How do you tell a direct report they need to improve their presentation skills?
Make it a team exercise. Ask everyone to watch a recording of themselves and name one thing to improve, then follow up in your one-on-ones.
What I say in the video
Got a direct report who needs to improve their presentations? It can be a tricky thing to approach. You might tell them there's room for improvement when they're presenting. Well, what they hear is that you don't like the way they talk, and they get defensive.
Try this instead: don't pull one person aside. Make it something your whole team does. Ask everyone to watch a recording of themselves presenting, then answer one question: What's the one thing about my delivery that I could improve?
Then it goes in their development plan, and you check in at your next one-on-one. They'll usually name the exact delivery habit you've been noticing, just coming from them instead of you.
What I didn’t say in the video
This works because nobody likes being told they have a blind spot, but almost everyone will admit to one if you ask them to find it themselves. I've watched this often happen in coaching sessions: someone plays back their own recording and winces at the exact delivery habit their manager has been dancing around for months. The moment they say it out loud, it's theirs. You didn't hand them a criticism, you handed them a mirror.
That's the real reason to run it as a team exercise instead of a one-on-one intervention. Nobody feels singled out, which means nobody gets defensive before they've even watched their own footage. And you get the same outcome, a development goal you can actually track, without spending your credibility on a hard conversation you didn't need to have.
Try it today
This week, ask your team to watch a recording of themselves presenting and write down one thing they’d improve about their delivery. Bring it up at your next one-on-ones.
Bill Smartt is a New York executive presence and public speaking coach and the founder of Smartt Talk. He works with leaders in financial services, tech, advertising and startups.
