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Category: Leadership

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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

Embracing Generational Differences in the Workplace

To reduce conflict and improve productivity, it is important to understand generational issues, culture, emotional intelligence, and engagement.  Leaders are often frustrated by some of the conflict that stems from generational differences in the workplace.  For real progress, we must learn to share the things that we have in common and appreciate the things that we do not. Once we understand people’s preferences and perspectives, we can embrace multiple generations in the workplace.  To watch a recent speech I gave to a large group in Phoenix, regarding these important issues, please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh7WLNJ1O4o&feature=youtu.be. 

During that speech, I discussed:

  • Avoiding generational stereotyping
  • Embracing each generation as unique and important
  • Improving soft skills
  • Developing emotional intelligence
  • Improving engagement
  • Improving productivity and turnover
  • Embracing diversity
  • Reducing conflict
Categories
Growth Management Personal Development Women In Business

Are You Ready to Grow? If So, Just Don’t Grow Broke!

Leaders talk about growing revenue in almost every Team meeting. Pressure is often high for the sales manager and his or her team to perform and always be closing to bring home the bacon. Are they focusing on the right conversation?

Here’s a secret you may have wished somebody told you – if you grow too fast, without having the cash resources, you’re going to need money from someone or somewhere. You’ll spend your time as a leader chasing funding rather than focusing on running your business, building your infrastructure, executing on your strategy and most importantly aligning your Team.

Growth for growth’s sake can be a death knoll for some companies. What is your profitability? Why waste time and energy seeking big numbers to have a miniscule profit margin? Make the right decisions – review your business model, look at your cash conversion cycle and stay on top of your metrics. Too many CEOs think that a financial report is the way to appease their banker. No! It’s the way to manage your company. The numbers reveal your cash flow story.

So what’s the alternative to pursuing revenue? Create a killer strategy and trigger points to know what action to take at those inflection points. These actions might focus on adding “A” level talent to your executive or management team or buying new equipment. This is deliberate, and intentional. There is no need to fly by the seat of your pants. Focus on making the right decisions at the right time.

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Growth Management Operations Personal Development

Customer Loyalty Test: Will Your Customer Evangelize Your Business?

The term “loyalty” usually brings to mind a long period of time … in other words, a lifetime customer. However, when I teach the concept of loyalty, I like to change the focus a bit. Don’t worry about a customer’s actions years in the future, focus on now. Or, more specifically, the next time. Customer loyalty is about ensuring a customer will come back to your business the next time, every time. Consider the following, what I call The Loyalty Question:

Is what I’m doing right now going to get the customer to come back the next time he or she needs whatever it is that I sell? 

If you concentrate your efforts on the here and now – and the next time – the future will take care of itself. If you consistently perform in a way that will keep customers coming back, you will ultimately end up with loyal, lifetime customers.

In these modern times, however, with technology and social media, customer service strategies are constantly changing and evolving, and this one is no exception. In light of today’s technology-driven social world, we can now put a new spin on this question.  I refer to it as The Evangelist Question:

Is what I’m doing right now going to make the customer want to leave a good review on social media sites? 

In the past when we talked about customers as evangelists for business, it was mainly in reference to the recommendations they would offer in face-to-face interactions. Today, customers can voice their opinions – good or bad – about a business in an instant on social media for the whole world to see. An important tool in business today is evangelism via the Internet – positive reviews on social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and websites like Angie’s List, Urbanspoon and Yelp.

And, a positive review gives you the answers you hope for to both the Loyalty Question and the Evangelist Question. The customer is willing to return, and he or she is pleased enough to freely offer positive reviews.

You might be tempted to think that this concept is limited to retail businesses selling directly to the consumer. However, B2B must not write off the concept as there are avenues in which industry magazines and conferences, as well as bloggers, will effectively “review” your company.

Social media has evolved rapidly and become a part of most people’s daily routine. As people “talk” on these channels, they share experiences with those in their circle of friends and beyond. It would be foolish for a business to overlook the importance of using social media to its advantage, so how can you ensure your company is portrayed in a positive light? Most importantly, do a good job! Create a customer experience that is so good it makes your customers want to share it with others, online and by word of mouth. This will not only evangelize for your business, but also create loyal customers who continue to grow in number.

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Growth Health and Wellness Management Technology Women In Business

7 Attention Saving Strategies to Manage Email Distractions

Could you accelerate daily productivity with tips to manage email distractions? According to a report by McKinsey, 28% of a person’s workday is spent checking email.  Sound familiar? That’s over one quarter of your entire business day is allocated just to manage emails. It’s a wonder any of us get anything done. Studies show that 26% of employees admit email is their number one distraction, and I believe that.

