Reducing Fear of Public Speaking

As a leader, how effective are you when speaking in public?

All leaders need to speak to groups small and large.  Good preparation reduces performance anxiety. Next time you need to present to an audience, follow these four steps:

• Be confident in your topic. Your audience already believes that you're the expert, so don't try to bluff. If the people you're presenting to feel you're unsure of your material, they'll lose trust in you.
• Imagine questions people might ask. Construct answers before you give your presentation. Either incorporate the answers into your presentation or be ready to provide them during Q&A.
• Memorize the first minute of your presentation. You experience your greatest anxiety at the beginning of a presentation. Knowing the opening of your presentation will give you a good start.
• Once done, look back.  Once you're done, reflect on what you accomplished.  What went really well that you can do again another time?  What might you change next time you need to speak?

Adapted from Guide to Persuasive Presentations (HBR OnPoint Collection).

Leadership Presence

As a leader, how do you build your leadership 'presence'?

Simply because you hold a leadership role, it doesn't mean that you have 'leader presence'.  Leader presence is not an innate quality; it is a set of behaviors that you can learn over time. Whether you are a natural wallflower or a social butterfly, you can enhance your presence by doing the following:

• Focus and relax. Calm is the foundation of presence. Use your breathing as an anchor that you return to when you get stressed or start to lose focus.
• Gain awareness. To change your behavior, you need to know how you are perceived. Pay attention to how people react to you and ask for candid feedback from those you trust.
• Practice with support. Telling a colleague or mentor you're working on presence can boost your skills and confidence. The feedback you receive can also reinforce momentum.
• Start by buying time. One of the first behaviours to demonstrate presence is informing those who ask questions that you need some time.  Try saying this:  "This is important.  I want to give it some thought and to check with some others.  I don't want to rush my response.  I'll get back to you tomorrow."  Comments like this build your presence by indicating that you take time, you see what's important, you think things through, you reflect, you consult when necessary, and you'll respond when you are ready.  Each of these is an aspect of 'leader presence'.

Adapted from "Developing Executive Presence" by Joshua Ehrlich.

Is it Dr. Smith...or simply Chris?

As a leader, have you dropped by your formal title?

Forget what your parents taught you, it's not always prudent to use a formal salutation, especially in today's more informal education and business worlds. Addressing people by their first name is now the norm in corporate and educational circles. Use first names to address colleagues, clients, and bosses. If you are a junior employee, this will level the playing field so that you are perceived as more of an equal. Confidently addressing people by their first names establishes you as mature and self-assured. If you are a seasoned leader, it will convey accessibility. Today's workers see hierarchies as stiff and outdated. Demanding that subordinates or staff members use a formal title comes off as pompous. Note that this informality is not the global norm—learn what is most broadly acceptable both locally and before you travel.  This is also especially important in education when addressing parents.  Start with the Mr., Mrs., or Ms. until asked to use a first name.  Additional respect for parents is never out-of-date.


Adapted from "What's in a (First) Name" by Jodi Glickman.

Lead with Emotions in Mind

As a leader, do you consider the emotional impact of your words and actions?

People resist direction or change that they don't understand, don't value, or whose demands they don't feel they can measure up to.  The impact on individuals can be significant....and not necessarily in a good way.  Positive emotional impact - recognition of a person's work or their personal life - can be inspiring.  On the other hand, negative emotional impact - not noticing work well done, negative comments, neglecting the personal lives of staff members - can cause people to resist, shut down, or, at worst, sabotage organizational efforts. 

Staff members feel more confident about taking direction and tackling new ideas when leaders set a positive tone by recognizing work that is well done, thanking people for their work, and by exuding awareness and appreciation of the complexities of the work they are being asked to do. 

Remember the great quotation:

In the end, people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

Don't miss a chance to recognize a staff member for work well done or to thank someone for their efforts.  They'll remember how you made them feel!

Too Much Listening or Too Much Talking?

As a leader, have you found the balance between listening and speaking up?

Listening is a critical, often underutilized skill.  Sometimes for leaders there is a temptation to do a lot of the talking.  In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of how important it is for leaders to be effective listeners.   But if listening is already your forte, you may need to do more talking. Speaking up is a good way to demonstrate your expertise and gain the confidence of those around you.  As a leader, too much listening can come across as a lack of confidence or knowledge.  Staff need to hear from you - in measured amounts.  If you're hesitant as a speaker, find a safe place to try it out first. Talk shop with your friends or colleagues to test your ideas. Then, refine them to share in a meeting or with your colleagues. Try to say something early on in a meeting, even if it's something small, to establish yourself as part of the conversation. The challenge here is to support your staff by speaking up enough to set the stage for the conversation without creating an environment where your staff will feel they need to echo your ideas.  It's a fine balancing act.  Listening is important, but so is speaking. Success depends on doing both.  Finding the right balance - to ensure you bring out the best in your staff - is the place you are aiming for.  It will take some time but the rewards of building the capacity of your staff are worth the effort.


Adapted from "Keep Listening, but Start Talking" by Whitney Johnson.

Encourage Pushback

As a leader, do you encourage ‘pushback’ from your staff?  Deference to authority is deeply engrained in most of us. As a leader you need to resist this tendency in your staff. If people automatically defer to your judgment, you may miss out on valuable thinking and critical feedback. Try to make it easy for people to speak up, and remember to actively ask for their opinions. When talking about current or future work, give some initial thoughts, but then ask for help fleshing out ideas. Recognize people who speak up and thank those who challenge your thinking. Most importantly, try not to react immediately if you start to feel threatened, or you risk shutting down the discussion.  This takes courage and confidence but if you want great results and you want to build capacity in your staff, this becomes an essential part of your leadership toolkit. Adapted from "The Dangers of Deference" by Ron Ashkenas.