All communication is public speaking and communications are important
for career growth at all stages of your career growth.
When you hone your public speaking skills, what you can do is develop
yourself as a thought leader, you can inspire and motivate your teams
and you can also get buy-in for your ideas and be known for that which
you wanna be known for.
So in this video, what I'm gonna share with you are four key areas of
focus that you can use to increase your communication skills in the
workplace.
Key focus area number one is powerful presentations.
In sometime or the other, you're gonna be doing presentations, whether
it be in front of your direct managers, in front of your team, or
direct reports or your highest level managers or stakeholders and so
on.
There will be a presentation.
Now, in a presentation, you do have some time to prepare and chances
are, you know when the date of your presentation is going to be and
sort of who's gonna be there as well.
So one of the most important skill sets under the umbrella of powerful
presentations is to understand your audience.
And it's not just about knowing who's gonna be there and their job
titles and what they do in the company is more than just that is
understanding the deeper levels of what do they truly value?
What is a priority for them?
What are their wants?
What are their needs in the moment?
And having a real-time understanding of that because when you truly
understand your audience deeper than on the surface level, this is how
you can create a powerful message in your presentation that matches
the audience where they're at.
So that's the first part of powerful presentations.
The second part of powerful presentations is to understand how do you
adjust to the different formats of presentations?
Because chances are at some point you'll be be doing a keynote
address, you might be doing a panel discussion, it could be a progress
report, it could be a communication in the boardroom, it could be a
communication with the stakeholders and or it could be focus groups,
right?
So there's various different types of presentations.
So this is important to be able to adjust to giving different formats
of presentations.
And the third area of powerful presentations is to be able to
understand how do I deliver a very strong organized message?
So this is where you understand what am I going to include in my
presentation?
What am I not going to include in it?
And how do I organize and package the information or the data or the
ideas or my perspectives in that presentation in such a way that it
makes sense chronologically and it also makes sense in terms of
delivery and receptivity?
And then finally, the final area of powerful presentations in under is
understanding how do I conclude my presentation with a powerful call
to action?
Cuz let's face it, you're not doing the presentation for the sake of
doing a presentation.
You have an intent coming into it.
There's a purpose for it.
At the end of that presentation, there's something that you want them
to do.
It could be a proof of your budget, it could be that you want them to
say yes to your idea.
It could be that you want them to see things from your perspective,
but there's a call to action there.
So then the third, the final part about a powerful presentation is how
do you deliver a powerful call to action so that you can get and
engage and motivate your audience to take that action that you want
them to take.
So this is the very first key areas of focus, which is a powerful
presentation.
Key focus area number two is inspiring impromptu.
Now impromptu is quite different from a powerful presentation, namely
because when you are giving an impromptu communication, you don't have
time to prepare.
It's right there on the spot.
For example, it could be you pass your boss in the hallway and they
just stop you and say, Hey, can I get a progress report on this?
It could be all of a sudden at the end of a meeting there's a separate
discussion that starts to happen and your higher ups are asking you
for your opinion on something, or they're asking you to contribute to
the discussion that was just said.
And in that moment, you gotta respond.
You have to say something.
And that is impromptu.
There's no time to prepare.
You don't have the benefit of editing and deleting your message
because all eyes are on you in that moment.
Now a lot of people tell me that impromptu is much harder than
presentation for that reason.
So when it comes to focusing on giving an inspire, inspiring,
impromptu conversation, one of the most important things to do is to
be able to manage your nerves in that moment.
How can you stay calm and present in that moment?
How can you actively listen to what is being called of you?
Or how can you be sure to let you understand the prompt of what you
are expected to say in that moment?
So this is your ability as well to handle a q and a in that moment
when you're being asked questions that you understand what is being
asked of you, and therefore in that moment you can respond
insightfully and you can respond precisely.
So this is your ability to be able to package the information that you
have inside of you to be able to respond in those ways, and also to be
able to handle the more challenging questions that require more
dynamic responses.
How do you know what to say in that moment?
And are you addressing the question thoroughly and insightfully?
So that's an important component of impromptu.
And the final most important part of impromptu as well is to be able
to adjust and pivot when necessary and to stay on track.
And this is one of the hardest things about impromptu is how do you
get back on track when you lose your track or when you start going
down a rabbit hole?
How do you take those social cues from your audience members to know
that they are feeling that they, that you're addressing their
question, that they're interpreting what you want them to say, what
you want them to interpret it in the way you want them to interpret
it?
And how can you take those social cues in the moment to realize that
what you're saying is of value to them?
And if it's not of value, how do you analyze and adjust on the spot?
So these are important that impromptu, there's movement happening in
that moment and there's a back and forth, there's a dialogue.
And at the same time, the dialogue is a physical and mechanical
dialogue, one where there's audio and there is an energetic dialogue
as well where you're picking up on cues from individuals.
And this can happen whether or not you're in person with them or on
video.
It can happen either way.
Now the final part of impromptu giving an inspiring impromptu message
is to be able to handle the more personal challenges.
So what do I mean by personal challenges?
These personal challenges include things like how do you recall
information?
How do you remember what you wanted to say?
How do you remember what happened?
And they were asking for something about the past.
So this is the recollection of information, the package of an
information in that moment, and to be able to respond to anxieties or
nervousness that you have in that moment.
So these are examples of personal challenges.
So impromptu is very important that you have a method on how to handle
those more personal challenges that are not visible to your audience
members as they look at you, but you definitely feel them on the
inside.