Here’s what I’d like you to remember – emails are requests from other people who want YOUR time and ATTENTION to accomplish THEIR objectives. While it is, of course, a necessary form of communication – YOU get to set the terms of how it is used, putting YOU in control of your time. Your time is far too valuable to let others determine how you spend it. So, what’s a person to do?

Here are seven of my favorite strategies to manage email distraction:

  1. Invest 15 minutes.This is something I’m passionate about. I love breaking things down into manageable bits. Manage email in 15-minute increments. Set the timer on your iPhone, play a game and answer as many as you can. Then move onto a more strategic activity.
  2. Put a limit on it.According to a University of British Columbia study, to manage email distractions means limiting your reading of email to three times per day reduces stress and distractions by 47%, boosting productivity and focus. That’s huge!
  3. Unplug from the unwanted. Millions of people use me, which is a fabulous tool that allows you to unsubscribe from email subscriptions that are filling up your inbox. If you’re not reading them, skip that distraction, save yourself valuable time and just unsubscribe.
  4. Block it out. Freedomis a cool distraction management tool that I use on my Mac and iPhone to block social media sites and email. It’s kind of the internet version of a do not disturb sign and it’s ideal for creating focused, uninterrupted time when you’re looking to increase productivity. More than 450,000 people use this app across multiple electronics.
  5. Create short cuts. Text Expander is one of my fave apps on my Mac. It is so simple. By allowing you to load short cuts for regularly used responses, words, and templates, it can save an ah-mazing amount of time. If you find that you respond to emails with similar information on a regular basis, this app might be one of your new faves as well!
  6. Bounce them back.If you use Gmail, this one might be the answer you’ve looked for. Boomerang for Gmail is a great service to manage emails by allowing you to bounce emails back to you when you want to answer them and write emails and schedule delivery for another time. Helps to keep that inbox overwhelm at bay.
  7. To-Do list it.I haven’t tried it yet, but for fans of to-do lists, the Taskforce app sounds like a solution. It lets you transform your emails into tasks and comes with an automatic filtering feature.

Being a leader in today’s world means challenging the way you work, communicate, interact, and manage your time and talent. When you recognize how very valuable your hours are, you start to get protective of them. Fortunately, there are brilliant people out there creating new dynamic tools every day that can help us effectively streamline our workdays, so that we reclaim that mismanaged time and invest it making memorable moments by paying ATTENTION to the important people in our lives.  When you do? You will have more impact and influence at work, at home, and in your community. That’s a win-win-win for everyone!

If your emails have merely become a means in which to communicate to others, it’s time to make them a way you can genuinely connect. When your emails are elevated to be more personal, personable, connected and sincere, others will not only want to read them, they’ll enjoy doing so.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development Technology

Collaboration for the Cybersecurity Team

When you think about collaboration what comes to mind? Have you ever given much thought to the importance of collaboration for your cybersecurity team, or how collaboration creates high performance teams? If you haven’t given much thought to the topic of collaboration that’s OK you are going to explore the importance of collaboration today.

Collaboration is the fourth pillar in the EPICC model for high performance teams and is incredibly important for your security team. If you have tuned in to the entire series on EPICC High Performance Teams you are on pillar four. If you are just joining us now you can catch up on the series and read about Engagement, Productivity, and Integrity; the first three pillars for a high performance team.

Since no single person on a security team can stay current on all the technologies, know all the current vulnerabilities, be versed on all the most recent hacks, or know all the possible solutions; collaboration is key to your security teams ultimate success. Collaboration is where engagement, productivity, and integrity come together and your security team spends time working together to come up with innovative new ideas.

Ideas build upon ideas when a group gets together to collaborate. New ideas, solutions, and innovation that no single person can come up with alone are born during collaboration

One of the biggest and often missing pieces of collaboration is discussing progress, what’s working and what’s not working? When a team knows where the project is they can collaborate on ideas to move it forward or maybe even change direction. This is how you remove the number of fires that need to be put out at the last minute and you reduce stress and cost. When something is not working, it quickly becomes the topic of conversation, but what about discussing what is working? That is often a missed, but critical conversation.

When things are running smoothly most people don’t stop to discuss why, but it is essential to recognize why things are working so you can do more of it. Plus, what is working for one person may not be obvious to their peers, so this is an opportunity to teach each other and refine their skills.

