During one of the brainstorming sessions for a product, my team and I had gathered in large meeting room, almost like a board room. My boss was someone who heard out everyone before speaking. As we took turn one by one to voice our opinion and apprehension about the product, a colleague of mine, a guy with a loud voice who regularly interrupted everyone with his own comments, was becoming increasingly disruptive that day. At long last, my boss just stood up from his seat and began addressing each one by name and asking their opinion. That kind of gave the clear message that this is it. It was smooth-sailing after that.
Another time, an editor of a reputed newspaper was in a quandary about publishing the news of the electoral loss of the political party that he supported. Instead of admitting to his party’s loss, he phrased the headline by saying that his party is gearing up for the next elections. That not only held his esteem high in the eyes of the readers, it conveyed the message strongly that his party would not take this defeat lying down. Several readers came out to appreciate this message which I recall had become a much debated issue.
Communication is considered a two-way activity between the transmitter and the receiver. However, at times, the person trying to convey something to the other(s) is not successful in doing so because s/he lacks confidence. This is especially crucial in businesses when managers, department heads, VPs and CEOs have to routinely communicate with employees, management members, shareholders, regulatory bodies and media. Any hint of lack of confidence can adversely impact the person’s and in effect the company’s reputation and credibility. A key aspect of communication is that a person’s mindset and level of conviction or confidence travels much before the actual message is transmitted. Which effectively means that if your message is not delivered with confidence, it may lack the punch and will not be received the way you intended it to.
Now imagine scenarios when the person initiating the communication lacks confidence in delivering the message as in
A CEO conveying crucial policy decisions that could potentially change the direction of a company
A parent conveying something that spells discipline for a teenager
Communicating with your employees in times of distress
A political leader communicating in volatile times (like the pandemic or war or natural calamity)
Doctors, Airplane Captains, Army personnel or Leaders need to be clear and confident in whatever they say or convey to others because a lot is at stake not just in what they say but also how they say it
Why do we lack confidence while communicating?
Communication is all about holding the other person’s attention all the time till you have (verbally or non-verbally) conveyed what you intended to so that he has received in exact same way. At times, the initiator lacks confidence when:
He is not prepared for delivering the message
The body language is not in sync with the message being conveyed
He is afraid of the response from the other
He is not convinced about the matter himself
The audience is not receptive
The speaker is provoked by the audience and he buckles under that pressure
Lacks self-esteem or has negative self esteem
7 Practical Tips to Communicate Confidently
The key is to be convinced about what you are saying. When you lack conviction, it shows.
In my experience, I’ve found the below tips to be practical, doable and quite helpful to anyone who wants to improve their ability to communicate with confidence:
Prepare well: Lack of preparation puts you in an inconvenient situation where the audience recognizes your talk lacks steam and just loses focus or interest or both. If you’re communicating with unknown audiences or in hostile conditions, practice what you intend to say to avoid any misadventures with words or tone.
Pay attention to body language: Stand straight, hold your head high, shoulders parallel to the ground, feet steady and hands with open palms. Don’t move unnecessarily and make direct eye contact with others.
Be respectful even when you’re criticizing: The tone of our words speaks more than the words themselves and is picked up faster than words. Always sound respectful about anything and anybody you’re speaking about.
Know your audience well: Understanding who you’re going to communicate with helps in framing the message accordingly. Not everyone understands irony, humor, sarcasm, metaphors and the like. Prepare your message based on how the receiver will perceive it.
Control your emotions while communication: Keep your message to the point and absolutely avoid any personal opinion, negative words or biases to creep in. That would sometimes lead to further problems which you’d never want
Look out for hints: The people receiving your message keep dropping hints about your message. Subtle change in body language like nodding or tilting of the head, raised eyebrows or pushing the chair further and listening with rapt attention tells you that your message is making an impact. On the contrary, sitting laid back, looking away or getting distracted means you have lost their attention. The key is to listen well before you utter your first word.
Never get influenced by reactions: As you communicate with others, it is possible that they will try to intervene, stop you, counter you with arguments, deny what you’re saying or disrupt you. Always stick to your stance and never waver. Confidence comes from within and must be unshakeable at all times.
A lot depends upon how you communicate as a leader to your stakeholders. People who communicate confidently earn the respect and credibility of their team. When you speak only as much as required and not a word extra, people are eager to listen to what you intend to convey. A good communicator goes a long way in becoming a trusted leader.
Did you notice any corrections to be made on this page? Submit your feedback here. We will take the necessary action.
When it comes to taking ownership, many employees fail at it.
But, in today’s stiffly competitive corporate world, it becomes more and more important for people to prove their worth, put extra efforts and take ownership.
Organizations love people who take ownership and get things done, with a team or alone and hence, you need to keep reading.So, let’s get deeper into the topic and understand why and how to take ownership, and how it can help you achieve more in your career.HOW TO TAKE OWNERSHIP?Let’s take a look at some key ways to take ownership.Display A Genuine PassionIn life and in business, it all starts with you.
First, you need to be passionate for your work so that you can reflect the same and build trust in your team, that’s when things will start working the way you want.
No one will hesitate to give you the responsibilities and ownership if they will find you suitable as well as passionate about what needs to be done.Ensure ClarityAgain it will start with you, clarity in tasks or projects is more important and for that, you need to ask questions, put your point and expertise across, and take that ownership.
Once you are clear about what you need to do, you will be able to streamline your work and meet deadlines.See Problems As OpportunityEvery problem or task in the organization is an opportunity to prove your worth.
Timecounts volunteer communication tool allows you to access data on your volunteers and their engagement with your organization.
Our volunteer scheduling software tool that can help you stay organized and communicate effectively with your volunteers and leadership teams.
Email services are fast enough to deliver a message in a second, but, sometimes, due to some technical issues people complain about Hotmail not working.
In this article, we shall discuss how to solve hotmail not working issue and the solutions to why be Hotmail down.Possible reasons for Hotmail not working:There could be various reasons why your Hotmail account stops working and receiving emails.
To solve the issue, first, you must find what is actually wrong.
Computer programs like a browser are always prone to corruption.
To reset the browser you can do either of the things:Delete browser history to make it fresh.Clear out all the cookies and cache.Reset the browser.Uninstall and install the browser again.Wrong Login Credentials:You might have entered the wrong login credentials in the Hotmail.
Therefore, it is suggested to remove any kind of filters you have applied.Enable forwarding: Email forwarding is the process of re-sending the emails to different emails.
