Organizational Leadership

The Ultimate Guide to Public Speaking 

Author: Celestial Hahn 

1.3 Minor Project: White Paper 

Respectfully Submitted to  

Dr Steven Vrooman 

June 9, 2023 

Introduction: 

As organizations continue to recover from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering effects on the world, businesses are struggling to hire, train, and retain team members with best practices in public speaking. The use of technology has had many benefits and served its purpose when the world was forced to be shut down, but now the long-standing implications are felt as our youth and the general population lack basic communication skills. The impact of minimal human interaction is quite clear as organizations strive to thrive in a market that thirsts for employees with excellent communication and marketing skills. This has brought on new challenges for leaders who reign in a time where employees lack even the basic skills of face-to–face communication to teach them to be successful in public speaking. The pandemic also placed various existing and new vulnerabilities in the workplace under the spotlight. Team members actively search for career options that fit into their lifestyle instead of trying to work their life around their career. Priories have shifted the balance of power from employers to employees.  

Problem Statement: 

As leaders, we must take the necessary measures to support our team members and offer educational opportunities for our staff for continued growth and development to enhance their learning opportunities and make our organization more appealing to retain team members with best practices in public speaking. As an organization, we must empower our nursing educators and support them on their journey. Public speaking is one of the most common fears and does not come naturally to most. As leaders, we will train our team members to recognize that public speaking is an essential skill and how to hone-in on that skill.  

Information:  

First step: Get to know your team, and both their individualized needs and team needs 

The leadership team must first design an educational template that suits their team members. This means the first initiative is to meet with their staff to better understand their employees’ needs and goals and provide them with learning opportunities most relevant to their needs. The recommendation is to meet with staff members in one-on-one meetings to discuss any current projects they are working on, any challenges, concerns, discuss what seems to be going well at work, any areas that need improvement, and are there any specialized skills or training that they are interested in developing. Many may initially be hesitant to speak openly, so it’s suggested to start the conversation lightly, asking a few questions about their life outside of work. You may ask about their home life, any hobbies? Or activities on their time off from work? What are their personal goals? This gives employees a moment to get comfortable and encourages them to actively take part in the conversation. 

After they feel more comfortable and relaxed, it’s time to start adding in questions about their roles within the organization, their responsibilities, aspirations, or any new skills they are interested in cultivating. Meeting with individual employees gives leaders an opportunity to gauge your employees’ feelings of public speaking, employee engagement, and sets up a deeper connection within your team and the organization. A discussion of the importance of excellent interpersonal communication skills and the advantages of being proficient in public speaking should be completed. As educators, we must educate our nursing students to dig deeper than learning the words in the textbook. We need to teach them how to apply the material learned in lecture to a clinical scenario. Application is key!  

Second step: Evaluate skill level 

Throughout our career as organizational leaders, we will employ many educators that do not realize their potential. Many may simply go through life believing they are not good public speakers. Just as with any new skill, the first step is to evaluate your team members to find their current skill level. With public speaking specifically, leaders and educators need to evaluate their team members’ perceived skill level. Within the group, do we have novice speakers? Are there individuals that are comfortable and confident in front of a crowd? The best way to begin is to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and then build upon their existing knowledge. Are they accustomed to using PowerPoint and other such tools as a crutch, instead of as a learning guide? This is our opportunity to empower and train our staff to learn and discover alternative methods of educating that are more hands-on and interactive 

To do this, I may consider having them prepare a five-minute speech on a topic that they are already well versed in or a topic that they feel very committed to. This task serves two purposes. It helps you to figure out their level for public speaking and it gives them an opportunity to evaluate areas that need improvement. This allows employees a safe space to enhance their overall delivery of public speaking, improves employee morale and satisfaction, and reduces turnover. Moreover, over the years I have learned that staff in training learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses. By taking the time to critique the performance, and then having employees practice in front of the group, they can further strengthen and learn from one another.  