Of course I’m not saying you ignore the conversation on what’s not working, that is critical to course correction and you can’t always prevent or find all roadblocks ahead of time. But as soon as something starts to go south the conversation must include what’s not working. But remember, it can’t be about laying blame or pointing fingers, it’s about discussion, collaboration, and then cooperation and integrity to change things around.

The more your team collaborates the more they can identify the possible roadblocks ahead of time. This means you don’t have a group of firefighters running around always trying to put out the fire, you have a group of park rangers who are able to stop the fire before it ever ignites because only you can prevent forest fires.

The great part is collaboration can happen with or without you, the leader, as long as you set the tone, the expectations, and the example. If someone comes to you with a problem you can ask, “Did you work with the team to find a solution yet?” That could be the first step before involving you unless it is critical and needs escalation.

Remember you never know where the best idea will come from. You want to make sure that everyone on the team has a voice and that they know they can share ideas regardless of how crazy it may sound. That is because you built the team community around integrity, everyone should know that there are no bad ideas and that no one is ever ridiculed or judged.

For your next team meeting start a new conversation on the topic of collaboration, why it’s important, what it should look like, and how to accomplish it. Empower your team to work together, communicate openly, and share ideas. Build on the ideas of community and watch your team thrive.

If you have questions or comments about this article or the series you can reach out to me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com to discuss this topic, security teams, or security strategy. If you enjoy podcasts you can listen to C-Suite Success Radio to tap into the wisdom of other successful business people who know the path you’re traveling.

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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

Research Shows: Leadership = Warmth + Competence

When I think about building my image as a trustworthy leader, I tend to think about strengthening qualities and providing services that will proactively draw people in. That’s why I was particularly surprised by a recent study that took a markedly different approach.

At its core was the need to demonstrate two specific qualities that indirectly indicate that you simply won’t hurt others. While that may seem obvious, it was actually much more subtle: the idea was that at the heart of all relationships, both professional and personal, are two factors: whether you are “competent,” and whether you are “warm”. “Warmth” is important because it implies a lack of intentional threat. And “competence” balances warmth because it indicates that you won’t accidentally cause someone harm either. The combination of both allows people to trust in someone’s potential as a leader. It’s an interestingly defense-oriented approach to the perception of leadership.

But it’s more than whether or not you are warm and competent: the other half of the equation is whether other people believe that you have both of these qualities. This is where the ability to speak like a leader comes in.

What does warmth sound like? What about competence? We tend to think of warmth in terms of feelings and behaviors, and competence in terms of skills, but based on the above explanation of what warmth and competence represent, the way you communicate your intentions and executions will drastically influence your credibility on both fronts.

Let’s look at a few factors to consider for each of these areas, to ensure that your communication style allows your warmth and competence to shine through.

Word choice

Of course your message needs to be factually accurate and true, but it goes beyond that. When you explain something, do you give more jargon-laden detail than the listener wants, needs or can understand? Does it seem like you are avoiding answering certain questions or omitting other details? These habits can undermine the perception of warmth because it seems like you don’t really understand or trust me, and if you don’t trust me, why would I trust you? Alternatively, if you use lots of fillers like um, you know, I mean, or sort of, it seems like you lack confidence in what you’re saying, which erodes the perception of competence.

Using relatable anecdotes and clear organization, on the other hand, make it much easier for the listener to understand your meaning. This transparency allows them to let down their guard, and see you as a more trustworthy leader.

Articulation

Once you know what you want to say, the way the words roll – or stumble – off the tongue, will either help propel the listener along with you, or make them hit the brakes. Do you speak at a volume that is easy for everyone to hear, and at a speed that is easy to follow? Does your inflection highlight important words, indicating your personal interest in the topic and adding vocal interest for the listener? If so, all of these practices will reinforce your image of warmth and competence because it shows you are considering and prioritizing the needs of the audience. Mumbling, rushing, and monotonous, run-on sentences will all have the opposite effect.

Facial expressions

Tying it all up, your physical communication is, ironically, the strongest of the three communication modes when it comes to your appearance of competence, warmth and overall credibility. No matter how much expertise you demonstrate in your content, and how strong or clear your voice is, facial expressions such as occasional eye-rolling, unintentional frowning when concentrating, eye contact (or lack thereof), or chewing on your lip can signal your deeper, underlying negative feelings about what you are saying, from arrogance and contempt to insecurity. Remember to smile when appropriate, make eye contact with everyone without staring them down, and keep a neutral listening face in order to reassure the audience of the sincerity of your intentions.