And those personal challenges might be the thing that's holding you
back from being able to be good at impromptu discussions, right?
So this is the second key areas of focus.
The first one is a powerful presentation, and the second one is an
inspiring impromptu.
So if you're listening to this and you're saying, well, impromptu is
more difficult for me, maybe you're finding that presentations are
more difficult to you or there's aspects of both that are difficult to
you.
And if you want help with this, then I invite you to work with me in
the description below the very first link is an application where
you're gonna be speaking with a member of my team.
And this is where we're gonna explore whether or not it is the right
fit for us to work together.
And if it is, you're gonna have the opportunity to learn very hands-on
field tested methodologies on how you can improve those skill sets on
presentations and impromptu conversations, how to manage the inner
challenges as well.
And every single week I provide this training and opportunities for
you to practice and practice in a way where you can get real feedback
on how to improve and exactly what to improve.
So if you're serious about developing this skillset, then click the
link below and I look forward to working with you on the inside.
Key area of focus number three is to govern glossophobia.
So what is glossophobia?
I talked about this in a separate video.
Glossophobia, the word glosso refers to the tongue, phobia refers to
the fear.
So glossophobia is just the fear of public speaking.
And the fear of public speaking is a really huge fear because when it
comes to the human population, it has been noted that the fear of
public speaking is one of the top fears of all the fears that people
can have.
And the fear of public speaking is no more than just communicating in
front of an audience member, where in that moment when we're speaking
in front of them or present presenting in front of them, we feel that
there's somebody in that audience member who has more knowledge or
more achievements than we do.
And in that moment, when there is that perspective, then we get
nervous, we get anxious, we fear that we're not gonna leave a good
first impression.
We have all of these thoughts that of failure.
We have all of these thoughts of criticism and embarrassment and so
on.
And those are the symptoms of the fear of public speaking.
So this is really important.
When you govern glossophobia, it doesn't mean that you never feel the
fear again, but it certainly means that the fear doesn't paralyze you
to start.
And then gradually you're gonna notice that the anxieties become less
and less.
And when you are in front of the room or when you are present with
certain individuals that used to make you nervous that they no longer
do, and instead you see them as your equals.
Like have you ever experienced that?
That your presentation is going quite well and all of a sudden someone
walks into the room where someone comes onto that Microsoft teams or
someone comes on video and that person is a, a senior member of your,
of the company.
And whenever they're around or just the mere thought that they're
listening, you just get nervous or, or all of a sudden you, you go
blank and you lose your train of thought.
Sometimes there's certain individuals that have that effect on you
because of their position or because of whatever it is.
And I'm just, I'm sharing with you the essence of why that happens is
because of our perception that those individuals have more knowledge
or more achievements.
So this is really important.
When you govern glossophobia, then you remove the barriers to be able
to speak impromptu.
You remove the barriers for you to be able to share your ideas
authentically and freely in presentations.
And this is how you can step up to lead the way that you were meant to
lead.
And key focus area number four, this one is the most important, and
this one is sustaining self-governance.
So let's talk about self-governance.
What is self-governance?
Self-governance is your ability and your capacity to be able to manage
yourself, to be able to manage your emotions, to be able to manage
your mind, to be able to manage your presence so that when, and manage
your whole self in all areas of yourself.
When you have self-governance, this is when the noises stop.
This is when the anxiety calms down.
This is when all the volatility of our emotions, the fears and the
anxieties that we have, this is when it calms down and when it calms,
we can truly be present.
Have you ever noticed that is that when as soon as the emotions become
volatile within us, it's very difficult to really listen to what
people are saying.
And sometimes we're so concerned about, what am I gonna say next?
We're so concerned about making an impression that we don't even keep
track of the discussion at hand and we can't even remember.
We, it's so hard to be present and and calm of mind, to be able to
know what's going on and really listen to what people are saying.
And that can be an obstacle in terms of making the right contribution
that people want to don't want to hear you make.
And so your ability to be present is so important in impromptu, and
it's so important in presentations, it's so important in creating
meaningful relationships in the workplace as well.
So your ability to be present depends on your self-governance.
How can you manage your mind?
How can you manage your emotions so that you don't allow your emotions
to take over, but also so that you don't absorb the emotions from
other people and take things personally.
So there's two ways it's, it's a two way and as well you can, this is
what allows you to be more authentic in your communications,
authenticity, so that you can show up as yourself, not show up as
someone that you hope to be or try to be like someone else, but that
you can show up as your whole self.
Bring your whole self into that communication.
Your ability to be authentic will escalate your leadership as well.
Cuz when you are authentic, you're not afraid to say what you want to
say.
You're not afraid to be to get criticism.
You're not afraid to have people disagree with you because as you
know, sometimes that is gonna happen.
You say something, you give her your perspective, you give your
opinion.
Sometimes people agree, sometimes people will disagree.
Sometimes people will like what you're saying.
Sometimes people aren't gonna like it, and those things are gonna be
beyond your control.
But when you are authentic, the focus is not going to be about being
liked.
The focus is not gonna be making a good impression.
The focus is just gonna be on how can I bring my whole self to this
and be of service to my audience?
So this authenticity and that presence allows you to lead in ways that
are truly, truly impactful and confident as well.
As I mentioned before, one of the most common fears is the fear of
public speaking.
And if you are realizing that it's paralyzing, it's preventing you
from being able to share your opinions.
Then in the next video, I'm gonna talk about how do you overcome the
fear of public speaking, right?
That video is coming right up next.
Don't go anywhere and I'll see you right there.