I’m a senior enlisted leader in the U.S. Army. “Death by PowerPoint” is a well-worn cliche among our ranks these days, and people are frankly confused when one isn’t presented. Case in point:
I gave a suicide intervention brief a few months ago to a room full of generals, colonels, sergeants major, and on down the ranks. Rather than use the canned slides we are given in our instructor training, I walked to the front of the room, switched off the projector, and told everyone that it was time for a conversation.
Contextual note: suicide is getting increasingly worse both in the military and in the U.S. at-large.
We -talked- about suicide. I asked questions and the crowd answered them. They began engaging each other on this topic — which, I submit, is the only way we might ever be able to turn a corner on people deciding to end their lives. I still presented the key points that I was trained to cover, but I did it in a way that allowed people to not just tune out what would likely have been their 25th PowerPoint presentation that day. The results were informative.
The enlisted personnel in the room were giddy that they sat through a class that did not require them to read slides and listen to someone drone on from the front of the room. Despite being in a room full of very high-ranking commissioned officers, they actively participated in the discussion, which was a good thing. The whole thing would have fallen apart if I didn’t have everyone’s attention.
The commissioned officers, however, to a person, came up to me after the class with bewildered looks on their faces. One of them summarized what they were all thinking:
“You just gave a class without PowerPoint,” he said warily. “Uh…can you do that?!”
The Commanding General (a two-star) approached me after I finished assuring this officer that not only could I do it, but I had, in fact, just done it. The CG put his arm around me and pulled me in close. I braced for what I was sure was going to be a tongue-lashing.
“You just talked to a room full of senior leaders about a very sensitive topic, and you didn’t use the prescribed slides,” he said. “It was the best class I’ve ever been a part of. I look forward to learning from you again soon.”
PowerPoint can be a useful tool in capturing vital information and conveying it in an easily digestible form, but it is no substitute for the two most important things in any successful organization: relationship and communication.
