Can You Hear Me Now?
Rachel Horwitz
Talent, Learning and Development Leader. I lead teams as a strategic business partner, enabling business and learners to meet their organizational goals.
I was facilitating with a group last week and I shared an embarrassing story which I will now share with all of you. We were speaking about tone of voice and about speaking too loudly or too softly.
For me, it started back in Kindergarten. As you may know from my previous post?The Future of Learning Is Short? I am not very tall. In Kindergarten, I really wasn’t tall. However, I spoke loudly. So loudly in fact, that my teacher recommended I attend speech classes to modify my tone of voice. My grandmother was vehemently opposed to this and said, “we all speak loudly in this family, it’s not a big deal”. That was the end of that.
Fast forward to high school. I wasn’t talented enough to be in drama, but I enjoyed speaking in public so much that I volunteered to do the morning announcements a few times a week. There was a microphone, but I felt like I needed to project my voice…very loudly. Unbeknownst to me, in the classrooms, this came across as a very painful noise to the overtired teenagers at 7:30am.
Apparently they would brace themselves and cover their ears on my announcement days. Embarrassing!!! ?? And my sister, who was much cooler than me and a few grades behind me, would often take the brunt of it in her own classroom, where the kids would say to her “Is that your sister? She’s so loud!” But no one told me. Now if I had gotten feedback on the spot from anyone, I may have modified my?voice so that it fit with being projected through a microphone. No one did. Giving feedback in the moment is a post for another day. I digress.
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Once I was told this information, I was highly embarrassed. Who wants to stand out as the very loud, but very short girl in high school? There is enough to be embarrassed about already.?I can’t say that I’ve modified my voice in any way, as now my kids tell me I’m too loud. Oh well.?
All this to say is that I’m new to blogging and posting on social media. Now that I’ve started my own consulting business, I need to find my tone of voice. I expect it to be loud. But right now, I’m a bit quiet, a bit shy and hesitant. I’m hoping that once I get my feet wet and get used to this media, I may be a bit too loud and you will run away cringing with your fingers in your ears.
Or I hope to be at just the right level, where I say what I need to say, in just the right tone of voice, enough people hear me, identify with me and I can recover from my previous embarrassing moments.?
Looking to make a difference in the lives of everyone I meet.
1 年Rachel Horwitz, SPHR, SHRM-SCP I’ve always been told I’m loud as well, so we can be in this club together ??
Working with our valued clients to provide innovative strategies and solutions for tomorrow's talent
1 年I can so identify with this! I am so unaware of my volume and have battles this all my life. I think I am louder than you!
Ex Head HR Center of Excellence, Escorts Kubota Ltd, Compassion and Positive communication trainer, Speaker, Executive coach, Member-National Council, ISTD, India
1 年Rachel Horwitz, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Thank you for sharing. Subscribed????
Managing Director, Custom Programs, Executive Education at Michigan Ross School of Business, Board of Education, Saline Area Schools & Board of Directors, Girls on the Run of SE Michigan
1 年I’m imagining you in Kinder! Fun piece. And I subscribed ??
Isn't it funny how one person could've said to you "hey, did you know..." and that little bit of feedback might've changed you and everything entirely! But would you have become the You that you are today? Hard to say, but I'm gonna venture to say that you are exactly where and as you should be, with great potential and a bright future ahead, at whatever tone or volume you feel like!! Looking forward to more content!