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?
I wrote a blog a while back entitled “Posture Yourself for Success” It is about the positive aspects of good posture on your voice. I decided to look around for other articles on posture and here are a few to help you with achieving great posture:
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Do you tuck your tummy in a bit to make it look tighter? Does your voice shake before you speak to a group? Do you slouch in your chair at your desk? Do you carry a lot of tension in your shoulders, neck and jaw?
You are not alone–a lot of us develop bad habits! And if you do, you probably aren’t using proper breath support which is essential for reaching your full voice potential and having a well-functioning and relaxed sounding voice. As you move towards more in-person meetings and conferences, this is a great time to focus on breathing properly so your voice is clear, loud and effective.
Does your voice as lack depth and luster?
Do you feel tightness in your throat? Do you repeat yourself frequently because people can’t hear you? You might have a breathing problem.
When you think about all the characteristics of a great leader, does the ability to ask empowering questions come to mind? Believe it or not there is a way to ask empowering questions and show that you are respectful, listening and caring.
You’ve heard the expression “kill two birds with one stone” (meaning solving several problems with just one action). I have a speech trick so tremendous that not only does this trick kill two birds with one stone, it kills about five (metaphorically, of course, because I love birds!) What five areas of speech and voice does it help with, you ask?
Here is the list…
Volume–how loudly you speak
Rate–how quickly you talk
Diction–how sharply you pronounce vowels and consonants
Resonance–how full and rich sounding you sound
Intonation–how vocally expressive you are.
Use the megaphone trick to improve the way that you sound! Let me first explain the theory behind the trick:
Continue Reading No CommentsDo 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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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?
