Speaking skills – a valuable asset in business?

During the last years, companies have placed more and more emphasis on the soft skills of their employees when recruiting and performing performance reviews. In the LinkedIn survey of the top 5 most in-demand behavioral skills are listed: speaking skills, (the art of persuasion) and stress management. Practicing public speaking with ease allows you to develop these two skills. How can effective speaking and oral communication be valued within your company and become the springboard for your success? 

1. Knowing how to speak in public develops emotional intelligence and the power of persuasion

Recruiters are aware that the main issue for employees is to improve communication skills. But first let's sweep aside a lingering ambiguity: soft skills should not be confused with character traits. If the latter are immutable, developing or improving behavioral skills is within the reach of anyone who wants to. This means that practice-focused oral training can reveal the effective communicator within you!

What do we mean by emotional intelligence?

If Daniel Goleman in his book entitled ‘Emotional Intelligence’, which was published in 1995, translates it as a mixture of self-awareness, social competence, empathy and motivation, his definition has now evolved. Rather, emotional intelligence is now understood as the ability to recognize emotions - your own and those of others - and to use this ability as a driver of productive behaviour and to unite in a more effective manner. More precisely, we also speak of relational intelligence, communication skills, interpersonal skills. Naturally, you can now better understand why this term interests us here and how much it emphasizes the importance of successful public speaking.

Why can oral training help you develop your emotional intelligence?

To spice up your public speaking skills, you will learn how to:

• move from "everything I know" to "what is important for my audience to know";
• focus on an idea;
• structure your speaking skills so that the idea is expressed clearly and is anchored in memories;
• find an anecdote, a statistic, an example to captivate the audience in the first minutes of your intervention;
• develop a relationship of trust and complicity through your gaze, your attitude, and put your non-verbal communication at the service of your words;
• improve your active listening skills to capture reactions.

Knowing your audience, the ability to connect with and understand them is the core of your learning. It will take you far beyond new techniques of presenting the topic and mastering the fear of speaking in public

2. Make all your speeches within the company more impactful

There is more to becoming a good speaker than speaking in front of crowded rooms. In fact, by improving your oral expression, you will also be much more comfortable to:

• motivate your team to take on a new challenge;
• promote your merits or those of your team to your superiors;
• share your knowledge at a seminar;
• present a new product to potential customers;
• manage conference calls;

Do you feel comfortable in all these situations? Are you able to generate interest?

3. Build self-confidence

"If you never try you will never succeed, but if you try you may surprise yourself" - Sainte-Beuve, writer.

Of course, you are not the only one who experiences stress when speaking in front of an audience, then having to overcome this challenge to move forward. However, don't hesitate to take the plunge, because improving communication skills will also strengthen your self-confidence. You thus learn how to better recognize your emotions. 

Just like that, you can identify your brakes and take the necessary distance to achieve your goal. When you work on your body language, posture, breathing, voice, and diction, you will discover a lot about yourself. By developing your ability to convince, to build a good argument, you also boost your creativity and enhance your wellbeing at work.

4. Increase your visibility within the company and expand your network

Knowing how to speak in public and how to argue and hear criticism, also develops your leadership skills. Your eloquence and ease in communicating with your colleagues, your hierarchy, and other departments amplify your circle of influence. Within the company, you will be able to practice the art of mediation and stress relief, in order to obtain more efficiency in business.