All effective communicators have a certain style. They use their tools in a way that establishes them as unique. They have signature mannerisms - think Bill Clinton's pursed lips when he wants to convey how profoundly he is moved or the smirk that George W. Bush had to eliminate in order to win the 2000 Presidential election. Effective communicators have their own delivery style, or a way of carrying themselves, or a way of relating to their audiences. The best communicators use their personal style in every encounter they have with an audience, whether it's an audience of one or one thousand.
But that doesn't mean that you need to sit down and study Martin Luther King, Jr with an eye towards adopting his most powerful style. You need to discover your own personal style - the one that works for you. The style that taps into your strengths - strengths that you can build on. Don't concentrate on how the person before you did it, concentrate on how you're going to utilize your uniqueness to get things done. Stop comparing yourself to others.
In addition to finding your strengths, you'll want to zero in on the quirks in your personal style that limit your effectiveness, that turn listeners off, that inhibit your power to teach, persuade or lead. These quirks are a big part of your personal style, too; but they're the parts you can work to eliminate or downplay.
At Ty Boyd Executive Communications & Coaching, we are going to do our best to help you become as effective as Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook or Steve Jobs - perhaps the best communicator of the decade, but we are not going to turn you into them. Learning to use your personal toolbox is not a cookie-cutter process. We're here, instead, to scrape away all the veneer. To reveal the essential you. And in that way, you become the most powerful communicator you can be.
