While meetings are a great concept in theory—an opportunity for everyone to share ideas and be kept up-to-date on important business—anyone who has ever worked in a corporate environment is all too aware that meetings are often not quite as effective as intended. What can you do to ensure your next meeting is a success?
One common mistake in business communication is not separating your day-to-day speech from your professional speech. When talking casually in everyday situations, we tend to run our words together as we speak. For example, “would’ve” and “should’ve” become “wudda” and “shudda”. “Want to” and “going to” become “wanna” and “gonna.” Although this manner of speaking may be acceptable among friends and acquaintances, professional business speech should be more clear and enunciated. Asking a friend, “Didjeet?” (Did you eat?) may be completely acceptable. However, when speaking with a business contact, “Have you eaten?” sounds much more professional and polished.
It’s remarkable how much more intelligent and professional speech can sound when properly enunciated. Slurring your words together and omitting syllables creates an impression of sloppiness and laziness. Take some time and honestly evaluate how clear and crisp your speech is. It may help to tape record yourself the next time you are on a business call. As you replay the recording, listen to your speech, and decide if you are pronouncing each sound of each word. If the answer is no, you may need to put some time into refining your manner of speaking. Take note of some phases you typically use on a day-to-day basis, and practice saying them when you are alone, taking care to produce each sound and syllable. Developing clear speech will take time and effort, but the results are well worth it.
Want to learn how to turn your speech into your most powerful business tool? Give us a call at 917-841-2965 or visit our website at www.corporatespeechsolutions.com and find out how one of our trained and certified corporate speech-language pathologists can improve your communication and your career! Don’t live in NYC? No problem! Our services are Skype ready.
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