Heroic Public Speaking Senior Teaching Fellow Michael Hudson played a key role in the program’s development—particularly in codifying Heroic Public Speaking’s teaching methodology, and teaching it to our new coaches.
With the launch of our new coaching program on the horizon, we asked Michael Hudson to reflect on his journey and write about what he learned building something new with Heroic Public Speaking’s team.
Here’s what he discovered.
The Inciting Incident
During a break at HPS GRAD last winter, a student expressed curiosity about how Masterclass works. (If you’ve never trained at Heroic Public Speaking, Masterclass is one of HPS’s signature classes. It’s consistently, brilliantly effective in helping speakers and performers make small, immediate changes that dramatically improve their performance.)
This student was “amazed” at how on-point the in-the-moment feedback was, and how quickly it transformed students’ performances, “every single time.”
I had been through many Masterclasses before, but at that moment, something this student said struck me: they were right. How does it work, every single time? The professor in me immediately became obsessed. I had to find the answer. There had to be a path, a process, or a formula, right? If there wasn’t, how cool would it be to figure it out?
The Research Phase
It took me a couple of additional HPS GRAD sessions to lock down a path for capturing the Masterclass process from a high level. Once I felt I had started to do that, it was time to start collecting data. (All while keeping this to myself, because I wanted to capture the process organically).
Apparently, however, the universe was watching. Because the next thing I knew, Heroic Public Speaking CEO and Co-Founder Michael Port looped me into a discussion about creating a training program to equip HPS’s new Performance Coaches to serve Heroic Public Speaking’s students. The vision was clear: we needed to find a way teach HPS’s teaching methodology to professionally trained working performers, so that they could coach HPS students in alignment with HPS’s culture and values.
I shared some brief insights with Michael regarding my clandestine ‘back-of-the-room research’ on Masterclass, and we agreed to make that investigation my “action challenge.”
That decision was key to our success. The “action challenge” is a brilliant tool that Heroic Public Speaking uses before bringing people into a working relationship. It involves completion of a focused task or project to test the working relationship and ensure the fit for everyone.
This action challenge not only set us up for success—it made the early stages of our work together as smooth and effective as they could possibly be.
Here’s what I learned…
Lesson #1—There is tremendous value in having candidates complete a test project before committing to a larger project or a position in the organization. It ultimately leads to more traction from the start.
The Development Phase
Once my action challenge was complete, the real work began. A date was locked down for a two-day, in-person Performance Coach Training event, and I joined the team to develop the program. The idea was now a deadline with a focused and well-defined vision. No more hiding in the back of the room invisibly trying to figure things out without anyone knowing. It was go-time.
To be honest, it was a bit intimidating to think about when we started. My exposure to performance craft had come through my experiences with Heroic Public Speaking across the past five and half years. While I had a deep understanding of what makes Heroic Public Speaking work, I had no formal exposure to the world of performance training other than watching and learning from Michael and Amy Port. What I did have, though, was over a dozen reps at HPS GRAD, where I had observed and engaged with many students over the years.
The clarity of the path and the defined deadline helped me push my doubts into the distance. The focus needed to be on the “how” at this point. So, I leaned into my HPS experiences and my work with companies over four decades creating similar programs. The path was simple—observe the current process, create a way to share that process, and trust the process to deliver the desired results.
Here’s what I learned…
Lesson #2— A clear vision, a committed team, and a locked-down deadline are powerful tools for removing the obstacles of over-thinking, procrastination, and perseveration.
The Creation Phase
My favorite thing to do in life is figure things out. When I was kid, I loved taking things apart and learning how they worked. I didn’t care about how to put them back together, I just wanted to be able to show others how they worked. This project was exactly that—take something that works apart, figure out what makes it work, and teach others how to do it.
My HPS training came into play here because the process was a lot like creating a speech and figuring out how to deliver it—everything we learn in HPS GRAD. We needed a framework that was aligned with what we do, easy to understand, and easy to apply. A framework that could be taught to the new Performance Coaches in two days at Heroic Public Speaking HQ.
