Communication Tips To Stand Out
Warren Buffet once said if you improve your communication skills, you will increase your value by 50%. Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media | LIVE event on LinkedIn, where she spoke about communication tips to stand out in the workplace. She shared personal stories on how being a strategic communicator can improve perception and open opportunities.
World Of Dualities
During the Soulcast Media | LIVE, Jessica started off by talking about how many of us are living in a world full of contradictions. For example, we’re encouraged to speak up, contribute our ideas, and actively participate in the workplace. But sometimes, when we do so, we’re met with unexpected reactions such as silence, harsh judgments, or even being assigned mundane tasks we simply don’t want.
The key, Jessica emphasized, is being strategic with our communication and speaking up when it counts. It’s not about being loud, it’s about being intentional and tactful.
Below are a few points she shared to help you communicate to stand out and exercise influence at work.
1. Reframe your limiting beliefs
To begin, everyone needs to recognize the limiting beliefs that prevent us from speaking confidently at work. Limiting beliefs are sneaky judgments we make about ourselves which end up putting a damper on our confidence and holding us back from reaching our true potential. We need to break free from these self-imposed limitations to excel in our communication skills. It starts with recognizing moments when we doubt ourselves and realizing they’re just thoughts, not truths. Once we let go of any self-doubts that may hold us back, we start embracing our abilities and trust we know our stuff.
Consider the following:
- Labeling – This is a technique to reframe limiting beliefs. Let’s say we have this nagging thought that keeps telling us we’re not cut out to be a leader. We can give that thought a label, like “turnips.” Yes, it’s silly, but labeling is cognitive reframing. The next time a negative thought pops up, instead of letting it ring loud in our head, we can recognize it as the “turnips” talking. So we say, “Hey, turnips, I see you trying to bring me down, but guess what? I’m onto you!” By giving these negative thoughts a playful label, we create distance between ourselves and the self-doubts. We can then pivot our thoughts to something more positive and empowering.
- Turn Thoughts Into Questions – Once we label, we can turn these limiting thoughts into questions. For instance, when that negative thought creeps in, saying, “You’re going to fail if you try,” we can counter it with a question like, “How do we know we’ll fail?” When we do this, we open up the possibility for a different perspective.
2. Speak To Convince
Whenever we speak, we are often in persuasion mode. Whether we’re asking for something, sharing our perspective, or explaining a concept with our team, we are convincing others of our point of view.
Consider the following to enhance this skill:
- Quantitative-Driven Point – Incorporating quantitative-driven points to back up our claims is effective when it comes to persuasion. Let’s say we want to make a case to our boss for a well-deserved raise. Instead of just relying on vague statements, we can present some hard-hitting quantitative points that showcase our impact. We could say, “this year, I exceeded my sales goal by 20% and landed not one, not two, but three new annual contracts!” Numbers speak for themselves. They’re tangible concrete facts and it can be impressive to share. By using quantitative-driven points, we demonstrate our track record and show why we truly deserve what we’re asking for.
- Emotional-Driven Point – Emotional-driven points gets into the heart of our convincing. It’s relying on the human nature of our ask. Going with the previous example of asking for a raise, we can add in some emotionally-driven points to make our case. We might say, “it was a tough goal to hit, but you know what? We not only hit that goal, but we went beyond everyone’s wildest expectations. It was an incredible accomplishment.” By incorporating emotional language, we tap into the human side of persuasion.
- Combination Driven Point – When it comes to becoming a persuasive speaker, the art is now combining both quantitative and emotionally driven points to make our statements more powerful. Here’s another example, imagine a restaurant received a glowing five-star review. Instead of simply saying, “Our restaurant got a five-star review,” we can lean into our emotionally and quantitively driven points by saying, “We can tell our customers love us. Just read some of the five-star reviews.” By blending quantitative (five-star review) with the emotional (customers’ love), we create a stronger impact. How can you take this strategy and incorporate it into your speaking?
3. Public Speaking
When it comes to giving a presentation, you should remember this: make it memorable. As a great communicator, we want our audience, whether it’s 2, 5 or 500 to have a great impression of our message. We can achieve this by focusing on the points of our public speaking that can generate the most impact and ROI. This includes preparing how we start our speaking, how we transition, and how we end.
Consider the following:
- The Start – Beginning your speaking with a story can be powerful. Stories have this magical ability to breathe life into concepts and make ideas relatable. It’s like the secret ingredient that bring our presentations to life. Instead of diving straight into the specifications or dense numbers, we can weave a compelling story about the human experience of our message. For example, we can share the journey of how our product transformed our customer’s life or hone in on the difficulties our client’s faced. By using stories to start our presentation, we leverage our audiences curiosity. We’re grabbing their attention and hooking them into the narrative from the start.
- The Transitions – When we’re delivering a presentation, it’s important to keep things flowing smoothly. Transition words can fill those moments of awkward silence and maintain fluidity. Right now, chances are when we click on our next slide, we do it with a pause. However, we can effortlessly connect the dots by saying something like, “This brings me to our next point, which you’ll now see here.” This is like a verbal bridge that guides our audience from one idea to the next, keeping them engaged and the presentation moving forward.
- The End – Ending our presentation well takes strategy. The easiest thing to do is however we started it is how we want to end it. Whether it’s with a story or with a bold statement. Whatever we did, we should do now. By bookending our presentation the way we started it, we create a sense of cohesion and closure. It’s that “aha” moment that leaves a lasting impression and reinforces the main message we want to convey.
Strategic communication helps us make a strong impression and ensures our message lands with precision. It enables us to connect, influence, and build relationships with others. It’s like having a compass that guides us through the maze of workplace interactions.
Check out Jessica’s Youtube Channel if you want to see the full LIVE version of this LIVE.
__
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways we can help you:
- Discover your communications style so you know where to start. Over 4,000 people have found theirs here.
- Attend our monthly communication workshop to build communications confidence (new topics: public speaking, advocating for yourself, building credibility, etc) here.
- Get your brand in front of 43k+ people by sponsoring our newsletter or Soulcast Media | LIVE LinkedIn events [contact: hello@soulcastmedia.com]
