And what you can do about it…

 

What do great leaders have in common? Charisma, passion, hard work – yes, these qualities come to mind readily, but what presentingabout the ability to communicate to your superiors, peers and juniors effectively? To communicate effectively, you need to have a better-than-average language skills.

After reading a book called Rules of Work, I listed some managers in my organization who were considered potential leaders and started observing them in great detail. I found that the best managers in my organization, regardless of their seniority tend to be the ones who can speak effectively and efficiently.

Are you a good with your language?

Everyday, we demonstrate our ability through our interactions with others. Emails, Phone calls, meetings, presentations, talk near the water cooler and even informal toasts provide perfect opportunities for our superiors and peers to judge us.

Take a moment and think about how you are perceived by your colleagues in your ability to communicate effectively. Are you the person they turn to for sudden presentations (and luncheon toasts!)? When you speak, do they listen closely or interrupt you frequently?

The keywords when it comes to language is “Clean and Clear”

Below are some techniques to improve your language skills and tips on using them.

The Lost art of Precis Writing

Precis Writing is a technique where you are given a long text and are expected to summarize in a defined set of words. You must be able to condense verbose text into something that is easy to understand.

Tip: Use this to improve your email-writing ability

Email is the most widely used communication tool in business today. However, this generation has not been trained to write effectively with the result that most emails are either incomplete or ramble so much as to leave the reader confused on what he is supposed to do.

Note: Email etiquette is a bigger subject, which I will not get into here. Here are some links for you to find out more on it:

http://www.sideroad.com/Career_Advice/business-email-etiquette.html

http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec99/pirillo1.htm

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/636/01/

Play JAM

JAM or Just-A-Minute is a game where you have to speak for one full minute without pausing on a given topic. The original JAM is a BBC Radio game, with many rules and interpretations. For our purposes, just the “without pausing rule” is sufficient. If you are not used to this sort of quick thinking, you can spend one minute thinking and framing your speech.

Select a topic from your daily newspapers, spend a minute thinking and then use a timer to speak for one minute. If the topic is something you feel passionate about, then you will find words come easily. To add to the excitement, choose a boring subject or a single word!

Tip: Use this to become an engaging talker in informal gatherings

Note: I also find JAM to be quite entertaining for a party at home with family or close friends.

Join a Toast Masters club

Once you have some experience of speaking, join a ToastMaster club near you. In addition to plenty of opportunities for speaking, you get other many other benefits:

  • Speak in front of an audience of strangers
  • Listen to others and learn techniques from them
  • Learn to speak the right way – with tonal changes etc
    Tip: Use this to overcome your stage fear and speak in front of an audience of people you do not know.

Learn correct grammar

I don’t mean you should spend a lot of time with grammar books learning the difference between sarcasm and satire, but you should know correct pronunciation, use proper sentences and have a decent vocabulary.

There are hundreds of courses online, but often, the cheapest source is either your own organization’s training department or the local library.

http://esl.about.com is a good online source for learning the finer points of English. While it is focussed on people with English as a 2nd Language, it has something for everyone too. There are many links to other resources (since it is on the About.com site), which may be useful.

Here is a site which shows the common mistakes made by people – http://www.learnenglish.de/mistakes/CommonMistakes.htm

Tip: Ensure you don’t make basic mistakes. It also impresses people when you can talk and write flawless grammar.

Note: Bad spelling, pronunciation and incorrect grammar can confuse and irritate many people, especially for those who do not have English as their native language. They have taken the trouble to learn it correctly and they expect you to do the same.

Use the old ways – Voice recorders, mirrors

When I was in school, I used to participate in speech and debating competitions. One technique taught by my old teachers was to record myself using a tape recorder and listen to it a few times. Natural pauses, ‘umms’ and other blanks needed to be identified and worked on. The first time I did this, I was shocked – I was using these fillers a lot!

Another good way to study your body language is to stand before a mirror or better still, ask a close friend or family member to critique you.

Tip: Use this to correct your tonal modulations, posture and hand-waving when you speak – especially when you are speaking about something passionately.

Practise, Practise, Practise

There is no substitute to the real world. Grab any opportunity to speak before an audience. Just ensure you don’t bore them with long monologues and everything will be fine. This is especially true if you are not in the “prime speaker” mode, e.g., in a party. Keeping the conversation flowing by active listening is an important skill and better left for another post.

If you are in a position to plan your presentation or speech, ensure you know every aspect of it fully, so that you don’t get rattled by any questions.

Tip: There is no tip for this :)

Important Note:

All your efforts will be in vain if you cannot carry them off. Confidence is the important ingredient – confidence in your thinking ability, postures and language.

Summary

Your ability to speak and write well contributes to maintaining a successful image, reduces brain clutter and makes conversing with you a pleasure.