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Have you ever wondered how the power of your voice and speech can affect your career success? How we express ourselves at a personal level or in the workplace – whether socializing, making decisions or leading a team – can be a powerful tool for career advancement and fostering good relationships.
Your voice and your speech often create the first impression you make on others. A voice that is confident and clear can establish credibility and professionalism from the outset. Whatever your career level, your ability to express yourself by conveying ideas succinctly and persuasively can affect how well your contributions are understood and valued. With my industry experience, personal research and education, I have found the following tips to be most effective in using your voice to communicate a message well.
Tone – This comprises pitch, volume and the pace at which you speak. Depending on the message being delivered, accordingly adjusting these key elements of your tone can help you establish credibility and trust in making key decisions, leading teams and gaining respect from colleagues.
Choice of words – Selecting words that accurately express your thoughts and are easily understood by the audience can affect how others react to your message. Taking the time and putting in effort to choose the appropriate words will help you convey the right message and be readily understood by your audience.
Speaking clearly – This is my favourite! Speaking clearly involves your diction, accent and intonation. Although we are all unique in the way we speak, aiming to sound neutral and clear will help your audience understand your intended message and make a long-lasting positive impression.
“A voice that is confident and clear can establish credibility and professionalism from the outset.”
Speaking with feeling – What better than helping your audience visualize what you speak. By reflecting emotion in your voice, your message will have a greater impact on the audience. A word that is spoken with no feeling can come across as disconnected and can often minimize the value of what you are saying. Although evoking emotion in speech is important, it is just as important to be genuine and consistent for the audience to experience your authenticity.
Gestures and facial expressions – Gestures and facial expressions can effectively emphasize your speech and bring life to your voice. For example, if you are presenting something to a client or pitching for yourself at the workplace, it is paramount that you can feel, visualize and truly understand what you are saying and then use your voice to animate it.
The above suggestions can help each of us demonstrate strong verbal skills personally as well as professionally, which can lead to more opportunities for career advancement. Strong verbal communication showcases your ability to represent your organization effectively, whether in meetings, negotiations or presentations.
An example of how successful these suggestions have proved to be is when I presented to an audience of undergraduate students on “How internships can be a successful stepping stone to career success.” During this presentation, I focused on maintaining a steady, clear voice with appropriate body language. I also took the time and put in effort to choose the right words for my script that would easily connect with the graduates. These helped me project authority and credibility, while also making it easier for the audience to follow and understand my points. I also encouraged an emotional response from my audience by eliciting reflections on how identity relates to their career. By sharing my own example as an intern during my undergraduate years in an advertising firm, I naturally spoke with feeling, expressing my emotions, learnings, accomplishments and overall experience in the real-world as a fresh graduate. This helped me connect with my audience as they embarked on their journey to a successful career.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” says Proverbs 18:21. Your voice and speech are a powerful instrument that can help you achieve your goals. Once you know your goal or the outcome you want to achieve as a professional in your industry, it’s about finding the right voice for the right setting and making it your superpower!
