The Sound of Your Voice | "Is Communication Coaching for You?

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Is Communication Coaching for You?
Part I - Why Would I Need a Coach?
By Dr. Carol Fleming

Let's say that you have made an appointment with me and I have begun the interview by asking why you are in my office. "What do you want?"

I listen very carefully to what you might say. For example:

My voice is too high; people think I am quite young.
My colleagues complain that I don't get to the point.
I have to give a presentation and I'd rather take a whipping!
I want a promotion but my accent is getting in the way.
I will need more authority in my voice to get the legislators to listen to me.
I have to represent my company at trade shows and I'm really shy and I don't know what to say to people.
My boss says my 'communication skills' need to be improved if I'm going to keep this job.
I have to have more 'presence'.

As you can see, communication has many aspects!

You will notice that some are quite specific, while others, like the last two listed, are general. A person may focus on a very specific need and our time together is devoted to pursuing just that. In many more instances than you might imagine, the individual may be way off the mark in describing their perceived need for self-improvement. In these instances, the initial 'complaints' could very well stem from:

memories of their third-grade teacher
someone who doesn't have a clue about what they're talking about
their panicky response to their own voice-mail message
just a wild guess

The coaches' job is to:

give you an objective, knowledgeable evaluation of your (communication) skills
assist you in identifying and prioritizing realistic goals
guide you to the achievement of demonstrable results

All people who are serious about being the best they can be should consider trying a personal coach to give them a helping hand right at the moment of need. Why flounder longer than you have to? The columnist, Adair Lara, wrote about coaching in the following (excerpted) passages:

A personal coach is someone you pay to do what you already know perfectly well how to do, but won't. I can see a lot of good in this idea. For one, coaches have no agenda of their own. Husbands and wives make admirable sounding boards, but their views are necessarily warped by close contact. Two, they aren't shrinks, and don't want to be. Finding you bogged down in the mud on a country road, a shrink will join you in the car, hand you a box of Kleenex and want to hear all about your childhood. A coach will hand you a shovel.

Coaches are pitting themselves against the granite wall of stubbornness, kinks and enthusiasms that at this stage of life is your character, a wall that has proved impervious to every self-improvement resolution of your own. Coaching can help you go after long-held, half-articulated goals. It's like having a paid friend, one who has your best interests at heart and never calls up asking to come over and have a breakdown of her own on your couch.

Is your moment of need now? Call a coach. Are you specifically interested in developing some communication skill? Call me.

Coming up:
Part II. What Does the Coach Do?
Part III. What Do I Have to Do?

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

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