The video provides three key tips for enhancing leadership speaking skills to project a more authoritative presence at work. First, it emphasizes the importance of using a firm, clear, and confident voice by controlling the tone, speed, and intonation, as a leader's voice emanates control and can significantly influence how they are perceived by their team. The video suggests slowing down speech, lowering the tone slightly, and practicing in new interactions to sound more in control.

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. intonation [ˌɪntoʊˈneɪʃən] - (noun) - The rise and fall in the pitch of the voice during speech. - Synonyms: (pitch, modulation, accentuation)

Sounds. You have control over your tone, your speed and your intonation.

2. hesitant [ˈhɛzɪtənt] - (adjective) - Having or showing uncertainty or unwillingness. - Synonyms: (unsure, reluctant, hesitant)

If you communicate in a way that is hesitant or unsure, it's going to tell them you don't know what you're doing.

3. emanates [ˈɛməˌneɪts] - (verb) - To flow out or proceed, as from a source or origin; come forth. - Synonyms: (originate, arise, emerge)

Because remember, when people speak fast, it is more difficult to understand what they're saying, to understand what their main point is.

4. authoritative [əˈθɔrɪˌteɪtɪv] - (adjective) - Commanding and self-confident; likely to be respected and obeyed. - Synonyms: (commanding, assertive, imposing)

You don't want to do it too much because it can make you sound too authoritative or perhaps aggressive or sometimes even dull and boring, but lowering it just enough so you can convey that level of authority.

5. convey [kənˈveɪ] - (verb) - To communicate or make known; impart. - Synonyms: (transmit, express, communicate)

You don't want to do it too much because it can make you sound too authoritative or perhaps aggressive or sometimes even dull and boring, but lowering it just enough so you can convey that level of authority

6. intonation [ˈɪntəˌneɪʃn] - (noun) - The rise and fall in the pitch of the voice during speech. - Synonyms: (pitch, modulation, accent)

Instead, use the downswing. So the downswing is obviously the opposite. It's a downward intonation at the end of a sentence.

7. upswing [ˈʌpˌswɪŋ] - (noun) - An increase in strength or quantity; an upward trend. - Synonyms: (increase, growth, rise)

If you are a regular viewer, a regular subscriber of my channel, but in case you're watching this for the first time and you don't know what the upswing is, I'll explain it to you right now.

8. emerge [ɪˈmɜrdʒ] - (verb) - To come into view or become apparent. - Synonyms: (appear, come out, surface)

Now every week I share videos on leadership to help you on your leadership journey and I would be honored to share my future content with you too.

9. assertive [əˈsɜrtɪv] - (adjective) - Having or showing a confident and forceful personality. - Synonyms: (self-assured, confident, decisive)

But what you want is for people to recognize you as a confident, assertive leader or emerging leader

10. eloquent [ˈɛlɪkwənt] - (adjective) - Fluent or persuasive in speaking or writing. - Synonyms: (articulate, expressive, persuasive)

You need people to believe you are confident in order for them to follow you.

Speak Like a CONFIDENT Leader! 3 BEST Ways to Improve Your Speaking Skills as a Leader

Number one, use a firm, clear and confident voice. What I'm essentially talking about here is how your voice sounds. Not so much the words that you use, but how your voice sounds. And despite what you might think, you actually have a lot of control over how your voice sounds. Sounds. You have control over your tone, your speed and your intonation. And all of these things, when used in the right way, can help your voice sound firm, clear and confident. Before we get into talking about how to achieve that, I want to talk about why it's important for you to have a voice that is firm, clear and confident. Well, the reality is, as a leader, people look up to you. They look up to you for guidance, for support, and for direction as well. When people look up to you, they want to know that you are in control, that you've got it together. If you communicate in a way that is hesitant or unsure, it's going to tell them you don't know what you're doing. They're not going to think you are in control of the situation, and as a result, they won't follow you. Basically, you don't have confidence in yourself, so why should they have confidence in you? Now, if people don't follow you because they don't truly believe in what you're saying, or they don't have confidence in what you're saying, because you use a voice that is not firm, confident or strong, it's going to impact you as a leader. And most emerging leaders I speak to, they want to know how to have more impact in their career, in their team and in their company. Having a voice that is firm, clear and confident is definitely a good starting point.

