Why Your Public Speaking Skills Need Work

Now that you've learned how to harness your emotions, we're moving on to the next step: learning to use your voice effectively.

Often, we use the term "public speaking" to describe this skill.  That's a fine term in certain situations, but we're not going to use it for two reasons: 

Reason #1: It terrifies people

Reason #2: It's misleading

"Public Speaking" elicits a strong emotional response from many people.  They imagine themselves standing alone, often at a podium, facing a big audience. Their hands start to sweat.  Their throat clamps up.  Their hands are shaking.

(If you're feeling nervous reading and thinking about this - shelve your emotion for a minute so that you can hear me out.)

Here's the thing.  You do not have to speak in front of big crowds to get your ideas across to others or to influence people.

However, even if you don't speak in front of a crowd at any point in your life, you still engage in public speaking.

In fact, anytime you are sharing your ideas with others you're engaging your public speaking skills.  And since you do this all the time - and in certain situations it is CRITICAL that you do it well - it's important that you develop that muscle.

The foundational skill we're talking about here - the one that really matters - isn't “public speaking,” necessarily; rather, it's learning to use your voice effectively.

This is a skill that is part of the True Contributors program because it's a critical and high impact skill  - if you can learn to do this well you will become significantly more effective in your professional and personal life.  Without the ability to know when to talk, what to say, and how to say it - people will not hear you the way that you want them to.

The world needs to hear you well - because you're a contributor; you have ideas, perspectives, talent, and experience that add value.  Your contribution is needed (we'll talk more specifically about why next week).

For example, take a moment to identify at least one time in the last 6 months that you needed to say something - you knew you had a contribution to make, yet you decided not to speak up.

-Maybe you had an important piece of information that you thought would have helped your team make a better decision, but you were worried you didn't have enough proof to back you up.

-Maybe you had an experience with a similar problem as the one your team is dealing with now, but you were reluctant to bring it up because they didn't hear you out the last time you spoke up.

-Maybe you needed to hold someone accountable because they weren't performing to expectations or standards, but you hesitated because you didn't want to hurt their feelings or you were worried about looking like the bad guy.

Now, get ready for some tough talk: These were all missed opportunities - they were high stakes moments where you could have added something meaningful and valuable, but you missed your chance.

We're going to get comfortable using your voice effectively so that this happens much less often  - and so that you're able to capitalize on the majority of opportunities that come your way.

Now, likely, you have no issue using your voice in low stakes situations - when there's alignment on an issue, consensus on a solution, or when you are having a fairly easy and straightforward conversation. It's when the stakes are higher - when dissent is needed to arrive at the best outcome or when you know that a perspective is being overlooked -  that your ability to use your voice effectively really matters.  This is when your voice is needed the most.

For those of you who are comfortable with conflict or expressing yourself in tough situations - please read on.  The ability to get your thoughts out regarding an issue, situation, or a problem does not automatically translate to being heard effectively. These are separate skills.  Just because you're comfortable speaking up doesn't mean you're being heard.

Ok, it's YOUR turn: this week identify a conversation you know you can add value to and write it down.  Ask yourself: what's stopping me from speaking up?