Tag: persuasion

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Strategic Communication: Becoming an Asset in the Workplace

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to be better at your job.  While it’s super general, most don’t really know how to accomplish this goal.  What it really comes down to is your unique value to others and how you can become an asset.

The most important value of Strategic Communication is its ability to support and assist other people’s decision-making processes.

The greatest difficulty facing decision makers is the lack of resources available to support their decision-making process:  Information, Time to analyze that information, and Analytical Ability (see below: “The Decision Maker’s Dilemma”– the source of these challenges).

The Decision Maker’s Dilemma: 4 key steps to effective decision making):

  1. Define objective(s) in a tangible and objectively measurable way.
  2. Identify and generate as many different alternative paths that lead to the defined objective(s).
  3. Select preferred paths.
  4. Execute!

Strategic Communication is about you becoming a valuable resource for your environment in dealing with this process.

If you become a resource, supporting the decision makers with these challenges, you are likely to turn (in their eyes) from a mere Service Provider to a Consultant or even a Business Partner.

  • As a provider, you are perceived as a drain on your client’s resources, making you an inherently unwelcome agent.
  • As a business partner/consultant, you are perceived as an addition to your client’s resources.  You are a resource, making you a welcome agent!

Basic Principles of Strategic Communication:
Manage Expectations – Understand the objectives (beyond your own).  See and relate to the bigger picture.
Be Solution-Oriented (not problem-oriented!) – Understand, relate to, and generate additional possible courses of action.  Avoid focusing on the past or spending too much time describing the present.  Do so by:

  • Addressing the future
  • Being positive and proactive – even when you have questions, come prepared with possible answers or with your own recommendations on how to best go about finding the answers to these questions.
  • Be analytical not descriptive – present your analysis, or the simple context of the data you want to present BEFORE you present the data itself.

Remove Barriers and Bottlenecks – Simplify the ability to receive and internalize your message by:

  • Prioritizing what you have to say – every word you speak is a resource your listener is allocating to you.  Make sure your message generates a value greater than the value of the resource spent listening to you.
  • Pay attention to Logical Sequence – make sure the inner structure of your message make sense.  Make sure each part of your message builds on the previous parts.  Try to make the order of your message be in sync with the questions occupying your listener as they come up in his/her mind as they listen to you.
  • Distinguish between WORK (=process/”how”) and PRODUCT (=desired outcome/”what”) – this is an extension of the previous point:  present your conclusions and/or recommendations before you present your evidence.

Now go ahead and actually keep your resolution this year. Strive to become an asset and a big influencer at your job!

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Pitch Perfect – How to Use Your Voice

Before his election to the presidency, Adolf Hitler took voice development lessons from an opera singer. Hitler understood early on that the voice is one of the most important elements of body language. The voice has a dramatic and far-reaching influence on how our messages are understood and how our ideas are adopted.

In last week’s blog, we introduced you to the importance of body language. Thirty-eight percent of the non-verbal elements of body language relate to the central elements of voice and tone. These are the two tools that can help us evoke inspiration and attention. Below are several tips for the correct use of voice and tone:

The enemy: monotone – strength of voice, speech rhythm, style or pauses – there isn’t just one way to use these vocal characteristics. Fast speech isn’t preferable to slow speech and vice-versa; there’s no preference between a strong voice and a weak voice. The key to all of types of speech is diversity. These characteristics have a wide range of use and the speaker must move within this range. The mistake most people make is that they adopt a permanent tone and rhythm and stick with it. Here are ways to vary your voice throughout your presentation and keep your audience engaged.

  • Intensity – a quiet and a strong voice should be integrated. A strong voice can emphasize certain points, while a soft voice can create tension. We should move between the different intensities according to the message that we’re trying to transmit.
  • Rhythm – there is a widespread assumption that if we’re speaking before an audience, we should speak slowly. This isn’t necessarily true. We live in a high-speed world today. People are used to receiving content quickly. We need to suit ourselves to the rhythm of our audience.

