Tag Archives: communication skills

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The Art of Empowerment: Communicate Your Message

Creating a life that you love requires that you step into your authentic power as a leader. As a visionary leader, the ability to communicate effectively in front of audience will help to get your transformational message out into the world. When you make the decision to invest in yourself, it will pay more dividends that you could ever imagine. Learning how to speak effectively in public is a skill that is essential to your success.

Being able to speak effectively in front of an audience ensures that you can capitalize on opportunities. If you have not been taking your speaking development seriously, now is the time to start doing so. The first place to start is to do an assessment of your communication skills, in terms of your strengths and challenges. Every time you deliver a presentation you need to capitalize on your strengths. One of the most effective ways that you can get a sense of what your strengths are is to compile data through feedback and by recording yourself on video to determine how you present.

On the opposite side of knowing your strengths, you also need to examine your communication challenges. Feedback from people that you know and trust can help you in identifying your strengths and the areas that you need to improve. Once you identify the areas that you need to work on, obtaining a mentor or a coach can help you improve your communication skills. Also investing in a program like Toastmasters, a self-directed communication and leadership training program can help.

If you want to learn to speak effectively in front of a group, learning the fundamentals of public speaking is important. Some of the fundamentals include: knowing your speech purpose, knowing your audience, learning to develop great content, using your nonverbal language effectively and being conscious of your language usage. When you know the purpose of your speech you are able to connect with an audience. Doing demographic research helps you to identify who your audience members are and craft your presentation to meet their needs. When you learn to develop great content, you can connect with your audience with storytelling techniques and relevant research. When you organize your speech effectively you take your audience on a journey. Learning to use your nonverbal communication like body language, gestures and facial expressions effectively all play a role in connecting with your audience. In terms of your language usage, use powerful words as they do influence the audience’s perception of you.

As a visionary leader, you have gifts, talents and skills that the world needs. Learning to become a powerful speaker can help you to get your life changing message out into the world to help transform lives!

As published in Sibyl Magazine: For the Spirit and Soul of a Woman (August 2016 issue)

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Interviewed on The Brave Entrepreneur Podcast

My interview with branding expert Jena Rodriguez is now live on itunes. Jena Rodriguez is a brand strategist, national speaker, author, and founder of Brand With Jena based out of Texas. She interviewed me for her podcast: The Brave Entrepreneur where she discusses how entrepreneurs can be brave in both business and in life.

In the interview, we discussed how people can step into their authentic power as entrepreneurs and professionals. I discuss tips to be an effective speaker and why you should no longer put your dreams on hold. The time to start working on your dreams and goals is now! It was an honour to be interviewed.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST:
The Brave Entrepreneur Interview

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The Audacity to Be Seen and Heard!

Audacity. Say it out loud. Audacity! It feels good, doesn’t it? According to www.merriam-webster.com, the definition of audacity is intrepid boldness or bold or arrogant disregard of normal restraints. Now I would never advocate that someone be arrogant; however, if the circumstances are ones that have prevented you from pursuing your goals or you feel stuck in a particular situation perhaps that definition is worthy of consideration. Breaking the bonds of conformity and being truly who you are requires audacity.

Are you an audacious person? Is that you? Do you have the audacity to be seen, to be heard, for who you truly are? Can you own your brilliance? In other words, can you embody that boldness that is required to start a business? Or be vulnerable? Or to step outside of your comfort zone to speak in front of an audience to demonstrate your talents and expertise. There are studies that indicate that when it comes to public speaking, some people are more fearful to speak in public than they are of death. They are fearful of being ridiculed or of being judged.  This is unfortunate because speaking in front of a group about an important topic can be an enjoyable experience.

Speaking is the way that you express yourself, communicate and connect with others. On a one to one basis most people don’t find it too difficult to express their thoughts to loved ones, friends and colleagues. Yet to speak in front of an audience can be for some people, one of the most terrifying experiences that they will encounter.

This is truly unfortunate because if you don’t learn to become an effective speaker and effective overall communicator, you’ll miss out on many of life’s opportunities. This inability will hamper you both personally and professionally. Public speaking and communicating effectively are essential skills you need to learn in order to get your message out into the world. Commit to yourself that you will be audacious when it comes to speaking your truth. Being bold and having the audacity to be seen and heard  for who you truly are begins with knowing that you are worthy to pursue your dreams. In other words, it’s time to start owning your brilliance and the value that you bring to the world.

Today, think about (and share below) one way you can be bold or audacious in taking a step towards one of your goals. Know that you have value and you are ready to be seen and heard for who you truly are…in all of your brilliance!

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Giving Effective Feedback

As a speaker and a leader, if you want to elevate your skills, learning to accept feedback is paramount. There are aspects of our behaviour where there are “blind spots,” where we are unconscious or unaware. Feedback helps us to improve our skills when it comes to these blind spots.

There is a difference though between delivering effective feedback and criticism. When you deliver feedback to a recipient and it’s done appropriately, it’s a gift to the recipient as it helps them to improve. Criticism that is posited as feedback is not really feedback if you’re just listing the negative aspects about someone without delivering points of value to help the person improve. The way that feedback is delivered is so important because it can enhance or damage a relationship. The suggestions below will help you deliver effective feedback.

1. Intent
I know the old adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, your intent; however, in delivering feedback is important. When delivering feedback to another individual, your feedback should be designed to be positive, motivational and encouraging. Your feedback will be more effective if it’s designed to highlight the strengths of the individual as well as the areas that require improvement.

2. Be Sincere
When you assist another person with their personal growth through your feedback, it requires honesty and sincerity. When delivering feedback highlight the receipient’s strengths and be sincere if there are genuine areas of improvement. You want to be honest about their strengths without glossing over or sugarcoating your feedback.

3. Immediate
Feedback is most effective and has the greatest impact when it’s delivered after a behaviour has occurred. When feedback is not immediately given, it may lose its potency. The recipient of the feedback also may not directly link the feedback with the behaviour that requires improvement if it’s not given immediately, for example, an aspect of an employee’s work performance. When you give immediate feedback, the recipient is able to correlate or link your feedback with a specific behaviour. They are then able to start implementing your suggestions for improvement.

4. Specific
For feedback to be effective and have an impact it should be specific. Giving specific feedback with examples will enable the recipient to take action to improve because they have specific information that they can implement. They will not be working with vague generalities.

5. Method
When you deliver feedback make sure that you have a method you can use. One effective method is called,”the sandwich technique” or approach. With this technique, you start by delivering the feedback on a positive note. In the middle of your feedback, the constructive part i.e. the areas of improvement are delivered. Lastly, you end the feedback again on a positive note. The reason that this technique is so effective is because the “constructive criticism” is “sandwiched” between two positive pieces of feedback. The sandwich approach is very effective technique to use as it “softens” the feedback somewhat, so that is does not come across strictly as criticism or in an accusatory tone to the recipient.

6. Use I Language
When you’re delivering feedback, remember to use personalized language or “I” language, such as I felt, I suggest, my recommendation is etc. The reason being is that when you speak from the 1st person when you deliver feedback, the tone of the feedback appears to be less harsh. Using “I” language also reflects that it’s your opinion and not facts written in stone. When you don’t use I language when delivering feedback and instead use the word “you” all the time i.e. you did this, you must do this etc. the language appears to be more accusatory in nature rather than collaborative.

By following these suggestions, you’ll be able to deliver effective feedback. What’s your experience with feedback? For you, what differentiates good from bad feedback? Let’s hear your thoughts.

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