Skip to main content

Commanding Attention

Telling stories is no easy task, and telling good stories that people actually want to listen to is even more challenging. Throughout the course of taking MSLD 500 Leadership Communication I have learned many communication techniques, but what may end up being the most impactful is verbal communication and presenting. Most of the time in my career, I find myself speaking to people live, over zoom, or on the phone. It is more seldom that I am required to submit a written report.  

Image from: https://minutes.co/how-to-grab-an-audiences-attention/

It is easy to tell when I am telling a boring story. People lose eye contact with me. They look at the time, or they might even start scrolling on their phone for entertainment. Julian Treasures provided some excellent and useful information about telling stories “that people want to listen” to (QuickTalks, 2016). In his TEDTalk Treasures lists the seven deadly sins of speaking. They include gossip, judging, negativity, complaining, excuses, exaggeration, and dogmatism (QuickTalks, 2016). I know I’ve been guilty of almost all of them, but perhaps mainly exaggeration and complaining. In an effort to improve my communication, I intend to practice mindfulness about how I communicate. Treasures also made note that the timber, prosody, pitch, and volume used also affect how your communication is received (QuickTalks, 2016). These elements of speech McKay et al. (2009) called paralanguage and as discussed in previous assignments provide much of the meaning beyond the words being said. Seeing how these nuanced elements of verbal communication are conceptualized in different ways reinforces just how important tone of voice is in communicating.  

The excellent storyteller and comedian Kevin Hart masterfully ensures that he is commanding attention so that his stories achieve a maximum effect (Charisma on Command, 2016). If nobody is listening, why tell a story? Kevin Hart commands attention at every point in his storytelling including when interrupted and by fully committing to the story. When Hart begins telling a story he often does so using a signaling phrase. He will ask the audience to listen or ask permission to tell a story. Only once attention is secured will he proceed with his story (Charisma on Command, 2016). My intention is to take key points from both of these speakers and apply them to my presentations now and in the future. Not only during presentations but in conversations too! Mindfulness about when I have captured my audience’s attention, and what I speak about will make me a speaker that people want to listen to.    



References

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages The communication skills book. New Harbinger Publications.

Charisma on Command. (2016, February 22). 3 tips to instantly tell better stories [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/vn_L4OPU_rg 

QuickTalks. (2016, May 18). Hot to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasures (Ted Talk summary) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/dEkEAFaV818


 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I found the Standards in my Life

I had standards by which I lived my life before I could explicitly identify them. I found that not every choice I made brought me closer to the person I wanted to be. I make decisions every day that bring me joy, sadness, fulfillment, and yearning for more. In an effort to understand how I make these decisions, and to be more intentional, I recently started a journey to reflect on my own core values. I have made many moves in my life and I wanted to better understand how I can make decisions that align with my core values. To facilitate this introspection I asked myself the questions below. In reflecting on these questions I found patterns. Patterns of behaviors and ways of being that helped me understand how I have lived in and out of alignment with my core values. Now that I am aware of them, and have them written out, these are my standards for decision making. These are the ways of being that help ensure I am living the life I want to live. Questions I asked myself What am I doing ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Role(s) in a Team

Teamwork is a common thread throughout life. Growing up with parents and a sibling, working at my first job at McDonald's, and my marriage and current household all provide me with an opportunity to practice teamwork. Most, if not all, of the engagements in my life involve interacting and cooperating with others, so this exploration into how teams form and are led is an interesting practice of reviewing literature and reflecting on how I engage in my day-to-date life. As a part of a team, I tend to take leadership roles quite naturally. Whetten & Cameron (2011) describe several roles of embers within a team: task-facilitating, relationship-building, and blocking roles. I believe that I have played each role at some point. I feel most at home when I play a task-facilitation role, but I also make time and space for relationship-building. Teamwork is all about getting individual contributors to work together toward a common goal, so ensuring that the relationships among team membe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Constraints on Creative Problem Solving

Creative problem-solving requires a great deal of flexibility, and acceptance of risk which can be difficult for businesses who are generally risk averse to embrace. Many constraints also exist in our individual thinking which limit our capacity to think and problem-solve creatively (Whetten & Cameron, 2016). In my own experience in the nonprofit and social service industries I have seen these constraints hold back otherwise successful individuals.  “Well, this is how we’ve always done it” I’m sure you’ve heard this common refrain from supervisors and teammates in the past. Generally, we hear this when someone questions an existing policy, procedure, or process. The inquiry is not personal, but this knee-jerk response is a clear indicator that the individuals are experiencing some conceptual blocks to creative problem solving. Complacency is a major impediment to thinking differently, in fact, complacency may mean that the people in question are not thinking at all. When we avo...
Post a Comment
Read more