    • Pay attention to the fact that a fast rhythm shouldn’t replace the words you’re saying. People have a habit of swallowing the end of a sentence. The more the words at the end of a sentence are emphasized, the more confident we sound.
  • Style – the content of a speech can become amazing with the proper use of your voice. For example, if you want to talk about “budget” in a soft and empathetic voice that will reduce opposition, try thinking about babies or puppies. These soft and tender tones will be heard in your voice. Whether it is empathy, authority or inspiration, a change of vocal style lets us grant a certain feeling to the audience, a feeling that will emotionally help it connect to your message.
  • Pauses – it is important to integrate pauses into your speech and, even more important, to know where to place them. It’s worthwhile to pause before giving the main message, in order to give it more power. A pause can also be used after someone in the audience asks a question in order to emphasize that we are thinking about the answer. Pauses are also important for making a distinction between various sections of a presentation. This gives your audience a chance to absorb what has already been said and to reflect on it.

How can you know if you have a monotonous tone? Here are a few tips:

  • Try to find some sort of metronome and practice speaking with it. The goal is for your voice to NOT match up with it.
  • You can experiment by counting the rhythm of words per minute. The average is 100 words per minute when we stand in front of an audience; although, studies show that mentally we can actually absorb 450 words per minute (but that doesn’t mean we need to speak at that speed).
  • You can record yourself, or simply ask people or practice in front of people. Ask leading questions because the audience won’t ask them. But if you’re an unmistakable monotone, the audience will immediately recognize it.

Hopefully, these tips will help you to become a more confident and dynamic speaker! For more tips, CLICK HERE to watch Julian Treasure’s TED Talk on “How to speak so that people want to listen.”

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All About Body Language

Studies have found that only 7% of the messages we send are verbal – the other 93% are sent in some non-verbal way. This percentage probably shocks you. The bottom line is this: people first pay attention to your body language, and only afterwards do they hear what we’re saying.

Much has already been said about the importance of body language in sending messages and its basis on our status as speakers. But the question that frequently arises is: what can we do to change this? How much of our body language is innate and how much of it can we acquire?

Every individual has his/her own starting point, some finding body language more natural while others struggle. The key is to become aware of the strengths and weaknesses of our body language. Through this, we can learn to elevate our strengths and improve upon our weaknesses. This awareness will help us succeed in dramatically increasing the quantity of the messages we send, as well as the understanding of those messages.

Up until now, studies have mainly dealt with just one of the three aspects of body language.

1. How We’re Perceived – This relates to the audience, and how we succeed in transmitting our message. It applies to how we can improve our status before an audience and transmit our message, as well as using techniques like voice, eye contact, movement, etc.

Today more and more studies are dealing with the two additional aspects of body language, and if we relate to them, we can significantly improve the transmission of our messages.

2. Reading the Audience – Body language can help us to read the audience, to understand and to identify the small nuances that will help us make the right connection (an audience can be anything from one person to an entire stadium). For example, if someone in the audience slightly raises or lowers an eyebrow, we can assume that he/she has a question to ask or that he/she doesn’t completely agree with what we said. Before they are able to interject their question or opinion, try to ask that person, “Did you want to add something? Do you have a question?” The immediate message will be “they understand me, the speaker is reading me before I even said a word.”

The more we are aware of the small nuances in the audience’s body language, body movement, facial expressions, and eye contact, the more we will succeed in creating a better connection, and our message will be transmitted in a much better way.

3. Effect on Ourselves – This is the most innovative aspect: body language not only influences how we are seen by the audience; it also affects how we perceive ourselves. It can succeed in influencing us and how we succeed.

Amy Cuddy, one of the leading researchers in the field of body language, performed many experiments and found that if, just before a job interview, we take two minutes to ourselves in the bathroom or in the car and we stand in a “super power position,” we will walk into the job interview with more self confidence, and our chances of receiving a position reply are that much greater.

