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It’s imperative for young nonprofit professionals to develop their leadership skills in and out of the workplace.  Part of developing your skills to have a successful nonprofit career is putting yourself in uncomfortable positions.  Just being in the position isn’t enough though, you have to learn from the situation, and work on improving your skills to make the situation less uncomfortable in the future.

One thing you can do to be uncomfortable is stand up in front of a group.  No matter how comfortable you may be in front of people there is always the possibility an uncomfortable situation may occur. You could forget a piece of your presentation, say something incorrectly, or get demands from the audience you weren’t prepared for.  For most people though, standing up in front of a group is just plain uncomfortable.

Over the past two years I have been struggling and working on my presentation, facilitation, and training skills.  Over the two years, I have gone from an extremely nervous presenter to an almost comfortable leader in front of a group.

In July of 2007, I took part in a conference my organization was putting on.  Part of my role was to introduce and thank our keynote speaker.  When I got up on stage to thank the presenter I began with a joke about arugula, our presenters favorite vegetable, and then bombed.  I choked; I coughed, couldn’t get my voice back and ran off stage.  My director had to step in for me.  As she was stumbling through my part of the speech I stood in the back sulking about my failure.  After a few minutes, I did however; make my way back up on the stage.

In the months following my presentation tragedy I began looking for ways to improve my nervousness in front of crowds, and surprisingly more opportunities to be in front of a group.  I was determined to learn from the conference speech and improve my leadership skills.  My path to where I am today, gave me a chance to learn a lot about my self and improve my leadership skills.

Here is what I learned from the experience:

How to ask for help

I began asking everyone I could about how I could improve my presentation skills, as well as to critique each presentation I made.  Getting this feedback gave me a chance to improve on my skills through feedback, and look to others for advice on improvement.  These skills are both important for young nonprofit professionals who may be wearing many hats in their organization or working as director right out of college.  Looking to others for help can only make you stronger (as long as you aren’t doing it for everything day-to-day).

More about my leadership style

Presenting, training and facilitating are all about influencing a group to be on the same page, get to know some sort of content, or to learn the right way of doing something.  As a leader it is important for you to know the best way for you to do this.  Being in front of a group gives you the chance to experience different personalities and how your leadership style melds with these personalities, and how you may have to adapt your leadership style to varying situations.

A structure for personal development

Over the two years I was working on my presentation skills, I set myself up for a personal development plan.  Through some trial and error I found the best way for me to improve my skills.  For me, it’s asking for advice from others, researching online different techniques, and then practicing as much as possible.  Each time I would practice I would then look at ways I could improve myself.  For you it may be some combination of these techniques, along with others.  I challenge you to take the time to figure out how you learn best, especially when it comes to your own personal leadership skills.

Standing in front of a group is only one way you can feel uncomfortable to build your leadership.  Watch over the next month as Sam Davidson and I blog about some more ways.  Sam’s next blog will be Wednesday, October 7.

In the next few days, let us know how you’ve built your leadership skills through uncomfortable situations.  Use the tag #devleadership on Twitter and Facebook or comment on this blog to let us know your story.