How to Make Your Voice More Confident
We all know that being confident, but not cocky at work, can positively affect our careers. From a face-to-face meeting with your boss to a presentation to the entire team, your voice is one of the most important ingredients in project confidence. Here’s how to tune your voice so that the way you speak has the same effect as what you say:
Estimate areas of work
You may not need to work on all of the issues below, but thinking about each area and how you are evaluating gives you specific things to work on. If you find it difficult to gauge your voice or manner of speaking, ask a friend or trusted colleague for help, or record your presentation to get a more objective view of your habits.
- Tone : The way you say something often affects what people actually hear. The two most common examples are vocals (here’s an example video from the BBC) and speaking, or using a higher pitch at the end of sentences, similar to the tone used when asking a question. (Not coincidentally, both of these traits, believed to undermine trust, are commonly associated with female voices. )
- Conversation pace : If you speak very quickly or without pauses, this can manifest as nervousness. Trythese exercises to make your articulation more mindful.
- Loudness : If you speak too softly or too loudly, it doesn’t inspire confidence. You should aim for a volume slightly above your normal speech level so that you can be heard clearly, but not abrasively.
- Filler words : “Uh,” “ah,” and “like” are common filler words that prevent what you say from flowing smoothly. Trythese exercises from a professional public speaking coach to shorten your own phrases.
- Vocal tics. The area that you might most need a friend’s help in analyzing is common phrases or vocal tics you have. Maybe you use the same phrase when buying time to think, for example, “This is a great question …”, or you could undermine yourself with phrases such as “Sorry to interrupt …” or “I am not of course, if it matters, but … “
Toastmasters has an excellent PDF guide, and Six Minutes outlines breathing and vocal exercises you can do to improve your vocal presence. For example, to work on resonance:
Turn up the volume a little and say, “Mmmmmmmm my name is …” Repeat this ten times, increasing and decreasing your vocal range.
Once you figure out where you need to improve, get to work, building new habits, practicing as much as possible.
Practice new habits
Changing your speaking is difficult, but the more you practice, the easier it will be for you to develop new habits. After a while, self-confidence will become second nature to you. Since you may not have presentations or other opportunities to practice often, here are a few more situations in which you can test your new methods:
- Chatting with Co-workers : While you don’t have to be confident about a water cooler, small talk with co-workers gives you a low stake in practice.
- Share your ideas during meetings : Making your ideas heard and respected can be influenced by how confident you are at presenting them. The next time you share an idea, focus on at least one of the areas you want to improve.
- Feedback : When giving feedback on someone else’s work or skills, make a conscious effort to practice in at least one of the areas in which you want to improve. After all, you want to get to the point where your confident tone will positively affect how seriously your feedback is taken.
- Asking questions , whether in a meeting, during a training session, or at a networking event, is a very quick way to practice your voice confidence.
Consider other confidence-building tools
Besides your voice, you can work on other things to look confident and look better at work.
- Take up space : Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or hip-width apart, keep your spine straight (but don’t freeze, you are not a robot), and try to use hand gestures as you normally would when speaking.
- Improving Eye Contact : When communicating with the group, maintain eye contact with different people in the audience for 3-5 seconds each. In a one-on-one situation, it’s okay to look away and then look back in the eyes if you feel that something is getting awkward.
- Use open body language : don’t cross your arms, stick your hands in your pockets, or cross your legs. If your body is relaxed and open, you will look at ease and confident.
Changing your behavior, including the way you speak, is not easy, so be patient and try to practice your new habits as often as possible.