By Randall P. White, PhD., and Katie R. White

Sure, trainers have always had to make tough calls, but these days that means something a little different. Once mostly a face-to-face practice, executive coaches and facilitators are increasingly offering their wisdom via teleconference.

The sun never sets on executive education. As coaches and facilitators, we are global actors, as likely to be in Bangalore as Bakersfield. There are many enticing destinations, but it’s hardly Her Majesty’s Secret Service. A lot of what pays the expense account happens in our underwear on the dreaded teleconference.

It didn’t take rising fuel costs and time zones to make conference calls vital in the training world. Some functions of our work actually work better with a little distance and formality, not to mention the mute button. For example, the physical boundaries of a phone conversation can support presenting difficult feedback, by keeping the conversation on a more rigid schedule and by providing a medium that forces us to be precise in our conversation, because there’s no body language.

Teleconferencing is the forum of choice for pre-intervention planning with clients, coach team briefings, and client debriefings. And, as mentioned, giving feedback, although in those situations it’s likely to be a smaller teleconference, such as the learner and his/her boss.

Today, as travel budgets are more scrutinized than a few years ago, we definitely foresee more work by telephone.

How do training teams and clients make teleconferences more effective, efficient, and a little less dreadful? We’ve rooted out the bête noirs of huddling around a speaker phone and itemized this list of remedies:

1. At the start of the call, each person should sign in by saying, “Hello, it’s (your name).” We’ve been as guilty as anyone of starting a conversation with the host and then others can’t report in. While we are all friendly people, signing in and being quiet is the easiest and most efficient way to get the call started. Likewise, if the call is among people who may not recognize each other by voice, announce your name each time before making a comment. It’s a little more work, but at least you don’t have to wear “Hello, My Name Is” tags.

2. When the call has been particularly difficult to schedule, the host should acknowledge that and thank people for the time they are using. A sub theme here is to remember that in a global 24/7 world some people will be on the call late at night or early in the morning their time, and that is truly a sacrifice. If you’d like to see how it feels, schedule the conference call during their waking hours!

3. After the first five minutes (or when a quorum is reached), the host should review the list of people on the call and then give an overview of the call’s agenda, including order of items to be covered and time limit for each.

4. When you join the call late, be mindful that the call started without you. Don’t interrupt the flow of conversation! Wait for a clear break before announcing that you’ve joined the call. If people have been waiting for you to join, you will know immediately because the host will typically ask, “Is that you, Sally?” Then you can acknowledge your presence. Only apologize for being late if you have a significant role on the call, such as a discussion item that you had raised; otherwise, assume we accept your apology because everyone has the potential to get hung up (pun intended).

5. If you have to leave the call early, let the host know by IM/e-mail or at the start of the call when the host takes roll. Again, no lengthy explanations are necessary unless the call is somehow built around your agenda.

6. Be quiet! When you are not speaking, make sure the mute button is on. We are all on the go, and conference calls do not always get scheduled at the most convenient times. Ambient noise (from airport, auto, children, on the street) can impede others’ ability to hear. Be mindful also that mute buttons don’t always work, a la our favorite office products commercial.

7. Remember, this is not a social call and, when you consider the time investment of everyone participating, likely not an inexpensive one. Keep your comments succinct, to the point, and on the topic. Here’s where the benefit of a remote meeting comes in for coaching and training, which is always enhanced by carefully chosen dialogue supported by careful and active listening.

8. When the conference call is office to office—i.e., a large group on one end (face-to-face) and a smaller group on the other—we have known the groups to have a flag on the table for putting up people’s pictures. This can remind participants that these are real colleagues on the other end of the wire, and it’s OK to do some relationship building while still being task-focused.

9. Like any good meeting, toward the end of the call—say the last five minutes—the host or someone else should summarize the agreements reached, actions taken, next steps required—or, in coaching parlance, an action plan. If this is a routinized call, then people will agree to meet again at the appointed time. If not, a simple “thanks for your time” (see #2) will suffice.

10. Trainer, train yourself! Mute when necessary, take notes, be an active listener, encourage quieter participants to make a contribution, and realize that this call is as important as if you had all gotten on a plane and flown to one place to meet face-to-face, but a lot less expensive and time-consuming. (If it isn’t that important, you ought to be asking if you need to have the call.) Gosh, it’s 5:00 pm in Prague and noon in Boston—time for our next conference call.

Katie White, principal, Franklin & White, started at the Center for Creative Leadership in 1973 as executive secretary to Visiting Fellows Donald MacKinnon and David Campbell. By 1981 she was the Center’s first female vice president. In her tenure she managed a variety of administrative functions, including marketing, registrations, test processing, telecommunications, and publication sales. In her last position at CCL, she managed a staff of 28 handling program registrations and all test processing. She is a graduate of Guilford College, Greensboro, NC. Randall P. White, PhD, principal, Executive Development Group, is the author of both popular and academic books and articles, including the recent release of his book with Phil Hodgson, “Relax, It’s Only Uncertainty (2001, Financial Times Pearson Education).” He is an adjunct professor at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, has an adjunct association with Duke Corporate Education, and teaches at the Johnson Graduate School, Cornell University.

This article also appeared in trainingmag.com

by Dr. Randall P. White

Here’s the view from my phone in Dubailand. It’s truly an amazing place.

I was there for the first time this past weekend teaching a leadership program through Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. A friend was teaching a course on how to have difficult conversations, and I was teaching a course on leadership behavior and how to lead effectively.

Probably the most interesting thing about Dubai is that they’re having financial difficulties, too. Only the biggest difference between Dubai and the US right now, is that Dubai is asking for help. They’re asking teachers to help them.

So we’ll see what happens.

Now that I’m home again, I’m not too sure what to make all of it yet. I can’t really make any conclusions, just “Wow.”

Alfred E. Perlman predicted, “Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century.”

If ever there were an opportunity to learn something about leadership it’s 4Q 2008. And if you’re diligent and inquisitive you can earn an MA degree…Master of Ambiguity. [What is your capacity to deal with ambiguity?]

On the brink of the current financial crisis, United States Senator and presidential candidate John McCain offered a now famously Babbit-like bromide, “I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

But in fairness to McCain’s boosterism, nobody else really had a clue what was happening back in September, nor could anyone foresee the results.

But if a visionary leader had based her organization’s direction on a “fundamentally strong” economy, she might regret it today.

It’s time to look for “ambiguity leadership.” The visionary leader says to followers, “Let’s work together on how to make my vision happen.” The ambiguity leader says “Let’s work together on how we can learn what the vision should be.”

Philip Hodgson and I defined a leader’s role in our 1996 book The Future of Leadership as:

Identifying productive areas of uncertainty and confusion and leading the organization into those areas to gain competitive or other kinds of advantage.

Five years later in Relax, It’s Only Uncertainty: Lead the Way When the Way is Changing we illuminated the fact that in a situation of high uncertainty—like now—your view and approach are as relevant as anyone else’s. You’re winging it, but also you might be defining the marketplace for all competitors until the next “collapse of certainty.”

You can screw up, royally, too.

So one of the best hedges against ruin is to build a learning organization that can respond quickly to mistakes, so progressive thinking and implementation can propel you into the lead.

And if somebody says they’re certain about anything right now, get their best stock tip and do the opposite.