Meeting Your Listeners' Needs

Jonathan, a polished, successful financial industry CEO had numerous opportunities to speak to large audiences. In his position, candid feedback was difficult to receive, so he sought a professional assessment. Additionally, he knew he intimidated certain clients and employees, and he wanted to change that impression.

In formal presentations, Jonathan exuded a thorough understanding of financial markets. Because he had spoken about the markets so many times, however, he said he felt “canned and almost rote” in explaining them.

We worked on slowing his rate of speech as well as pausing between ideas, and his message became easier to follow. He also felt more conversational and less canned because he had time to think about what he was saying and choose words and examples that fit each specific audience.

His intimidation of others was the result of a total focus on the business issue at hand with little attention on the person with whom he was speaking. We addressed this matter several ways: First, he explored different choices in how he positioned his body. Then, he looked at the attitude he brought in talking with people. Lastly, he developed stronger listening skills.

Jonathan began to focus all his attention on an individual when speaking with him or her; he stopped multi-tasking. In experimenting with different ways of positioning his body, he learned to look and feel more involved in the conversation. Understanding others’ needs and concerns became important to him.

When speaking publicly, he began receiving unsolicited feedback from those in the audience about how much they learned from his remarks. People who had heard him speak before commented that his thoughts on complicated issues were now easier to follow.

In his interactions with employees and clients, Jonathan began to exhibit more interest in their individual needs and personal goals. As he worked at drawing out his discussion partners, his meetings became give-and-take conversations. People began opening up more, engaging in thoughtful dialogue that even Jonathan found more constructive.