Cuddy claims that this isn’t a “fake it ‘till you make it” situation, but rather “fake it ‘till you become it.”

This principle answers the question concerning innate body language as compared to acquired body language. At the beginning, it may seem a little false or forced, but later on it becomes part of our DNA. It will influence not only how we are perceived by others, but also on how we perceive ourselves, and it will help us succeed in business, in our personal lives, and beyond.

In the next few weeks, we will carefully examine each of these three aspects of body language more carefully, so that the next time you present in front of a crowd, your body language will help to captivate your audience and let them connect with you easily!

To hear all of Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on body language, CLICK HERE.

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Charisma: How to Match Your Verbal and Non-Verbal Messages

If you look up “charisma” in the dictionary, the definition will say something along the lines of: “a person with personal charm, persuasive and possessing high interpersonal skills.”  Clearly, charisma is a quality that one should want to possess, particularly in the communications field.

But how can we truly become more charismatic?

There are many qualities that can make a person charismatic. On a practical level, however, a person is thought to be charismatic when his verbal messages and his non-verbal messages are consistent.  This means that your words and your body language have to correspond with one another, and have to work together to create a stronger impact.  It may seem simple, but how exactly do you effectively do this?

5 tips for achieving correspondence between verbal and non-verbal messages:

  • Voice and tone – 38% of our first impressions are based on our ability to use our voice correctly.  What is considered the “proper” use of your voice?  Simply put, you should use a moderate and changeable variation of: volume (high/low), pace (quick/slow) and style (decisive/authoritative/soft/containing).
  • Facial expressions – it’s very difficult to listen with interest and gain a connection with someone who has an expressionless face.  We must ensure that we use varied facial gestures according to message we’re trying to convey and of course, we can’t forget to smile.  As a rule, people have an easier time connecting to and having a positive perception of people who smile at them.
  • Eye contact – in order to radiate credibility, honesty and intimacy with the person standing before us, we must ensure to make eye contact with all the people in the audience.  Don’t stay fixated on one person for too long though; make sure you are making eye contact with the entire audience.  Additionally, try not to look at your notes or presentation too much.  Keep engaging the audience to make sure not to lose them.
  • Shoulders – studies have shown that something that radiates high self-esteem is the shoulders.  That is, erect and straight shoulders send a message that a person can be counted on; strong shoulders give the impression that a person believes in himself. This, in turn, makes it easier to believe in this person and in his message.
  • Use of attention grabbers – in order for our message to be memorable and to create an experience as a derivative of the interaction with us, we must spice up our content with concrete examples, personal experiences, anecdotes, surprising data from recent studies, videos etc. As much as we might want our presentation to stand on its own, using extras can really help our message stick with the audience.

Charisma can be something that comes naturally to people, but it can also be taught and learned very easily through these simple steps. If you want others to be excited about what you’re saying, you need to be excited while saying it. By being passionate and energetic, your message will grab hold of an audience and make them feel the same way you do.

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Enhancing Your Influence

Every person is looking for a way to maximize his input, whether it’s in a big or small way.

One of these ways is becoming an asset to the big decision-makers at a company.

How can you be sure that your suggestions are helpful and not hindering? CLICK HERE to take a look at our infographic on Enhancing Your Influence and learn more!

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Information vs. Knowledge

We live in a world that is surrounded by a massive influx of information that is easily available. If you want to find out more about a subject, all you have to do is go to a computer or smart phone and type it in. It’s that simple. We, literally, have a wealth of information available at our fingertips, whenever and wherever we want it.

Often times, the terms “Information” and “Knowledge” are used interchangeably, and people do not give much more thought on the subject. However, in your daily interactions (in the office, at home, etc.), it is extremely important to think about the distinction between the two. What really is the difference?
We have created a short Prezi presentation to show you which of the two is more important when delivering your message, and how to make your audience listen to you. CLICK HERE to take a look!