Forced out due to fear of presentations

pinkshoes

What is it that makes it so frightening? What are you actually afraid of?

I used to HATE any form of presentations and speaking, but now I teach and sometimes have to address entire year groups of over 200 kids!!

It is practice. But annoyingly doing it on a regular basis.

I spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m thinking about when other people are presenting and I am listening. If they are interesting I listen to what they say. If they are not interesting I think about stuff I need to do. Just imagine you are talking to a room of toddlers!

JReacher1

I’ve done a few presentations like this and although I’m not a great fan of it what always helps me is the fact that I know nobody really wants to be there listening. These sort of meetings are forced on staff to attend and frankly most people want it over and done with as quickly as possible and aren’t really listening.

motorguy

Marvel1 wrote: »

Hmm indeed.

Fine however the point still remains. An HR manager should be able to lead from the the front. Cant instill much confidence in the workforce if they cant speak publicly to them or on their behalf.

motorguy

JReacher1 wrote: »

I’ve done a few presentations like this and although I’m not a great fan of it what always helps me is the fact that I know nobody really wants to be there listening. These sort of meetings are forced on staff to attend and frankly most people want it over and done with as quickly as possible and aren’t really listening.

Yup. It does seem such a shame the O/P has not been able to overcome this.

And where do they go from that? How do you explain to another company why you resigned or expect a reference without it coming across as a major flaw?

sportsarb

I totally understand the fear of public speaking. I can't do it and I find so many things that other people see as routine, as impossible, and it came to a head about 18 months ago.

The one thing I wouldn't do, is resign, I'd let them take my request for a reasonable adjustment and see what happens. If they can't make a reasonable adjustment, let them take whatever action they see fit, you're not refusing to do things in order to be awkward. Its a symptom of a real condition that you have.

I turned down promotions and promotion opportunities because of the requirement to lead meetings both small and large.

sportsarb

motorguy wrote: »

Fine however the point still remains. An HR manager should be able to lead from the the front. Cant instill much confidence in the workforce if they cant speak publicly to them or on their behalf.

By the sounds of it, giving these presentations is a new thing, rather than something that had been a requirement the whole way along.

For the most part, I don't really understand why a HR manager would even need to be giving presentation, HR should mostly be a functional department that is seen but not heard. There might be some initiatives like get well/keep well/improve mental health that might be HR focused but can easily be delivered at a lower level.

Is it HR's role to speak for staff? While I got on well in the latter days with my HR department, they were the ones that sacked me, not the ones arguing mitigating circumstances on my behalf.

The CEO should be the one inspiring confidence.

eamon

I tend to agree with the majority of the posters here.

Presentations and public speaking are increasingly the norm for managers in many businesses. Sadly its also brings to the fore those that are better seen but not heard.


Sportsarb has an interesting view point. Why is the OP being asked to "present" shouldn't that really be the job of his/her boss?

richdeniro

Thank you for all the responses particularly the empathetic ones.

I've been doing the role for 4 years now and always receive great feedback in my reviews which includes 360 feedback from the wider company. Up until a few months ago I thought I was doing a great job but obviously this has completely shattered my confidence as it does seem like it's going to be the only thing my job is going to be judged on.

I know many have commented on trying to do something about it, this is something I have been trying to do for much of my adult life. I've had therapy and we have worked out that it stems from having to do a talk to the school when I was 14 and essentially having a panic attack in front of the school assembly. I have tried CBT and also been prescribed propranolol but nothing seems to work, as soon as I am in a situation where I might have to do public speaking I am transported back to being 14 again.

As to why I am being asked, it's because I love what I do and have introduced many new initiatives, such as a new career framework and work experience program for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previously I would send emails or put this kind of thing on the company intranet but now the leadership teams want it presented at these monthly events.

elsien

sportsarb wrote: »

I totally understand the fear of public speaking. I can't do it and I find so many things that other people see as routine, as impossible, and it came to a head about 18 months ago.

The one thing I wouldn't do, is resign, I'd let them take my request for a reasonable adjustment and see what happens. If they can't make a reasonable adjustment, let them take whatever action they see fit, you're not refusing to do things in order to be awkward. Its a symptom of a real condition that you have.

I turned down promotions and promotion opportunities because of the requirement to lead meetings both small and large.

Reasonable adjustments only apply if the condition qualifies as a disability. I'm not sure that this would.

Savvy_Sue

richdeniro wrote: »

As to why I am being asked, it's because I love what I do and have introduced many new initiatives, such as a new career framework and work experience program for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previously I would send emails or put this kind of thing on the company intranet but now the leadership teams want it presented at these monthly events.

I think you may have to take a gamble here.

If you can identify the main person driving this request, can you schedule a meeting? In it, you'd want to get across that you love what you do and you appreciate that the company is pleased with the new initiatives, but if they want to keep you there and driving these forward, they need to allow you to work in your own way, which means that if presentations are needed you'll ask someone else to do it, and that you see this as identifying and developing talent in others.

It's a gamble which may or may not pay off, but I have done similar: someone once asked how I was getting on with one part of my job, and I just burst into tears. I didn't even know how stressed by it I was until that moment! fortunately that led to that particular part of my job being taken away from me.