My go-to approach over the years of doing similar projects has been what I call the 9-Box. It is a simple three-by-three matrix with heading labels atop each column and alongside each row. What I have discovered is if I can’t frame content around three core concepts and three approaches to sharing them, it’s too complicated. Often it is, at first, and the high-level overview ultimately simplifies into a deliverable solution through discussion, deliberation, and debate.
That’s when the project magic of the HPS team came alive.
Since you’re reading this, there’s likely a good chance that you’ve encountered the HPS team’s work and experienced the magic they deliver. With the 9-Box created, it was time to stop working alone and shift into team mode. The path for focusing the work needed the input of others, and it needed to be done in the context of the big vision for the two-day event on the calendar.
Ultimately, we discovered the simplified version of the framework for how Heroic Public Speaking does what it does, and we were able to map a path for helping coaches learn and master the process quickly. It boiled down to this:
Heroic Public Speaking does three things when coaching students:
- We teach to reveal performance craft.
- We coach to develop the performer’s mindset.
- We direct to encourage bigger choices.
Using this framework, it was easy to see how we could equip trained performers to coach Heroic Public Speaking’s students.
Here’s what I learned…
Lesson #3—The value of having everyone on the team share their insights reveals gaps we might miss, leads to a better and simpler path, and ensures alignment of the work with the internal processes that will make it possible.
The Delivery Phase
Armed with the performance coaching framework, the work shifted into defining the run-of-show for the two-day training event. There were 14 Performance Coaches-in-training attending, and they would engage with 18 Heroic Public Speaking Alums during the event.
Our goals were to…
- Bring the culture of Heroic Public Speaking alive for our new coaches.
- Share the process that the coaches would be using when working with students.
- Observe our new coaches in action, and…
- Deliver a program where the coaches and Alumni both received value.
The team’s approach for the two-day event was a learning mindset. Confident we were close to where we needed to be, we acknowledged this was a new experience for everyone. We didn’t expect things to go perfectly; we planned to be flexible and adjust on the fly when needed, and we focused on creating the best experience possible for everyone.
The event was a remarkable success. We learned a lot that will enable us to continuously improve the process. We shared the culture of Heroic Public Speaking with the coaches and saw how effectively they engaged within it. We made a couple of adjustments based on what we saw that improved segments of the program. We received very positive feedback from the coaches and the Alumni regarding the experience. All things that will fuel our efforts to take the next steps more effectively.
Here’s what I learned…
Lesson #4—Teams thrive when they’re comfortable with making big choices, committing to the process, and allowing the next choice to emerge from the process.
The Afterglow Phase
For me, it was an honor and a privilege to be a part of the event and to share a bit of time on stage with Michael and Amy. It fulfilled a dream I had planted in my mind literally five years to the day before I stepped onto the stage to reveal the framework to the coaches.
But there was a deeper impact for me, and something I see occur regularly for HPS students: The emergence of a new level of comfort when we are doing the work we are here to do. As someone who was literally petrified to step to the front of the room until my mid-twenties, I have always cared most about helping others step up, show up, and speak up. It has guided my work in academia and with every client I have worked with across the past four decades.
The opportunity to dive deeper into the way HPS works was as rewarding as it was challenging, and it was the most fulfilling work I have ever done. As I told the team in our morning meeting before the event kicked off: I’ve worked with hundreds of teams on initiatives like the Performance Coach Training project, but never have I seen a team so committed to creating transformational experiences, so trusting of one another (and of me as the new guy), and so supportive every step of the way.
I have said to fellow HPS GRAD Alum that I return to Heroic Public Speaking time and again because it feeds my soul. It does that because of its commitment to helping people do what they are here to do, and because of its success in creating a space where that can occur.
And that is exactly what this project allowed me to do. Thank you, HPS!
Here’s what I learned…
Lesson #5—When the work you are doing is aligned with who you are and the reason you are on the planet, it is much easier, much more enjoyable, and much more fulfilling
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