Regardless of the seniority of your position, bearing these points in mind will help you reinforce the impression of being both warm and competent, and come across as a natural leader worth following.

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Do you have other questions or feedback about effective leadership communication? If so, contact me at laura@vocalimpactproductions.com or click here to schedule a 20-minute focus call to discuss it with me personally!

 

Categories
Growth Human Resources Leadership Personal Development

3 Reasons Why Soft Skills Are No Longer the "Red-Headed Step Child"

Soft skills are those personal attributes, attitudes, and communication methods that enable people to have high quality interpersonal interactions.  Softs skills have been the “red-headed step child” of the C-Suite leaders for a long time.  They have been dismissed and/or ignored because they were thought to be unimportant or even unnecessary to get results and getting results is what the C-Suite wants.

Since the middle of the 19th century, with the rise of the industrial age, leaders with knowledge and education usually rose to the top of organizations.   They organized work in their companies to make it easier to control behaviors.  The fundamental premise behind this approach was “the primary cause of problems is the dereliction of duty” by individual workers.  Individuals needed to be managed (controlled) to prevent mistakes and to maintain high productivity.  Control the individual and you can control the organization.  The purpose of the organizational chart is to sufficiently specify those duties so that management can quickly assign blame, should a mistake occur.

This approach took on a militaristic tone, which is not surprising because retired military officers had great influence on the leadership of early businesses.  New businesses relied on the technical and managerial contributions of engineers.  One of the few and certainly the best source of engineering education in the US was the US Military Academy at West Point.

Our economy has evolved.  Competition is global and more intense.  We need everyone to have knowledge not just a few concentrated at the top.  We can no longer control behaviors from the top and remain competitive. Soft skills are needed more than ever. (Boris Groysberg, 2011)  Our “redheaded step child” must be fully welcomed into the family!  There are three specific reasons why everyone, especially leaders, must develop their soft skills.

Reason #1: Employee engagement is a competitive advantage

Employee engagement is a highly desirable measure of organization performance today.  Employee engagement is emotional response employees feel that causes them to exert extra discretionary effort into their work without bribes or threats.  Employee engagement can only exist when employees are treated with respect, listened to, and trusted.  Unless leaders know how to use soft skills, such as effective listening, expressing empathy, and treating people with respect (avoid bullying) in all communications they will unknowingly be damaging employee engagement.  Leaders without soft skills unknowingly damage performance of their staff and their organization.

Reason #2: Employees must feel safe to offer new ideas

New ideas are the life blood of a growing enterprise.  New ideas and innovation can only be generated by employees in a safe environment.  Leaders who understand soft skills can consistently create that safe work environment.

Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence and Primal Leadership clarifies.  Those leaders who can use soft skills to influence good moods with employees will create an environment of innovation. (Goleman, 1995)

Reason #3: Productivity improvement must come from leveraging knowledge and tasks

Productivity in our country has consistently improved in the last 30 years.  This improvement has helped us grow our wealth and improve our lives.  Productivity growth is slowing because much of the gains have been with major leaps in technology that have helped us all work longer hours and/or more days per week.  We are now able to work 24-7 because technology allows us to stay connected regardless of where we are or what we are doing. I don’t know about you, but I can’t work any more hours without becoming exhausted or even psychotic.  Growth will still come from technology but we need more growth to maintain our living standards.

To boost productivity and profitability leaders must leverage their knowledge and allow employees the ability and opportunity to self-manage.  Self-management requires high levels of trust.  Leaders who can create trust quickly and maintain it will boost productivity.  Improvements in trust require soft skills.

Our economy has evolved and so our leaders and their skills must evolve with it. Soft skills are more important today because the knowledge economy has arrived and the industrial age is waning.   Leaders need soft skills to make the adjustment.  Soft skills cannot be learned with just training classes.  Leaders must create environments that encourage the use of soft skills.  They must receive feedback from peers and employees and they must heed that feedback and adjust their behaviors accordingly.

Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal.  Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.   Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP.  Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance.

Boris Groysberg, L. K. (2011). The New Path to the C-Suite. Harvard Business Review.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. NY NY: Bantam Books.

Categories
Best Practices Leadership Marketing Skills

How I Wrote a Book in 6 Months

It’s been a labor of love for sure! After a year and a half of thinking and talking about writing a book, I finally did it. However, I didn’t go about it alone or without a few hiccups. If any of you have ever thought about writing a book, I am going to share with you a few tips I have learned along the way.

