Impactful Speaking for Emerging Leaders
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How is your executive presence? The way you speak has an impact whether you are an executive in a high stakes conversation or a manager leading your team.
Scott Stiefvater is a public speaking coach at Slomoff Consulting Group. He joined me to talk about how the brain is meant to communicate (both speaking and listening) and the skills you can work on to achieve excellence as a speaker or communicator.
The approach he described doesn’t lean on technique, but rather on awareness of two realities. There is the inner world of the speaker. (Do I have the right words? What is the message I want to get across?) But beyond that is the experience of the listener. This is affected by the sound of your voice, your body language and more.
Scott explains 3 elements of improving “the swing” of your speaking, similar to a golf swing.
The first is getting control of your sentences. We’ve all experienced, both speaking and listening, the sound of a sentence that is being composed on the fly and doesn’t land with the impact it could. This is a skill that can improve with practice.
Next is your “pre-game” routine. Are your fully prepared with your content?
Finally, what is happening in your inner world when you are successful? What did it feel like? What makes that happen and how can you replicate that feeling?