Executive Presence

Fake news … trade war … children in cages … severing ties with our allies … the US president meeting with oppressive dictators … these are challenging times. So you may ask yourself, how does this relate to Executive Presence?

When times are easy, no one really notices how you behave. As long as you don’t rock the boat, things move along smoothly. If you work hard, you are likely to get rewarded or promoted. In communication terms, as long as people understand you when you speak, it’s good enough.

When times are tough, however, what’s required for success changes. It’s no longer enough to be present and do your job. You have to stand out; you have to be clear about what you stand for, and you have to make a difference. In communication terms, you need to speak in a way that inspires confidence and trust. You need to project clarity, wisdom, and depth. And that’s what Executive Presence is all about.

• You can tell people you will help them … or you can communicate with such warmth and concern that your audience “experiences” your support. This is gravitas.
• You can dress up in a suit to show people you are a “leader” … or you can exude confidence with your posture and movement that communicates your leadership ability regardless of what clothing you wear. This is appearance.
• You can talk a good game, monitoring your speed as you speak slowly and deliver your “script” or you can communicate with such clarity, expression, passion, and connection with your audience that everyone knows what you mean without having to think about it. This is communication.

These 3 components make up Executive Presence: gravitas, appearance, and communication. If you embody all three, you are empowered to make a difference.

In troubling times, your ability to adhere to your principles and incorporate your beliefs into your communication style is critical. Components of your speech and movement that you can control and change include:

• Voice quality … how strong is your voice? Does it carry? Can you control the pitch and do you have a good range?
• Clarity … when you speak, do people understand you the first time or do you have to repeat, rephrase, and explain? Does it come naturally with flow or do you have to self-monitor and talk slowly?
• Intention … is your audience on the same page with you from the beginning or do you have to wonder about whether or not they are getting your intent? Do you feel like there are “misunderstandings” after you communicate your message? Or do you have mechanisms built in when you speak to gauge understanding and proactively address any “disconnects” as they occur?
• Phrasing … Do you say things in a way that people follow and relate to and that flows naturally, or do you struggle to find the right words and express yourself and feel that others do a better job than you do?

When it comes to Executive Presence, you either have it, or you don’t. In challenging times, we need more from our leaders. Standing up, being clear, communicating intention and inspiring confidence aren’t optional; these are requirements.

Are you up to the task?

Uhhhhh … How to Avoid “Filler” Sounds

Many of us want to eliminate the little sounds that we utter unintentionally when we talk. The “you know” language that just comes out sometimes. Can you train yourself not to do it? The answer is “yes”! In my experience, the best way to do that is the following:

– Work on your breath first. It’s much harder if you are holding your breath. Make sure you are inhaling and exhaling continuously as you speak.

– Close your mouth. Many people talk “fast” without pausing because they never really close their mouths. They also utter “filler” sounds for the same reason. To change this, it takes a little self control. Start by standing up as if you are going to introduce yourself publicly, and then say a few words. As you speak, remember to inhale before you start, speak while exhaling, and then proactively close your mouth and inhale. Proactively means you plan to do this. You don’t just breathe when you are completely out of air. You do it earlier.

– Keep a “cushion” of air at all times. When you inhale and then speak, make sure you aren’t “out of air” or what we sometimes call “below respiratory.” That means, you want to keep a “life vest” of breath so you are in a sense “floating” as you speak. You’ll then have time plenty of time to pause, close your mouth intentionally and breathe, and then open and exhale with speech without running out of air.

– Practice while speaking impromptu. More and more, people are called on to speak up without preparing first. If this happens to you, you want to have good breathing and pausing habits so you have one less thing to worry about and can truly focus on your content.

Source URL : http://englishbythehour.com/uhhhhh-how-to-avoid-filler-sounds/

The biggest mistake many Asian speakers make (Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Thai or Vietnamese, for example) is often focusing too much (over doing it) on the /r/ and the /l/ sound. Of course, it’s a good thing to work on those sounds, especially if you say them incorrectly. However, if you get a “general grasp” on them (you will know because people will understand you when you say words like “relevant”), then move on to working on other issues. Are you grouping words and holding the last one longer?  If you are primarily focusing on individual sounds, you could be making yourself harder to understand. Instead, focus on clustering words in groups and increasing the time between word groups. Spend more time on challenge words (say them more deliberately with focus), but give the entire “chunk” of data … the content of your speech … the primary focus. Don’t try to be a perfectionist… take what you have, and work on being the best you can be by focusing on the “bigger picture.”

Sounding Out Words English by the Hour

Most Asian speakers pronounce words as “units”. This means you say words one-at-a-time with all the sounds at once. So if you are mispronouncing a word, you probably won’t notice. If instead you sound out the word and pay attention to each sound (consonants, vowels, and syllables) and say the word deliberately making all the sounds before you speed it up, you’ll get a much better result!

Engage with a professional speech and American accent coach to improve how you sound and how you are perceived by others with help from professional coaching.

Source URL: http://englishbythehour.com/sounding-out-words/

Why Do You Need a Speech Coach?

It’s always been surprising to me how often clients tell me they want to improve their speech and become better public speakers, yet they don’t want to record themselves and no one gives them any feedback.

It’s surprising because with most things in life, if you want to be successful, you know that you have to do something to get there and monitor your progress. If you want to lose weight, you have to change your eating habits. If you want to get in better shape, you have to exercise.

Chocolate Brownies:
For some reason, people don’t put speech improvement in the same category, and they should! If you monitor your speech the way you do what you eat, you would recognize that lots of chocolate brownies won’t help you lose weight.

The chocolate brownies of speech are things like:

• rushing when you speak, using lots of filler words
• not asking clarifying questions to gauge your audience’s comprehension
• holding your breath
• poor postural habits
• a soft voice
• a “pitchy” voice
• random thoughts or circular topic engagement
• lack of variety in usage of connecting words, introducing topics, segueing from one idea to another, or summarizing key points
• frequent grammatical mistakes and mispronunciations

I ponder why people don’t focus on these things like they do weight and exercise, and I think it’s because they don’t know how to change. Many of us accept that we have to eat healthfully and exercise to take care of our bodies, but sadly, too many people just “wing it” when it come to speech and hope no one will notice.

If you are ready to take charge of your “brownie eating” habits and begin to create change, a Speech Coach could be the way to do it. If you’re not aware of what you could do differently or how to change it, you won’t ever do it. Getting a Coach will change that!

Source URL: http://englishbythehour.com/need-speech-coach/