Virtual Leadership: How Do You Show Up? With Bob Kulhan via Vistage International

We held a special globinar for members of Global Chamber® that featured Vistage International speaker Bob Kulhan of Business Improv®. It was a "WOW" session, thanks to Bob's content and delivery. Thank you to Bob and to Vistage for the collaboration!

During the covid era, the method in which we communicate has changed drastically as we've all 'gone virtual'. We hit the pause on in-person meetings and replaced them with virtual engagements, and so how we show up virtually has become critically important.

Whether we are leading a meeting with our internal team or we are pitching and presenting to an external client, the way we package and present ourselves has become even more important now than ever before. The casual lead-in chats are replaced by scheduled meetings, and in virtual sessions, we are always “on”. In addition we typically only have the time “on screen” to affect our audience, and then we have limited ways to gauge the audience’s reaction. Bob took us through some techniques to overcome these challenges.

The conversation was NOT recorded, because the delivery is part of Bob's intellectual property. Talk to Bob! And if you have any questions or need a recommendation, contact me - I'm happy to provide that. This program was a dynamic and valuable experience!

Value to Members

Business Improv programs are based in high-energy experiential learning exercises that are pinned down by the behavioral sciences linking directly to real-world applications. We walked out with tools & techniques that we can apply immediately to drive performance for increased profits.

Learning Outcomes:

• Virtual Presence (Showing Up) – Cultivating a greater sense of self-awareness; maintaining accountability to oneself within virtual settings; understanding of how energy + attitude + simple framing of language can influence others positively within virtual communication
• Virtual Relationship Building – Strengthening empathetic communication and connection by developing an aptitude for better adaptive communication and collaboration in a virtual world
• Virtual Collaboration – Developing the skill set for overcoming barriers to communication, while creating collaborative and creative environments for adaptive problem solving in virtual arenas
• Influence – Defining what makes a message sticky and the messenger memorable
• Transferability & Sustainability – Defining the techniques that can be applied immediately and authentically in the next virtual engagements

There were some additional tips that I walked away with. One was Bob's point of showing up early, even for zoom meetings. His analogy of elite sports athletes now showing up at the ball park a few minutes ahead and then playing, really hit home. Arrive early, get prepped!

Bob also demonstrated some rules of engagement to have a strong impact - including high energy, positive attitude and a "yes, and..." spirit, which we demonstrated in small groups, and clearly is the way to go, instead of "yes, but...".

Finally... slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Bam!

Biography

Bob Kulhan

• Bob Kulhan is an elite improviser and an adjunct professor at both Duke University and Columbia University business schools
• Bob is the Founder & CEO of Business Improv® – a 23-yr-old consultancy linking improvisation to business through behavioral sciences.
• His clients include a who’s who of businesses (from pharma to manufacturing to aerospace), universities, organizations, and government institutions. He has also worked extensively with entrepreneurs and solopreneurs, as well as small and medium size businesses.
• He is the author of GETTING TO YES AND (Stanford University Press)
• The first 100% virtual program Bob led was in January 2017, and for the last 4 years Bob has pioneered experiential learning in the virtual space, leading dynamic, high-energy, Virtual (synchronous), Online (asynchronous) & blended solutions

Vistage is the world’s largest executive coaching organization for small and midsize businesses. For more than 60 years we’ve been helping CEOs, business owners and key executives solve their toughest challenges through a comprehensive approach to success. At the heart of our proven formula is confidential peer advisory groups and executive coaching sessions.

Global Chamber® is a growing and collaborating virtual community of CEOs, executives and leaders in 525 metro regions around the world - everywhere! We're the only chamber of commerce operating in hundreds of locations that helps exporters, importers and investors in every market segment connect to new clients, partners, projects and resources anywhere through a database of over 100 million trusted people via warm introductions, AI-match making, training, events and other techniques. Global Chamber® is a registered trademark of Global Chamber, LLC. since 2014.