Let's SPEAK about it

Things look hopeless. Everything is lost. One no longer cares. On the verge of this imminent defeat, the leader raises to give a sterling address to his followers, filling their imagination with possibilities of glory, reminding them of their underlying valor, shares a story, maybe a sarcasm – anything that eggs them to act to their full potential and voila…you have a roused up team that turns the odds and emerge victorious. We have seen this scene play out in history & plays... Some of those speeches are today truly legendary. Granted, there are a few others you wonder if you would have moved your limb any faster had you been a recipient, but that not withstanding, there is a power to communication that’s an essential leadership trait. Thankfully, we don’t have a life or death - all or nothing situation at everyday work, but that’s no excuse to take this art lightly and ignore the potential a good communication can have on your listeners.

In this blog, I present you my top picks on what you can do daily when you speak to your teams, when you train an audience or address a mass gathering to be an effective communicator. If not a Martin Luther King ‘ I have a dream’ like impact, you will still conjure up enough magic to make things better than they are.

Number 1. Always Keep the audience in mind.

·      You adapt one size fits all at your own peril here. I have come to realize that even if you have to share the exact same content across different groups of people, what you say hits home much better if you package it differently, go to varying degrees of depths & technicality, length and medium each time for each audience (unfortunately the shortcut of copy paste, however tempting, is ineffective)

·      Be very aware of the Curse of Knowledge affecting what you think you are telling. Surprisingly often it’s not what they are hearing - ‘cause they are blind to what’s in your mind. This is famously what happens in many variations of the Chinese whisper games that we see online often leading to hilarious misunderstanding by the time it’s done. Listen what you are saying with a blank mind and you’ll see.

Tip: If you have a varied crowd, I suggest you speak to the majority even if you got some important VIP’s listening in.

Number 2: Tell stories. Make it interesting.

·      If a picture equals thousand words, a story equals a million explanation. Try it, it really gets the point across. It breaks monotony, people love stories and they immediately listen (some sort of a primal evolutionary instinct am sure, long before written matter came and we got wired to love a good one).

·      Personal accounts are the best of the lot as it lends tremendous authenticity to you- the speaker. It’s not a fable if it’s personal and that means they believe the point you are making is indeed a real life possibility.

Tip: Yes all variations works: a poem, an analogy, even a picture…anything but a text in Arial font.

Number 3: Be honest.

·      We have enough political speeches, journalist screaming, movie stars selling - all having a hidden agenda. Give something to people that's genuine and they know is coming from your heart. When the audience know there is no theatrics involved, they are more willing to actually listen with an intent to engage.

Tip:  Self depreciating humor is a powerful way to be honest and eases out some performance pressure. If you are uncomfortable with something about your speech, joke about it. They will love you for your honestly and be forgiving on your inadequacy later, if at all.

Number 4: Command over your language helps. Body language - of course.

·      Appropriate words are enough. Nothing pompous. A good grammar, accent and fluency pls. Can you think of anything you had listened or read that was a grammatic mess but still stirred you ever? Chances are bleak. This is a bit like good maintenance work. You get it right it’s usually not noticed, else it’s a distraction no one will let go off.

Tip: I have this particular problem when I have to speak in a non-native language. I use my top pick number 3: self depreciating humor & am honest about it - people forgive me I think).

·      Body language, passion, energy, tonality matters. Don’t fake it and make it look enforced. Usually If you care about what you are saying, these fall into place.

Number 5: Prepare.

·      Unless you are in an extempore, Prepare. People are investing their time listening to you, so you do justice to it by preparing well beforehand. As you prepare, you fine tune the content, cut the wastes out of your speech, get a coherent sequence, work on the above number 1 through 4 & give it your best shot.

Tip: Sorry, Prepare.

Of course, I'am by no means an authority on communication, but these principles work for me. When I was a kid, I had to say something on a stage. I remember the lines even today, but I couldn’t say it back then. The embarrassment of it all, drawing blank on stage, kept me from putting myself to any form of attention for long, leave alone public speaking again. But it got fine.., I got back weeks later and completed the speech with encouragement from a Samaritan teacher, later on went on to win some oratorical contests, grew to debate fearlessly by the time I completed college and I speak comfortably with an audience now. A poor outing, cold feet, an ineffective speech and a failure will happen and it still does with me. But like everything in life you got to (1) put yourself out there and (2) try what makes you better than yesterday. Hope the tips help someone looking for a headway like I did all those years back.