How It Began

In May I attended The C-Suite Network Conference in Dallas, TX. As with any conference, the people you meet are the true fruit you take away. I was happy to connect with old friends such as Kathleen Caldwell and to meet a new one, Julie Ann Sullivan. During this event, The C-Suite Network held a book signing event with select authors that are part of the C-Suite Book Club. Kathleen, Julie Ann, and I were visiting with author and international business speaker, Phil M. Jones. He shared with us his one book that gets him the most traction. It is a quick-read and was less than 100 pages. The three of us looked at each other and said “we can do that. That doesn’t seem so insurmountable.” And The Publishing Divas were born.

Our Commitment

The Publishing Divas made a commitment to each other that we would each write a book and have it done by December. That gave us six months! First came structure. We held a Zoom call every other week. The first couple of calls we created a timeline with deadlines. Deadlines included when to have our book outlines completed, the writing phase, the edit phase, and the launch phase. There were times when we would each be behind our target timeline. Although it may have seemed disappointing, the point we each had to remember was we were still moving forward, even if it felt like one of us was stuck or behind. We were a lot further ahead than those just sitting around talking about writing a book. The commitment and accountability of the Zoom calls, which turned to weekly towards the last third of our phase, was the number one reason why we all feel our book writing was successful.

Phil M. Jones stayed in close contact with us to ensure we had everything we needed to be successful. His encouragement and sincere interest in our efforts continued to inspire us towards the finish line.

Shiny Objects

I won’t lie to you. There were many “shiny object” distraction moments for each of us. It is amazing how many things you can find to do versus sitting down to write. Honestly, writing does not come easy for me. In fact, in many ways, it is struggle and feels overwhelming. I tend to freeze up looking at a blank page.

One of the reasons I wanted to write a book, was not only to build my personal brand, but it was to help improve my writing skills. I knew it would be grueling, but as with most things in life, you have to go through it to get better at it. Personally, I had to set the timer on my cell phone for 30 minutes. I would look at my book outline and pick one of the items on there that moved me at the time. It didn’t have to flow in order. I would write in topic chunks.

After the setting the timer, I would make myself write whatever came into my mind for 30 minutes without stopping … without stopping to make sure the sentence structure was right, without stopping to make any grammar edits, without stopping to change word choices. I just typed what came into my head and knew I would edit later. This was freeing to me. Although the first couple of times, 30 minutes seemed like FOREVER. I remember typing away the first few times and thinking to myself it certainly has to be close to 30 minutes, and I looked over at my cell phone and I was only 7 minutes into the writing time! But it got easier. And it will for you as well. You can use this approach to not only write a book, but a blog or a LinkedIn article. Writing in 30 minute chunks is not overwhelming (well, the first couple of times for me it was, but it does get easier, I promise!).

Sharing Resources

We also shared with each other resources from how to get your ISBN number to graphic designers to publishers and everything in between. The more we shared with each other, the more valuable insight we all gleaned. We each brought a different personality and strength to the group. We were truly in it together. That is what made this process so successful. We wanted to see each other succeed, and we helped each other with any challenges. We have formed a bond that is unshakable and have created a lifelong friendship.

Book Launch

Six months from the moment we started the process we had our book launch in New York City in conjunction with The C-Suite Network Advisors Thought Summit. We stood proudly by our books as we visited with the Advisors and some family and friends who came to share in this celebration. The C-Suite Network staff and community have been most gracious in the entire process. Without their support and insight, I would still be staring a blank page. The support continues with many asking how may I help you promote your book. It truly is a community where we want each other to succeed by offering the gifts, strengths, and wisdom that have been bestowed onto us and sow them into the lives of others.

I hope you have found my book writing journey an inspiration in some way to you. One’s mindset really sets you up to succeed. I want nothing more than to see you all achieving optimum results in whatever your heart desires. You are worth it!

I help executives create a powerful image and brand so they look and feel confident wherever they are. Contact me at sheila@imagepowerplay.com to schedule a 20-minute call to discuss how we can work together to grow your visibility through my return on image® services.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development

How to Use Conflations to Negotiate More Effectively

“Conflation in a negotiation can be the bridge that leads you to the discovery of success”. –Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When you negotiate, do you consider how you can tie (conflate) your point to prior or current situations that the opposing negotiator already holds as being valid? Conflation for the point of this negotiation strategy is the act of associating two or more thoughts that link your perspective to one the opposing negotiator views as having validity. Conflation can be used in any phase of the negotiation.

