Vocal dynamics - your leadership tool to govern the room, hook people’s attention and maximize your influence
Newsletter #1
With the world changing to a more web and video-based work culture, where we interact on a flat screen and so many subtle communication cues are left out, the ability to control and utilize your voice in a dynamic way becomes an even more essential skill. During the last couple of months I’ve experienced a boom in leaders who want to learn how to use their voice as a more expressive communication tool. I’d like to share some of my insights on this here.
Your voice - your audio business card
Your voice is an essential aspect of your leadership persona and brand and serves as your audio business card. One of the main differences between oral and written communication are all those aspects that you convey with your voice that go beyond mere information. In short, the way you use your voice can completely change the meaning of a message and the way it’s perceived.
When I work with leaders and specialists in the corporate world a lot of them are used to speaking in black and white and just by starting to use the fascinating palette of voice coloration their speech immediately develops more expression and influential potential. Try asking yourself: is my voice interesting enough to keep people listening?
“Your vocal power is one of your most important communication tools”
Free live seminar on 2nd June 3.30pm CEST. Save this link to join on zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83217641925
Enhance your influence and your persuasive power
Many people feel uncomfortable when they listen to a recording of their own voice but what they don’t realize is that they can do something about it. In fact, everyone can learn to expand their vocal range. We can think of ourselves as biological instruments with anatomical preconditions that determine our vocal range. In addition, we are socialized into using our voices in specific ways, and we are influenced by the people we grew up with along with those in our immediate surroundings or community. You probably already have a pleasant, well-functioning voice, so all you need to do is to widen your range and put more life and expression into it. This is not about acting, it’s about allowing yourself to project more energy and enthusiasm and dare to be more expressive.
Use your body as a speaker
If you know how to use your voice expressively, you can catch and hold people’s attention and make them listen on a deeper level and follow every thought and detail in your message. This kind of ‘embodied’ voice is incredibly persuasive: research shows that people who speak with embodied voices come across as more powerful. Think of Obama or Danish EU top politician Margrethe Vestager. The first step is to engage your body when you speak and to use your body as a speaker. In this way, you activate the lower sub-tones instead of the higher head and throat tones. To do this, you must use a deep or diaphragmatic breathing pattern or belly breathing. A vibrant embodied voice enables you to govern the room in presentations, mark your territory with sound and make your points stand out at meetings, and it’s your tool to connect with people through energy projection and emotional cues – in person as well as online.
You’re already a master of vocal expressiveness – and your professional voice is allowed to be colorful and lively
My best advice to start developing a more expressive and dynamic voice is to start listening to yourself. Once you’re relaxed and comfortable in social situations, you will naturally and probably unconsciously start to use a wide range of oral tools to colour your words and emphasize your intent and key points when you speak.
Try to open your ears and start noticing all the nuances when you speak. What sometimes happens is that all this richness and expressiveness dries up when we are in a professional context, as we have this unconscious bias about how we can best come across as professional. Often, that means that people switch into some kind of corporate, lifeless and boring modus operandi. This makes it vital to learn how to use your voice in a dynamic way if you are to hook people’s attention and influence and inspire them with your vision and leadership. Not everyone needs to be a great orator, but every speaker can improve his or her vocal skills to reach the next level of skill and impact.
At my upcoming live seminar on 2nd June, you’ll have the chance to practice vocal tools from the actor’s toolbox, tips and tricks that you can use in person-to-person meetings as well as online.
