The business world has recently reinvented the way people are communicating with clients, team members and other businesses. What do you do if you are constantly being misunderstood? How can you identify and overcome your foreign accent trouble spots?
Do you remember your English class teacher repeating over and over about the importance of writing and speaking without using filler words? 
And reminding you to take the time to collect your thoughts and articulate your point of view? And emphasizing the importance of inference or reading between the lines? For some of us, our younger selves failed to realize the importance of these great communication skills as the pillars of great leaders. Here are a few important communication skills to master so that you, too, are perceived as a great leader and communicator.
The art of communication isn’t so easily mastered, because in reality, communication can be tricky and become a source of misunderstanding and conflicts. If someone has ever told you, “It wasn’t what you said, but how you said it,” your listener is telling you that you’ve just communicated a lot more than just the words. Tone of voice is often a source of hurt feelings and miscommunications because our tone communicates to others what we’re feeling when we say things. Here are a few ways to self-monitor your vocal tone:
Continue Reading No CommentsDo you feel isolated with your foreign accent? Does it feel like a barrier to fitting in or moving up in your career? W
orse yet, maybe you feel like your accent brings suspicion or just unwelcome attention.
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have experienced the “dark side” of having a foreign accent and I empathize with you and wish it wasn’t so. It isn’t fair and it isn’t right. You deserve a lot better than that.
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Speaking with a foreign accent that is difficult to understand is unfortunately perceived negatively even if you are the smartest person in the room. Research shows us why…
Executives and emerging leaders often need to develop or refine their communication or presentation skills, especially, when their sound is misaligned with their role. As a highly-valued leader, your company will be willing to invest in your development. Two options to consider are individual or group coaching. Both options have positives and negatives which are discussed below. Let’s get started…..
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Globalization across all industries has opened the door for business professionals to speak and partner with people from all corners of the world. Speaking or listening to someone with an accent is a part of our everyday business and personal lives. What does having an accent mean? An accent is simply a way of speaking shaped by a combination of geography, social class, education, ethnicity and language. Everybody has an accent. There is no such thing as a perfect, neutral or unaccented language. Accents are usually broken into 2 types:
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Recently, the 31st anniversary of the famous TV series, Seinfeld, was celebrated. I still watch reruns and still laugh at all of the jokes. There are many memorable episodes that involve speech and voice. Here are just a few of the most memorable episodes that involve communication and what we can learn from them.
With the upcoming American presidential election in November of 2020, you’ll be hearing more and more ads, speeches and debates from both presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It is fascinating to me, of course, that voters often consciously or subconsciously vote based on the way that the candidates sound. For example, years ago before the age of social media and television, voters would listen to the candidates on the radio. Back in the 1960’s, research predicted Nixon’s win based on his sound. But when people saw the two candidates side-by-side, the winner was Kennedy.
The challenges of speaking in front of a few people or a larger group of people can be overwhelming, especially, if you are a nonnative English speaker. You may struggle with making your topic easy to understand both from the perspectives of conveying a message clearly (the content) and using speech that is understandable. What do you focus on to make sure that your speech is understandable and that your accent doesn’t interfere?
