Six Signs That Slides Are Killing Your Communications

When should you become suspicious that slides are killing communications in your company? Achieving clear and effective communications is arguably one of the most difficult challenges in companies. In fact, we have more communications tools than any generation has ever had at its disposal, and yet we seem to be having more trouble communicating effectively. This challenge is exasperated the larger the company is and the more geographical locations it has. PowerPoint presentations seem to have become the standard tool for communication in meetings. It can certainly be a very good tool, if used properly, but it can also become a real barrier to good communications. Here are six scenarios to be on the lookout for.

• It’s All About the Slides. You know you are in trouble when a meeting is scheduled to discuss an important business issue and the group spends most of the time arguing about the slide color scheme, font size, and debating how to improve a picture or diagram. If at the end of most meetings, you have done more slide adjustment and very little debating on the hard issues that need to be resolved, or if you are spending more time making slides than researching the actual topic, then your communications have become all about the slides.”

• Resistance is Futile. This syndrome can be spotted in different circumstances. If there are meetings where you feel an issue would be best treated via open and honest discussions but your supervisor or the group decides that slides are always expected and that resistance is futile, your organization might be getting in trouble.

• The Emperors’ New Slides. A play on the idiom, “the emperor’s new clothes,’ this situation captures the scenario where everyone in your leadership team swears that your organization has become masters at great communications via PowerPoint when in fact nobody believes it and everyone is afraid to say it.

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Slides. This situation can be quickly assessed if yours is a group where slide or slide decks must go through various hierarchical reviews prior to being presented. You prepare your presentation one week ahead of time because your supervisor must review it because his/her supervisor must then review it because his/her supervisor must make a final review before you can present.

• Hey, Who Moved My Slides? The next sign that you are reaching an impasse in your organizational communications is when your team is left paralyses whenever a set of slides do not make it on time for a meeting, or the projector or PC stops working and the group is unable to continue the discussions and reach a solid conclusion on the topic.

• And the Grammy Goes To. This sixth sign reflects the behavior of judging the impact of a meeting by the quality of the PowerPoint instead of the quality of the discussions, debate, and conclusions reached to address the meeting’s topic. If yours is a group that tends to applaud the fancy PowerPoint with very little substance instead of the simple presentation with depth and focus, then you have entered the Grammy awards of communications.

Business leaders, managers, and project groups should be on the lookout for these six telltale signs that presentations have overtaken your communications and that slides have become the focus of the meeting, instead of simply a means to an end.