text for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Ensure consistency in capitalization and use of periods at the end of sentences
- Consistent Formatting: Check for consistent font styles, sizes, and colors throughout the presentation. Make sure headers, bullet points, and body text are formatted uniformly.
- Visual Quality: Ensure images and graphics are of high quality and resolution. Check for any pixelation or blurriness.
- Logos and Branding: Verify the accuracy of client logos and ensure they are correctly placed. Confirm that all branding elements adhere to brand guidelines.
- Content Accuracy: Double-check all data, facts, and figures for accuracy. Verify sources if applicable.
- Color Contrast and Readability: Ensure sufficient contrast between text and background for readability.
- Clarity and Brevity: Simplify and clarify text where possible. Ensure each slide conveys its message clearly and concisely.
- Consistency in Style and Tone: Check that the overall style and tone are consistent throughout the presentation.
- Review with Fresh Eyes: Take a break and review the slides later or ask a colleague to review them to catch any mistakes you might have missed.
Once all of these are done, your deck should be ready to go! Now your audience can focus on the actual message as opposed to staring at a glaring spelling error or misaligned boxes.
June 25: Scheduling Meetings Etiquette
Several months ago (Insight 10), I’ve covered the topic of setting meetings with clear agendas and what are some best practices around it. But what about general etiquette for scheduling meetings? I keep seeing meetings that keep getting derailed, have poor attendance, unclear objectives, or are not scheduled all together… Let’s get these issues fixed:
- Assess the Need for a Meeting: Before scheduling, determine if the meeting is necessary. Consider if the information can be communicated via email or a brief conversation instead.
- Provide Adequate Notice: Give attendees sufficient notice to prepare and adjust their schedules. A few days is ideal for smaller groups while more time may be needed for larger or more important meetings.
- Be Timely: Schedule everything as soon as you can. Don’t wait.
- Clear Agenda: Always include a purpose or agenda for all meetings, whether they are internal or external.
- Supporting Materials: Include materials and send them in advance so people can come prepared.
- Identify Location: Use the location field for meeting room, if it’s online, or who is calling whom.
- Invite Only Necessary Participants: Invite people who are essential and mark attendees as optional so they know the meeting is occurring but they are not required.
- Manage Time Properly: Schedule shorter meetings and schedule them at convenient times (e.g., 15 minutes instead of 30, Wednesday morning instead of Friday afternoon).
- Be Punctual: Start and end the meeting on time. Respecting participants’ time demonstrates professionalism and courtesy.
- Be Mindful of Recurring Meetings: For recurring meetings, set a consistent schedule but periodically reassess their necessity and frequency. Ensure they are still valuable and relevant to participants.
Keep these in mind as you schedule meetings and you’ll immediately start noticing better engagement and more productive conversations.
June 26: Don’t Forget Meeting Notes
Have you been in situations where you constantly run into misunderstandings with clients, not aligned on the path forward, or simply have to repeat the same meetings again and again? It’s likely that meeting notes are not being sent or are not clear enough.
Meeting notes are essential for ensuring effective communication and accountability. They provide a clear and concise record of the key points discussed, decisions made, and action items assigned during a meeting. By documenting these details, meeting notes help to prevent misunderstandings and ensure that everyone is aligned on the next steps. They also serve as a valuable reference for those who were unable to attend the meeting and for future meetings to track progress and follow up on tasks. I wanted to share some best practices on sending out great meeting notes:
- Timeliness: Send meeting notes within 24 hours to ensure the information is fresh and actionable.
- Clear Format: Organize notes with bullet points, headings, and sections for date, participants, agenda, discussion points, decisions, and action items.
- Highlight Key Points: Emphasize main discussion points and decisions to help participants quickly grasp outcomes.
- List Action Items: Clearly specify action items, responsible individuals, and deadlines to ensure accountability.
- Consistent Terminology: Use consistent language to avoid confusion and ensure understanding.
- Verify Accuracy: Review notes for accuracy and ask a colleague to check if necessary.
- Include Supporting Documents: Attach relevant documents for context and additional information.
- Distribute Widely: Share notes with all participants and relevant stakeholders via email.
- Maintain Records: Keep a record of all meeting notes in a shared location for future reference.
- Follow Up: Include a follow-up date to review progress on action items and keep the team on track.
June 27: Who Will Take Your Place?
So many people strive to be irreplaceable, to secure their spot and become indispensable. In reality, you should always strive to be replaceable, that’s the only way you can move up and progress. Building a robust line of succession at work or your business is crucial for organizational continuity and growth. It ensures that the knowledge, skills, and responsibilities crucial to a position are not concentrated in a single individual but are shared and passed on to others.
Once you’ve built a team of individuals that are ready and able to take your role, you will be free to keep on your growth trajectory as well. This also mitigates risks associated with unexpected departures or transitions, safeguarding against disruptions in operations.
Encouraging a culture of mentorship and skill development within teams fosters resilience and adaptability. When team members are groomed for advancement, they gain the confidence and competence necessary to handle increased responsibilities. This approach not only prepares them for future roles but also allows current leaders to focus on strategic initiatives and further professional development, rather than being bogged down by day-to-day operational tasks.
Promoting a mindset that values succession planning contributes to a healthier organizational ecosystem. It discourages the notion of being irreplaceable and instead emphasizes the importance of collective growth and advancement. Leaders who actively cultivate successors demonstrate foresight and commitment to the long-term success of their teams and the organization as a whole.
June 28: Perception Is Reality
Just because something is perceived a certain way, does it make it real? This is one of the most controversial topics… Many would say that “truth is reality”, that “perception and reality are two different things”, or that reality doesn’t have anything to do with how we perceive it. However, whether we like it or not, in the words of Steven Fink, “when there is a difference between perception and reality, perception always wins”.
We tend to dismiss, or perhaps ignore, that how others perceive you can often carry as much, if not more, importance than your actual intentions or abilities (as unfortunate as it is…). Colleagues, clients, juniors and superiors, form opinions based on their observations and interactions with you, which then influence their decisions and attitudes toward you.
A polished appearance, clear communication, and consistent professionalism can positively shape these perceptions, leading to greater trust, credibility, and opportunities. On the other hand, even minor lapses in behavior or presentation can result in negative perceptions that are difficult to overcome, regardless of your actual performance or capabilities. This applies equally to individuals as it does to organizations and communities.
Insight 89 discussed the importance of protecting your reputation, and this week’s insights were all about elevating your professionalism. It’s easy to focus only on the big things, but often it’s the smaller more obscure actions, that are done consistently and successfully, that truly shape perception. This might not be ideal, you might not agree or like it, but that’s how the world works. Managing perceptions is crucial because they shape the reality of your professional and business outcomes.
But don’t forget, building “fake perceptions” is just as bad, if not worse, than not caring about them. Perceptions are still grounded in reality and truth, so make sure you dedicate your time to produce quality and showcase it. After all, a bad restaurant with many fake 5-star reviews, is still bad, and no amount of perception management or reality bending can convince people otherwise 😉
Thank you for joining me on this journey of growth and discovery. I hope these insights illuminate your path forward as you pursue your aspirations with purpose and determination. See you in next week’s edition!
