The Sound of Your Voice | "Poise & Power" Article

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Poise & Power
By Dr. Carol Fleming

If you are like most people you probably have concerns about some aspect of your communication. Let me guess...

Public speaking terrifies you	Yes/No
You are afraid that you do not sound confident	Yes/No
You want an image of maturity, polish and intelligence	Yes/No

You answered ‘yes’ to all of them, didn’t you? Issues of Poise and Power are the primary motivators for most communication concerns. Let’s take a look at these three issues above and see how they apply to you.

Public Speaking

Do you put off preparing for a presentation until the last minute? If I were to ask, “Why do you do that?”, I wonder what you would say. Might be nice to know why you would avoid the work of preparation so you can enjoy the humiliation of an ill-prepared presentation in front of a group. Hmmmm. Call the psychiatrist!

Are you overwhelmed by the enormity of the presentation and don’t know where to start? There’s lots of help for that in the form of courses and consultations. This wheel has been invented! Go take advantage of some instruction to help you focus in an orderly fashion. You’ll feel ever so much better!

Do you focus on the needs of your audience first? Or are you just concerning about yourself. A service attitude (OK, love) will get you out of your ego-centricity into truly caring about your audience rather than being scared of them.

Confidence

For some reason you have concluded that your remarks/contributions are not worthy of respect. Where is this coming from? You may well have a history of negative reactions from authority, people who would not have been pleased no matter what you did. Or, perhaps you are a perfectionist and have unreasonably high standards for yourself.

Do you understand that your confidence is directly proportional to the adequacy of your work? Have you been short-changing yourself with hurried and slap-dash efforts that really do not present you well? Be honest with yourself here. Are you willing to do the necessary work that will make you as good as you need to be? Are you willing to ask for help in identifying how you can improve?

Polish

The concept of polished speech includes issues of eye-contact and carriage to vocabulary and intonation patterns that convey education and class.

But you might ask yourself why this is an issue with you. You may have heard an unfortunate recording (voice mail?) which you assumed characterized the whole of your speaking style. It doesn’t. One little snippet doesn’t necessarily characterize your total impact, especially if you are hurried or distracted.

Many people have unrealistic speaking standards, not noticing that very well-spoken folks are not always perfect in their enunciation or phrasing. Start listening more carefully.

Sometimes people assume that they sound like their parents and their parents were not very classy people. You may have advanced yourself through effort and education to social levels above that of your origins and you are now uncomfortable in that social sphere where the manners and styles are so foreign to you. You are probably aware that your speaking style has remained “down home’ no matter how accomplished you have become. If you are embarrassed by this and find that it is inhibiting your expressiveness, there’s no crime in doing something about it. You can set the highest ideals for yourself and that includes your speaking!

Contact us today to discuss how our workshops, coaching and training products can improve your Personal Professionalism and Communication Impact.

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