When it comes to leadership, being a good communicator is an essential aspect. Unless and until, we are not able to make use of our POWER OF SPEECH, effectively and influence, we cannot build a huge organization of our own. To make a strong case, the ability to speak publically is not only important but essential to making forward strides.
Public speaking is so essential in your role as leader because it means effective communication to your team members. You might be speaking to inform, motivate or to persuade; whatever it be, your role as a leader is that you must be able to bring your message across effectively if you want to lead well. You might be extremely good at your job, but if you are not well in your communication through public speaking, then it means that you are not fulfilling your own potential as well as the potential of your organization. If you are a leader, you have to understand the importance of public speaking and its role in your leadership. And not just understand it; you have to become extremely good at it.
So, here’s what you will gain and emerge as an effective leader if you master the skill of public speaking :
Public speaking is as much about challenging people’s perception of something as it is about introducing new ideas. It is also about challenging yourself. Anyone who’s gotten up in front of a group of strangers and talked for half an hour knows how intimidating it can be. It takes nerves of steel to be a public speaker. The more people that see your face standing in front of the crowd will provide more opportunities for your career. People will remember you and begin to see you with authority. You begin to appear as the spokesperson for your community of business professionals, being looked to as a leader. When you challenge yourself to speak in front of an audience, over and over again, you increase your confidence. And, when you are effective at challenging your audience’s ideas, then you have the power to challenge your team members’ ideas, about their own abilities and about the direction of the company.
Being a leader is challenging — literally.
Public speaking allows you, as a leader, to show your team what you are thinking and what direction you want to take: they will see you as not only an actual leader but as a thought leader. A leader isn’t just someone, who states what they want to be done and waits for people to do it. A leader is someone who motivates positive action, who inspires innovation and growth, who sets a set of goals for a group of people and helps them to find the path to their mutual success. There’s no question that the only way that any of these ideals get accomplished is through clear communication — both as an active listener and speaker.
If you want people to follow you, you have to communicate effectively and clearly what followers should do. According to Bender, “Powerful leadership comes from knowing what matters to you”. Powerful presentations come from expressing this effectively.
To be successful, it’s important to get others on your side and be seen, admired and respected as a leader. “That’s where public speaking comes in,” Manoj Vasudevan, the 2017 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking, tells CNBC Make It. “To be seen as a leader, you need to move people with your words,” Vasudevan says that learning public speaking is the one thing that can change your life forever and it’s best to master the skill at a young age. A person who is able to skillfully express himself or herself as an orator, especially early in life, is more likely to foster better friendships and relationships and build a larger network of collaborators, he says.
Vasudevan suggests that if you want to grow as a leader and persuade people to invest in your ideas, you must also invest in your public speaking skills. Words are extremely powerful, says Vasudevan, because you can use them to move people to act on your ideas. In fact, the public speaking champion believes that brilliant ideas are worth nothing until they are brought to life with the power of your words.
“If you can stand up and deliver a well-thought-out speech that resonates,” he says, “you achieve instant recognition and add momentum to further your purpose and help others achieve theirs.”
— Tanmay Nagdeve
