So much of great leadership comes down to successful communication. It isn’t just what you say, but how you say it. Part of what a leader must do to ensure their messages are heard is developing a laser-sharp focus on their voice and the way they speak.
Here are some recommendations to consider as you delve into your voice practice as a leader:
Embrace authenticity
This year the world saw the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden who famously suffered from a stutter. Biden’s speech impediment didn’t stop him from achieving the highest public office in the United States; in fact, it endeared him to many of his followers. His willingness to authentically communicate and not hide his difficulties away has inspired people. As you develop your voice as a leader, make sure you are not subconsciously parroting the way someone else speaks or mimicking a famous voice. Those you lead will be impacted more positively by your sharing precisely who you are.
Breathe
Whenever our voice lets us down, either by cracking or not coming out the way we hoped, it’s almost always related to breath. A focus on your breathing will allow for a variety of wonderful things to happen: your voice will be healthily supported, you will make steady and unwavering sound, and you will allow for silences which are key. When presenting or even simply speaking in meetings, ensure that you take deep breaths, imagining your breath filling your belly. This diaphragmatic breathing allows for fuller and cleaner sound when you speak and helps you project your voice to fill a room. When you take pauses to breathe you create beautiful silences that allow your listeners to catch up, to translate in their minds, to breathe themselves.
Practice
A leader finds themselves in a variety of situations in which they must speak. Though sometimes it might be off the cuff, often a leader can prepare. It is best practice to practice. Don’t let the presentation be the first time you have ever said the words aloud. Practice allows you to plan where to breathe, to know when you need to speed up or slow down, and to get your mouth around difficult or tongue-twisting phrases. By practicing you create muscle memory which will subconsciously activate the next time you say the words; the importance of practice cannot be underestimated.
Solicit feedback
Both when practicing and when officially speaking, the best way to assess where you need to grow is through feedback. Find a trustworthy companion and ask them to focus solely on your speech: not the content, but the way you delivered it. Ask them to consider speed, tone, and volume. This feedback exclusively on delivery will allow you to embed the lessons learned when you next practice and when you next speak. Great leaders realise they have room to grow and embrace other perspectives to better themselves.
All of our management courses and apprenticeship programmes incorporate training in finding your leadership voice and its inner power. The positive impact this is having can be seen across our customers and in the healthy leadership pipelines that are being built as a result. Read more about finding your leadership voice with the apprenticeship Levy.