Have you ever had a boss that wasn’t very articulate? He was often quiet and kept to himself. When he did have something to say, you often couldn’t follow due to his mumbling, incongruent sentences, or even elevated vocabulary. Oh, you nodded your head in agreement, but the conversation got you nowhere, and did nothing for your motivation.

As a leader, it’s important that you are able to communicate with your employees/followers in a way that is clear, concise and motivating.

A strong public address should do the following:

Convey
You should reinforce the values of your company - what your stand for, why you exist, your ultimate goal. Convey these values in a way that your staff feels like a part of something big.

Encourage
As a business owner, you often address your whole staff to let them know that changes are being made and new things are happening. Your attitude about those changes will be reflected by your employees. Encourage them to get excited about new ideas, after all, you are.

Inform
You should be informative, letting everyone know what steps will be taken to reach the company’s new goals and implement the new ideas. Open yourself up to questions and be prepared ahead of time to answer any and everything they may throw your way.

Inspire
Your words should leave your staff inspired to get involved. This is the key element to motivating your employees - give them a reason to want to do more.

You may be asking yourself how to accomplish these things in your speech, especially if you don’t find yourself to be the strongest public speaker. There are three essential elements to a strong public speech:

• Use common and simple language - don’t try and dress it up with big, eloquent words. You’ll go over people’s heads, they won’t understand what you’re trying to say, and they’ll be annoyed by what seems like an attempt to be better than them.

• Create a theme - Find a phrase that embodies what you’re trying to say to your employees and repeat it throughout your speech. Repetition, when done correctly, can help to inspire (think Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech).

• Use personal stories - Personalize your speech and connect more directly with your staff but implementing personal stories. How have/will these new concepts or changes effect you? Have you ever been in your staff’s shoes? Tell them how you dealt with the same situation, etc. Connecting with your staff will help to improve your relationship with them, as well as help them to get motivated.

If all else fails and you really don’t feel like you can pull off a strong address to your staff, trying getting some coaching in this area. There are plenty of resources out there, seminars, classes (including acting classes), one-on-one coaches, that can help you.

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One Response to “Leaders as Strong Public Speakers”

1. david says:
   

   Those are great tips for any leader that is having trouble with his/her employees.

   Posted October 30th, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
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