So how can you achieve a voice that is firm, clear and confident? Well, the first thing you need to do is to slow down your speech. When you slow down your speech, it immediately makes you look like you are in control of the situation. It makes you look like you know exactly what you are going to say next. It makes you look as though you are not fearful of losing people's attention and you're not increasing the rate of how fast you speak because you're nervous. This is something that people who are nervous quite often do. The next time you're in a conversation, take note of whether that person is speaking fast or slow. Do they look nervous or do they look in control? And when they speak fast, how does that make them sound? Does it make them sound like they are confident? Like they are in control of the situation? Or does it make them sound like they're hesitant or worried about losing your attention? Now, I do understand that sometimes when you are excited about something, when you're really excited about a project or a task or a challenge that you are facing as a leader, your excitement will come through in the rate of speech that you use. If you're excited, you'll speak faster. So speaking faster doesn't always mean that you are nervous. But of course, you can detect whether somebody is speaking fast because they're nervous or they're speaking fast because they're excited. This is something you can absolutely detect through their facial expressions, through the other body language, and through the basic words and vocabulary that they use when they're explaining something to you.

But for you, we're talking about how you can speak like a leader and improve your speaking skills. What I recommend you to do is to slow down your speech. If you feel that your nerves are coming through, if you feel that you're starting to lose confidence in what you're saying, you're starting to get nervous in that meeting, take a breath, pause, slow down your speech. It will not only help you look more confident and in control of the whole conversation, but it will also help your listener to understand what you're saying. Because remember, when people speak fast, it is more difficult to understand what they're saying, to understand what their main point is. And at the end of the day, when we speak, every time we communicate, it is for the listener. It's not necessarily for us. It is for the listener. We need to communicate so the listener can understand what we're saying. And that is how you have impact as a leader. When you speak, you can also lower your tone of voice a tiny bit. So when we speak in a high pitched voice, it makes us sound young and insecure. When we speak in a slightly lower tone voice, it can make you sound like you are confident, like you are in control of the situation. Do you see the two differences here in how I just used my voice in this one video saying exactly the same thing? Now, when I film my YouTube videos, I tend to make an effort to lower my voice, the tone of my voice a tiny bit. You don't want to do it too much because it can make you sound too authoritative or perhaps aggressive or sometimes even dull and boring, but lowering it just enough so you can convey that level of authority. So you can convey that level of confidence that you want people to read from you, that you want people to see in you. It can be very, very, very effective in helping you speak like a leader and sound more like a leader at work. I recommend you start to try it out with people you meet for the very first time. So obviously people you know really well at work, they know exactly how your voice sounds. It might be more difficult to make that transition with them. So try it out first with people you are meeting for the very first time. See what their reaction is. Do they treat you like somebody who is confident? Do they treat you like somebody who is in control of the situation? Do they look up to you like you are a leader? You can take a lot of clues from reading how other people react to the way you speak and the way you act and the way you interact with them. And if you find that it is working with those strangers you speak to, then you can slowly start to incorporate it in your interactions with people you already know at work. I recommend you begin during meetings. This is quite often the time when a lot of emerging leaders find it difficult to get talking space, especially when there's someone in the room who was a lot more talkative, who is a lot more senior, who's a lot more of an extrovert than you are. So start during meetings, start using it during meetings and see what the response is. And please let me know in the comments below how effective this is for you because I would love to know the results of this guidance and the tips that I'm sharing with you.

Another tip I have for you is to remove the upswing. I have spoken about the upswing a number of times in other videos on my channel. You have probably already heard of me talking about the upswing. If you are a regular viewer, a regular subscriber of my channel, but in case you're watching this for the first time and you don't know what the upswing is, I'll explain it to you right now. So the upswing is the rising intonation at the end of a statement. Not a question, but a statement. And I'll give you an example. I sent you that report last Friday. It was about how we should receive respond to that client's request or I took the train to the city on the weekend. I had to go to the Apple store and get a new computer. Now these examples are a bit exaggerated, I admit that, but I'm hoping you can get an idea of what I mean when I talk about the upswing. It's something you have no doubt heard in movies you probably hear in your day to day life. People you work with probably use it in a business context. It is actually very, very common in society to use the upswing. It is more common in with people who are of a younger generation, most likely because they're more uncertain or hesitant about what they're saying, especially if they're talking to senior professionals. But that's exactly why the upswing is not good for you to use. Because when you use the upswing, it makes you sound hesitant. It makes you sound unsure of what you're saying. And that is not the image or the impression you want to convey when you want people to think you are a confident leader. And I know because you are watching this channel, you're likely subscribed to this channel. If you are, thank you so much. But what you want is for people to recognize you as a confident, assertive leader or emerging leader. That is what this whole channel is about. And one of the best ways you can get there is to stop using the upswing. Instead, use the downswing. So the downswing is obviously the opposite. It's a downward intonation at the end of a sentence. For example, I sent you that report last Friday. It was about how to respond to our client's request, or I took the train into the city on the weekend. I had to go to the Apple store and get a new computer. Now, I mentioned before that the upswing is the rising intonation at the end of a statement, not a question. And I want to talk a little about that now. So questions. When you are asking somebody a question, it is completely natural and actually recommended for you to have the rising intonation at the end of your question. Why? Because that is how people know you are asking a question. You need that rising intonation so they can understand from your tone of voice, from the way your voice sounds, that you're asking them a question. Now, I remember when I was learning Japanese, they actually put a certain syllable at the end of a statement to make it into a question. They use k, which indicates to the listener that that person is asking them a question. Now, in English, we don't have such thing to use. So what do we do in order to indicate to the other person? We're asking them a question is by using the rising intonation. So I want to say that an upswing is only valid for statements. So when you're asking a question, you can use the rising intonation. If you are not asking a question. If it's a statement, something you are sure about or you should be sure about, use the downward intonation.

