The most effective leaders and managers tend to have excellent verbal communication skills and can converse well with people in any situation. Use this simple self-assessment to test your own speaking skills and identify areas for improvement.
Task
Respond to the statements below by awarding them a score from the following:
3 = very like me
2 = a bit like me
1 = not at all like me
Once you have finished, add up your score and read the Interpretation section to discover how effective your verbal skills are. You may also wish to give it to colleagues for feedback and compare their answers with yours.
You will find some useful tips for improving your verbal communication skills at the end of the exercise.
Statement
1. When I communicate with others, I adjust my language and style to make it appropriate to the person I am dealing with.
2. If I need to address a group of people at work, I feel comfortable doing so.
3. I make conversation easily and can happily chat to colleagues about non-work topics.
4. When I am involved in team meetings, my verbal contributions are relevant and succinct.
5. When speaking to others, I try not to monopolise the conversation.
6. When I am in conversation with several people I make regular eye contact with each person.
7. The language I use is both accurate and specific to the topic I am speaking about.
8. I summarise regularly, especially during long and involved conversations.
9. I manage to get my message across in most situations.
10. I ask questions to ensure I understand exactly what others are saying to me.
11. When I need to influence others, I use persuasive language to help them understand my point of view.
12. What I say is hardly ever misunderstood.
13. When presenting an argument, my speech follows a clear, logical structure.
14. I let others speak without interrupting them
15. Even when I am caught up in what I am saying, I notice the expressions and reactions of my listeners.
16. After a speech or presentation, I can handle challenging questions with professionalism.
17. I am at ease in most situations and can generally find someone to talk to.
18. I speak clearly, without mumbling
19. I maintain eye contact with the person I am speaking to.
20. In situations where I’m meeting new people (e.g. at a conference or networking event), I show interest by asking them relevant questions.
21. When conversing with others, my voice is level and moderate - not too high or too low.
22. I vary my tone to emphasise key points and add interest to my speech.
23. When I need to communicate a key message, I get straight to the point and don’t waffle.
24. I keep my use of jargon to a minimum.
25. I avoid using ‘filler’ words such as ‘um’ and ‘er’.
26. I always think before I speak.
Total
Interpretation
26-35
Take a look at the questions again and identify which ones you think you could work on (i.e. those you answered ‘Not at all like me’). A presentation skills course or a professional vocal coach could provide you with a useful starting point. You could also ask your colleagues or line manager for feedback on your verbal skills and where they think you could improve. Why not use the handy tips below to help improve your verbal skills?
Take a few moments to think carefully about what you want to say before you say it, especially when answering questions. This will help you to organise your thoughts and formulate an appropriate response.
Focus on your message and make sure that your tone of voice properly reflects its contents. The aim is to get the message across without any confusion so that your audience understands what you are saying.
Be confident. You’re in charge of your voice and everything you say, so speak with as much confidence as you can. The key to speaking with confidence is knowing what you are talking about, so ensure you are knowledgeable about your subject and practise talking about it out loud, with colleagues or friends.
Practise effective articulation. The clarity of your speech is important, to ensure understanding, so enunciate every word clearly: don’t mumble or mutter, and concentrate on pronouncing the letters t, d and g whenever they occur at the end of words.
Avoid using ‘non-words’ (‘um’, ‘er’, ‘uh’). These often make your audience think you don’t know what you are talking about. Don’t be scared of silence: take your time, pause regularly and think about what you are saying before you say it.
Smile. A smile will come across in your voice and make you sound interesting and enthusiastic, even when the person listening can’t see you (e.g. when you are speaking on the telephone). As a result, people will respond to you in a more positive way.
These are just a few suggestions on how to improve your verbal communication, but you’ll find even more useful guidance in the Top Tips For Improving Your Verbal Communication article and also the A-Z Guide to Getting the Best From Your Voice.
36-58
Your verbal communication skills are reasonable, but the self-assessment shows that there is room for improvement. Brush up on your skills by first of all looking at the questions again to focus on those ones you did not answer ‘a lot like me’ to. This will help you identify the areas you could work on developing. You could also ask your colleagues or line manager for feedback. The tips below will give you a useful starting point:
Take a few moments to think carefully about what you want to say before you say it, especially when answering questions. This will help you to organise your thoughts and formulate an appropriate response.
Regulate your voice so that it is calm and soothing, and practise speaking without raising or (if you have a tendency to mumble) lowering your voice.
Speak at a moderate pace, and rehearse a speech or presentation using silent pauses rather than filler words such as ‘um’, and ‘er’.
Pay attention to what other people have to say and respond accordingly. Help conversation flow by answering questions with a comment and a return question.
Don’t monopolise conversations: give others a chance to speak and let the conversation flow naturally.
Attend networking events, where you can practise striking up conversations with strangers. If the thought of this fills you with dread, try talking to colleagues that you don’t normally interact with much, and speak to them about non-work topics.
These are just a few suggestions on how to improve your verbal communication, but you’ll find even more useful guidance in the Top Tips For Improving Your Verbal Communication article and also the A-Z Guide to Getting the Best From Your Voice.
59-78
You are an excellent communicator and have no real development needs in terms of your verbal communication. However, even the most competent communicator can keep improving. Here are some different techniques you could use to further enhance your communication skills:
Read aloud. Read a poem, short story or news article, using vocal inflection to emphasise certain words and give what you are reading meaning. You could turn this on its head by repeating the exercise, emphasising different words and seeing whether or not this completely alters the meaning of what you are saying. You can practise this technique with a friend or colleague, or you could record yourself and play it back.
Practise saying tongue twisters. These great vocal warm-ups will help you to practise your diction. Repeat each phrase at least five times, as fast as you can. Some examples include:
Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.
She sells sea shells on the sea shore.
Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
New York’s unique. Unique New York, You know you love unique New York.
Improvise. This fun technique will help you speak with authority. You can do it alone, but it is better with a partner or audience who can suggest the subject matter or topic to be improvised and can provide immediate feedback. If you’re working alone, find a newspaper or magazine, choose a headline at random and use that as your topic. The basic idea is to speak for one minute about a subject which you have no prior knowledge of. This will help exercise your brain as well as making you more comfortable speaking in front of others. It can also improve your ability to speak spontaneously and deal with unexpected questions.
Sing. Many actors like to sing or hum before a performance as it helps warm up the vocal muscles. It is also a great way to prepare for a public speaking engagement. Sing or hum a song of your choice – and don’t worry about being out of tune! While you are singing, vary the volume, pitch and rate to indicate various moods or emotions such as enthusiasm, happiness, anger or sadness. This exercise will also help if you are feeling nervous, giving you something else to focus your energy on.
These are just a few suggestions on how to improve your verbal communication techniques, but you’ll find even more useful guidance in the Top Tips For Improving Your Verbal Communication article and also the A-Z Guide to Getting the Best From Your Voice.
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