It is time to take control and become more influential! Remove the self-sabotaging mind games you play on yourself by following author of Unlock Your Business Voice – How to Speak As Well As You Think (£12.99, Rethink Press) and presentation coach Simon de Cintra’s top three tips on how to become more influential in the workplace. Here, Simon de CIntra will coach you with three simple tasks on how to make more of an impact at work…
- Control your breathing
If you find speaking up at work stressful you are not alone. Control your breathing is a simple method to becoming more influential, it is often a simple solution can work wonders for your confidence. Taking control of your breathing is actually the reverse of what most of us do during moments of stress such as public speaking or contacting a client. Instead, we panic breathe, which triggers the thumping-heart in mouth feeling, thereby feeding the flames rather than fighting them. You can expect to get ‘spooked’ occasionally but as long as you take action to reset your breathing you will quickly become back on track.
- Believe in your own ability!
If you want colleagues to listen to what you have to say you need to believe in your own ability and that what you are saying is worth listening to! Thus this involves an element of internal reprogramming in our level of self-belief, convincing yourself that you are worth listening to. The delivery of your message is vital, regardless of how amazing your idea is if you do not deliver it effectively with confidence it is likely to be ignored. People are not nearly as interested in us as we think, There is a common misconception that are colleagues are constantly scrutinising are every word when in fact they do not have enough energy or time to do this. Make sure to get your ideas into the arena early – nobody is expecting perfection especially if a project or idea is in its initial stages.
- Practice how you communicate
Many of us have a tendency to race through what we’re saying, because it is the natural speed at which we think. It is important to remember that the recipient of information needs time to process it. Simply using your smartphone to record yourself speaking to see how fast you speak and consciously making an effort when delivering your ideas to slow down and breathe between each sentence will significantly help your team take notice of you helping you become one of the most influential people in the room. Over the years of working with professionals I have discovered that often individuals have a gap between their internal and external settings. Therefore, they can sound to themselves like they are almost shouting, when the audience think they are only just audible. Consequently try and focus on the dialogue in the room, not the monologue in your head and tune your internal dials such as your pace, body language and volume to the external world. You can still acknowledge your inner monologue but do not let yourself be ruled by this when trying to become influential in the workplace.
Simon de Cintra has over 25 years experience in business and provides coaching and mentoring for people who are looking to gain confidence with their public speaking skills or want to learn how to lead and influence others. For more, please take a look at http://www.myfirsttrainers.com/author/simon/
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