Communicating With Authority and Conviction

The ability to communicate with authority and conviction tops the list of skills most needed by today’s executive. Media interview, speech or staff motivation, effective communication skills are an absolute must.

While you may never be able to communicate like a Ronald Reagan; with some guidance you can find that place within yourself that feels RIGHT for YOU. Put in musical terms, you’re looking to be IN THE GROVE.

At this point you’re likely thinking, “I’ve had media training on top of communication training, motivational communication seminars and personal development sessions. If so, you fit the profile of a client we recently worked with. Let’s use him as an example.

Our subject is the Executive Director of a large international organization and its chief spokesperson. Intelligent and well educated, he has participated in a number of communications and media training seminars and he’s received one-on-one media training.

While he’s learned just about every communications skill in the book, this otherwise highly successful executive still has difficulty communicating with comfort, authority and conviction.

Facing an interview with a national television network he called on us to provide him with additional media training.

This executive did not need more media training, at least, not as a first step. This man needed to work on his key corporate messages, the key messages for this particular interview and above all, to learn how to be comfortable and secure in his ability to communicate them effectively.

We introduced him to our three step program:

The planning step (Key messages)
The communication step (Finding the groove)
The media training step (Interview management)

We’ll briefly review the three steps to communicating successfully and then we’ll integrate them and take a look at how they worked together for this particular manager.

The Planning Step - Key Messages

Key messages outline in the simplest possible way, in everyday language, the essence of how we want the world to perceive our businesses activities. They’re the foundation from which we can begin to communicate effectively. Key messages will also serve to ground us when we momentarily lose our concentration.

The primary key message is the single most important idea you want the public to remember about your organization. Secondary key messages are specific to a particular issue, product or occasion. Armed with a set of key messages you have laid the foundation for communicating successfully.

The Communication Step - Finding Your Groove

No step is more important and yet more overlooked than this one. We want to emphasize that this step cannot be accomplished successfully in a group session.

The key to communicating successfully centers on YOUR OWN ability to present information in a manner which is most natural and comfortable to YOU. The objective of this step is to bring each individual to realize his /her full PERSONAL potential as a communicator.

Returning to our executive, we proceeded with him by assessing his skills, personality type and comfort level with expressing emotion. We found that his diction and pacing were excellent, but, that his delivery was somewhat flat, lacked authenticity and emotional impact.

We then designed a program exclusively for him. We asked him to bring certain written material that contained significant meaning for him. Focusing first on the one person principle, (the foundation of all effective public speaking), we worked with him until he discovered his own comfort level.

This is the moment of truth in which there is a profound recognition that, “I’ve got it. This feels right to ME”. In short, he’d found HIS groove. We continued to work with him until he was able to find his groove at will.

The media training step

We prefer to call it interview management. Most executives will be familiar with the media training process. We covered the relationship between the media, his organization and himself and reviewed some of the fundamentals. Additional time was needed for work on bridging statements and a later session was scheduled for specific work on crisis management.

Bringing it all together

Armed with his key messages and newfound confidence we put him through a series of interview, Q & A and speech delivery scenarios designed to disturb his composure throw him out of his groove and off his key messages.

The result: Our congratulations. This executive can now deliver his key messages with comfort, conviction and passion under any circumstances.

In the light of our experience everybody has the ability to communicate effectively. Know your key messages. Find your grove. Manage the event.

Ian Macaulay is the founder and Senior Partner of the Macaulay Communications Group. Members of the group have successfully trained senior level business executives, politicians and government officials.

Further information: Ian Macaulay

The Macaulay Communications Group
The Wisdom of Experience - The Power of Media
Tel - 250.658.5332
Mobile - 250.744.7931
Fax - 250.658.5375
email - ian@macaulaygroup.com
Web - www.macaulaygroup.com