Every week, people ask me for help to communicate more confidently with clients or senior stakeholders. So if you or your team is struggling with this, you’re not alone!
It doesn’t matter if you’re an emerging leader or a seasoned expert, even the most talented people struggle with feeling confident, credible and compelling when the stakes are high.
Here’s some things that we explore when this comes up:
Perspective: What’s front of mind for the other person? Does what you want to say matter to them right now? How can you make it relevant, meaningful, valuable and clear so that they are listening?
Purpose: Be crystal clear on this before you meet and up front about the purpose of the communication. This exudes confidence and credibility and saves everyone time.
Insights: What information do you want to give and receive? Make this a headline of the interaction.
Style: Knowing your own behavioural/communication style is a powerful thing. Once you know your own preferences, you can adapt them to your audience so that they feel heard and understood.
Strengths: Most people either don’t know their strengths, or downplay them. We constantly focus on what we want to change or dislike about ourselves, but one of the best boosts to confidence is understanding what you already naturally do well and leaning into that.
Delivery: 'Deliberate practice' is the concept that anyone can be an expert in a specific area with enough intentional practice. In this case, I suggest verbal rehearsal of the first minute of your interaction and your closing statements to have more impact.
**Is there anything you would add to this?
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