Now let's move on to more tips to help you improve your speaking skills. Number two, remove hesitancy in your verbal communication. So even if you have a confident sounding voice, through the speed, through your tone, and through the downswing, hesitancy can creep in through the words that you use. If you use words like um, are basically, literally just like, you know, these are all filler words. They don't really add anything to the context of what you're saying or to your main message. They just kind of fill the space. Or you use them to fill the space, mostly while you are thinking of the next thing to say. So for that reason, filler words can actually be helpful. But what I have found is that when people use them too much, when it pops up in every sentence or a number of times in the one sentence, it immediately makes you look like you lack confidence. It immediately makes you look like you are hesitant and unsure about what you're saying. When they are overused in your leadership communication, it detracts from your main message. And as a leader, when you communicate, clarity is everything other phrases I hear often are. It's kind of. Or it's sort of. For example, you know that client report well, it's kind of your responsibility. Or I think Tuesday is sort of the best option for the meeting. So again, using filler words or hesitant, non committal words in your speech don't make you sound like a leader. Remember, we're aiming for confidence. As a leader, you need to show confidence. You need people to believe you are confident in order for them to follow you. If you want people to think you're confident, what you need to use in your verbal communication is verbal commitment. You need to be sure about what you're saying. You need to stick to your word. You can't show any hesitancy. You have to be 100% committed to what you're saying. And this should be conveyed through the words that you use as well as the tone of voice and everything we've talked about already in this video. But this does take courage. I get it. I understand it. It takes courage to speak with such commitment, with such a verbal commitment, especially if you're coming from a more passive style of communication where you are used to using hesitancy when you communicate. Maybe you grew up in a culture where being assertive, where being committed to your ideas and your opinions was frowned upon. So it can take a lot for somebody to change their style of communication to make it more confident, a assertive or even persuasive. But I know it's something that you can absolutely achieve, and removing filler words is a fantastic starting point for you to get there. You don't have to replace the filler words with anything. I have been asked this question, what should I replace the word just with in my sentences? I advise you to not replace it with anything, just simply remove it. It's a filler word, right? It's just filling in your essentials. So all you need to do is to remove that filler word and your sentence will sound perfectly confident.

Now let's move on to the rest of the tips. Number three, use thought provoking questions to begin a discussion. Starting a discussion is a fantastic way to look like a leader without the pressure of having to talk all of the time. I know a lot of you watching are more on the introverted side. You don't like to be the center of attention and you might be wondering, well, how? How can I be seen as a leader if I'm not the one who is doing all the talking? Well, your answer to that is by asking thoughtful questions. By starting a discussion, by initiating a discussion, it puts you in the position of conversation leader instead of conversation follower. So when we're talking about conversation leader and conversation follower, conversation leader is a person who asks all the questions. Conversation follower is a person who answers the questions. Now, the benefit of being conversation leader is that you can direct the conversation to where you want it to go. By asking the right questions, the conversation follower must follow your lead and answer the questions that you ask them. So by using thought provoking questions to start a discussion, it puts you in the position of conversation leader, which is exactly where you want to be.

Now, how do you start asking thought provoking questions? Well, you need to ask open ended questions. So these are questions that begin with what, how or why? For example, what led you to that decision? Why did you come to that conclusion? How should we do this in a more efficient way? All of these questions get the other person thinking. When you begin your questions with what, how, or why gets the other person thinking. They can't answer with a simple yes or no because you're not asking them a closed ended question which only requires a yes or no answer. You're asking them a question or a style of question that requires them to elaborate on the answer, to think about how they're going to answer you, and to give you a more lengthy answer rather than a yes or no answer. It's really the best way to tap into to people's creativity, problem solving skill and creative thinking ability. This will help you get the most out of your team, get the most out of their expertise, and they're intelligent, helping you achieve better results as a leader.

So to sum up the three points we've talked about in this video, how to improve your speaking skills and speak like a leader the first thing you need to do is use a firm, clear and confident voice. The second thing you need to do is to remove head hesitancy from your verbal communication. And the third thing you need to do is to ask thought provoking questions to start our discussion. This is how you improve your speaking skills and sound like a leader at work.

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