Martel and Associates
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The Martel Approach:
 Leadership Communication, From Strategy To Skills

"Communication is the linchpin of leadership - the most accessible, reliable and powerful leadership tool any individual or business team has at its command."

Myles Martel, Ph.D.

Leaders advance their influence by taking ownership of a strategically-focused communication agenda that helps energize all activities within the organization.

At Martel & Associates, we advise leadership teams as they make critical decisions regarding leadership and team roles, key spokespersons and target audiences . Team members learn to leverage individual strengths for the benefit of the whole. Leaders develop and promulgate a campaign mindset that strategically links their communication to business objectives.

Leaders we advise begin to recognize how essential it is to become actively engaged in their organization's communication efforts. Our insights help them understand that their commitment to communication, with the support of their communication professionals, is critical to achieving their goals.

Our Strategic Focus

Strategic counsel emphasizes the following:

  • Embracing a leadership mindset
  • Pinpointing the target audience
  • Setting precise persuasive goals
  • Establishing a strong leadership presence
  • Achieving a high comfort level
  • Cultivating credibility
  • Negotiating empowered relationships
  • Developing a strategic leadership communication plan
  • Cultivating listening skills

Leadership Communication Profile

Our Leadership Communication Profile is the heart of our private one-on-one programs, and can be adapted for use by leadership teams. Developed by our firm after more than two decades of advising global business leaders, this groundbreaking 360° feedback tool provides a comprehensive view of how executives are perceived as leaders and communicators. Completed by the executive and at least four colleagues, it probes areas such as:

  • Credibility and influence
  • Values orientation
  • Leadership style
  • General communication behaviors
  • Leadership promise
  • Feedback management
  • Leadership communication skills
  • Approachability
  • Listening ability
  • Team & self-development

The Profile and optional follow-up interviews provide a solid foundation to assist leaders in preparing an ongoing communication and behavioral action plan.

Our Focus on Delivery

Verbal
  • Arguments
  • Word choice
  • Syntax
  • Rhythm
  • Audience rapport
  • Organization
  • Amplification and support
  • Psychological (motivational) appeals
  • Credibility enhancement principles
  • Audience attention techniques

Vocal

  • Tone
  • Articulation
  • Rate
  • Pitch
  • Volume
  • Cadence
  • Pauses
  • Emphasis

Visual

  • Posture
  • Gestures
  • Presence and body movement
  • Attire and Grooming
  • Eye Contact
  • Use of visual aids, including exhibits and props
Our approach to the 3V's helps elevate the leader's awareness of how to capitalize on persuasive communication to advance the organization's goals and objectives. Such credibility detractors as unnecessary qualifiers, weak verbs and nouns, defensiveness, transparent fence-straddling, excessive detail and over-reliance on visual aids and notes are replaced by elements of a more direct, positive, action-oriented, and results-driven leadership style.

"Banana Peels®"

Banana Peels (TM)

Our Q&A media and crisis seminars include the popular and highly effective "Banana Peels®" approach for fielding tough, trick and entrapping questions. Developed for President Ronald Reagan by Dr. Martel and featured in numerous publications, this method helps leaders deftly select an effective response from a range of tactical options.

Martel Research Unit

    To bring their vision to life via a high impact communication strategy, leaders need a keen understanding of their target audiences, including in-depth information concerning their attitudes, perceptions and behaviors.

    Our firm has a research function well prepared to assist leaders and their organizations as they shape a communication strategy to support their vision.

    1. Conduct in-depth interviews that reveal key stakeholder attitudes and perceptions
    2. Develop a business goals-driven communication strategy to address concerns and reinforce commitment to stakeholders
    3. Create messages, themes and actions to support the strategy
    4. Frame a tactical plan to deliver the message and implement actions to generate appropriate response from stakeholders.
    5. Provide ongoing strategic and tactical counsel to capitalize on the research insights.

Confidence

To be motivated, an audience draws energy from the confidence projected by the leader. Yet many of the communication challenges facing leaders remove them from their comfort zone - - forcing them to confront situations that undermine their sense of control, evoke discomfort, and project a compromised leadership presence.

As unpleasant as this fear-based anxiety may be, it is normal. To enhance comfort level, we assist leaders in:
  • Demystifying the fear-inducing aspects of the presentation or media appearance;
  • Perceiving the engagement less as a risk and more as an opportunity to advance the organization’s objectives; and
  • Achieving maximum ownership of the message by selecting ideas, phrases and modes of delivery compatible with his or her style.

Two proprietary methods developed by us strengthen the leader’s confidence and comfort level:

  • The Communication Anxiety Survey probes and assigns relative degrees of importance to 32 factors that influence comfort.
  • The Comfort Level Enhancement Plan highlights the connection between various preparation techniques (e.g. organization, phrasing, use of visual aids, practice methods) and increased comfort. 
     
Retirement

Positive Chemistry

Our ability to cultivate strong chemistry with our clients is crucial to our success; in fact, it is a frequent basis for the referrals we receive. Four principal factors influence this positive chemistry:

  • Our attitude regarding communication growth: there is no such thing as a perfect communicator; everyone can improve.

  • Our feedback style: constructive, supportive, non-confrontational, our feedback is compatible with the individual’s personality, style and the organization’s culture.

  • Our aversion to "cookie cutter" tips: we do not impose absolutes; rather, we offer a range of options, strategies, messages and delivery advice conducive to ownership, confidence and impact.

  • Our commitment to making every consultation and seminar an enjoyable learning experience.

"Martel & Associates helped us achieve a genuine paradigm shift in how we relate to customers and employees"

Leadership Team of a Fortune 50 Company

 

Impact

"Impact" is a focal point for all we do. Communication plans, strategies, and their messages should not be designed merely to inform. Simply informing is too passive—hardly destined to leverage leadership and achieve bottom line results.

"Net-Effects Goal Setting," ™ , a proprietary method developed by us, is key to clarifying and reinforcing our emphasis on impact. This approach removes the "softness" from communication and helps leaders define the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes they seek before shaping messages to achieve them.

This process translates into disciplined advocacy; it guides the leader in shaping a case far more likely to withstand scrutiny in the court of public opinion where the quality of communication always makes a difference.

A sampling of the broader Net-Effects Goals represented in our process:

  • Buy-in from one or more target audiences
  • Favorable media coverage
  • An enhanced image with one or more target audiences
  • Material support from one or more target audiences
  • Diminution of competitive forces

"Image Goal Setting" complements the "Net-Effects Goal Setting" and message development process. During this phase, we emphasize the significant role image plays in any interaction, and we pinpoint the traits which need to be accentuated to achieve the Net-Effects Goal, e.g. compassion, energy, conviction, optimism.

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