The way to use conflation is to draw the attention of the opposing negotiator to a point he’ll immediately recognize as being valid. This can be something that is or has been in the news recently or any source that he believes to be valid. If you can’t direct his attention to such a point via something that’s current, search for something in his past that he’ll agree to as being valid; something that’s closer to your current negotiation time frame will have more sway with him and impact him more. Then, mention how your point is tied to that occurrence and allow him the time to mentally let that association seep into his mind. When such has occurred (watch his body language to gain insight that it has occurred), ask him if he sees the logic in your point. If he says he doesn’t ‘get it’, be sure that he’s not ‘playing dumb’ (different negotiation strategy to be aware of), and seek to clarify his lack of comprehension until he ‘gets the point’.

Conflation is a tactic that sounds overly simple to utilize and therein lies why it’s is so effective. The other negotiator has already made the mental connection to the point that you’ve highlighted as being valid, which becomes more difficult to deny or argue against, since he’s accepted it as being valid. Thus, it’s a logical step for him to connect your point to the position you’ve adopted, which gives your point more validity in his mind.

To become more dynamic at the negotiation table, always consider how you can conflate points that are perceived as being valid, with the points you’re attempting to make. Once the opposing negotiator senses the validity of your conflated points, he’ll be more apt to accept it and feel a kinship with it. After all, the subliminal thought is the fact that you’ve shown the viability of your point that he’s already accepted as being valid from another source. For him to deny such, he’d be arguing with himself. That alone would make the score two against one (i.e. him and his faulty logic against you). Thus, by using conflation in your negotiations, you position yourself to win more negotiations … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

Categories
Best Practices Growth Human Resources Management Skills Women In Business

Beating the Top 3 Bad Speaking Habits

Recently we identified three of the most common bad speaking habits. Knowing what the problems are is the first step toward breaking those habits. But once you know what to look for, how to do you make a change for the better?

Here’s the key to making real, positive change: Record yourself. Start by recording yourself talking for a couple of minutes in different contexts, whether on the phone, at a meeting, or in casual conversation. It doesn’t need to be long – the way you speak in the first minute or two is most likely how you speak for the rest of the conversation. (If someone asks, assure them you’re trying to improve your communication skills, that the recording is confidential, and that you will only be listening to your own contributions in the recording.)

If possible, video record yourself – even if it’s just when you’re on the phone – so you get the full picture. Otherwise, audio-only is fine.

Once you have made your recording, here are three things to look/listen for:

The first is fillers, or crutch words. See how many unnecessary words sneak into your speech, chopping it up. The first time you hear a “ya know,” “I mean,” “like,” “um,” or an unnecessary “actually,” add it to the list. Then every time you hear it repeated, make a check mark next to it on the list. It will show you two things: first, is how chopped up your points become, which makes it more difficult to comprehend for the listener. And second, is your preferences, which fillers you gravitate towards, and when you tend to use them.

The second is run-on sentences. Don’t think you’re guilty? Transcribe your recording to see if I’m wrong. How many real, honest-to-goodness periods did you “hear” and write? Did you hear a pause or a drop in pitch indicating the genuine end of a sentence, or was everything connected with “and,” “but” or “so,” separated by a litany of commas? Don’t write what it should look like; be honest with yourself.

Take note also of how run-on sentences affected your breathing and voice. As your sentences got longer, did you run out of breath and start to sound gravelly and weak? Make sure your sentences end as strong as they begin. This should give you some insight about how better organization and more pauses would improve the power of your message.

The third is to check your facial expressions, which is much easier with video. At what points do you look annoyed, uncertain or anxious? Do you frown, touch your face, smile nervously or furrow your eyebrows? Be honest about what impression it makes when you see it.

Try “resetting” your face from time to time by raising your eyebrows and letting them drop into place, and stretching your mouth into a wide yawn, then releasing and closing it, to return to a neutral expression. If your face is more relaxed physically, it will result in sounding more relaxed vocally, rounding out and reinforcing the impression you make on everyone else.

Regardless of what habits you think you have, experiment with a recording or two, just to be sure. (You know what they say about what happens when you “assume” things.) The new clarity you gain will be the first and most critical step toward breaking any old habits, and developing new ones that reinforce your vision and leadership.

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Do you have questions or comments about how to beat back your bad speaking habits? If so, contact me at laura@vocalimpactproductions.com or click here to schedule a 20-minute focus call to discuss them with me personally!