The Third Step: Employee Buy-In 

The third step would be to question each team member on what they plan to gain from learning public speaking as a skill. Now it is time to add the buy-in or what is in it for them, the team members. We can empower them to learn public speaking as a trade if we can figure out their reasoning behind attending the training session. Sometimes team members attend a training session because it is mandated as part of their employment. As organizational leaders, one of the most important skills is being able to recognize and develop the changing set of skills needed for our career. Honing-in on public speaking skills will not only help you speak to and motivate large groups of people within your organization, but it will also help you share your expertise with those outside your network. Enhanced public speaking skills also enable you to effectively communicate with consumers and market your trade flawlessly. As they continue perfecting their public speaking skills, it allows for new personal and professional growth opportunities within the organization. If we can teach them the purpose and benefit of the skill and encourage buy-in, we can employ them to be motivated and appreciative for the learning opportunity. Once we prove a genuine desire to hone-in on public speaking as a skill, the leadership team should register them for the ‘Public Speaking Training Session’.  

Solution/Best Practices: Public Speaking Training Session 

Before getting started, leaders must discuss the basic rules for the presentations: 

• Team members need to have structure so that they can prepare properly. This includes a time limit, and what technology is allowed or not allowed.  

• The leader of the training session may even feel obliged to demonstrate by making a presentation on the topic themselves. If students in the classroom are visual learners, this may serve as a beneficial demonstration. The leader or educator may present a speech that is too fast paced, or too slow, a monotone version, and then add language that is too complex and/ or too simplified. This opens an opportunity for discussion, and to make your classroom an active learning environment.  
• The basics such as posture and breathing can be shown and evaluated. Then they can move on to more advanced concepts like nonverbal communication or storytelling.  
• Repetitive practice learning of the material of their presentation should be encouraged. Team members should practice in front of one another, or at home in front of friends and family members. This will reduce their anxiety when it comes to public speaking in front of a live audience and allows for opportunities to gain valuable critique and recommendations for improvements.  
• As you obtain their feedback, the leaders should present a refined speech to show the expectations of the five-minute speech. A video presentation can also be shown to the participant’s, such as ‘5 steps for fix any problem at work’ by Ann Morriss, a TED presentation. This allows an opportunity for participants to visualize areas where improvements can be made to enhance their overall delivery in the classroom. 
• Afterwards, give the participants a few moments to review and plan to have them present their speeches, taking time to discuss areas of improvement and areas of strengths after each performance. Over time, and after reviewing each presentation, participants will gain valuable knowledge and skill, learning from one another. 

Of course, there are still a few more pointers that we would like to teach and show: 

• Public speaking does not come naturally for everyone. And even the most seasoned public speaker needs to be available to rehearse to be an effective speaker. Giving a mock presentation or reading aloud to a friend or family member before the presentation date helps decide if you have organized the information cohesively and clearly. It may even be beneficial to read aloud alone to a pretend audience or in front of a mirror, just to help you decide areas of needed improvement.  
• Practice and preparation will help to reduce anxiety. Most team members will report physiological reactions and intense anxiety, such as a fast heartbeat and trembling, sweaty hands when preparing to present in front of an audience. As leaders, we need to encourage team members to channel this adrenaline into energy for the performance. Remember, the adrenaline rush also has the positive effect of making those individuals more alert and ready to give their best performance (Vrooman, 2015).  
• Presenters should be recommended to use audiovisual aids sparingly, as too many can break the direct connection to the audience. Audiovisuals can however be used to enhance or clarify content or capture and support your audience’s attention in a positive way (Vrooman, 2015). Presenters can have a slide deck, notes written on note cards, and use props to help educate and encourage audience participation. In the TED video presentation, Ann Morriss uses PowerPoint sparingly. She had 5 slides total, each standing for a day of the week. The goal was to explain what interventions could be completed daily to help fix workplace problems. It was intriguing, kept the attention of the audience. Ms. Morriss spoke clearly, with good tone, volume, and at a normal pace to allow time for the audience to digest what she was saying. 
• It is imperative that presenters are trained to keep eye contact with the audience instead of reading from a script or turning their back on them (Vrooman, 2015). Presenters should use their voice and hands effectively and omit nervous gestures. No fidgeting.  

• Over the years, getting to know your audience and being relatable allows for better participation. This can be done by sharing personal stories. Becoming relatable is an easy and effective way to put an audience at ease. Finding common ground with the audience, such as stories of childhood curiosity or teenage mischief. Taking something specific to you and making it seem universal or proving common ground helps make the audience feel included or like a close friend. This setup is crucial to establishing a trusting relationship and one whose experiences the audience could relate to, even if they came from a different background. 
• After you gain the attention and trust from the audience, it is time to get to the meat of the presentation. Throughout the presentation, speakers can incorporate visual aids, charts, graphs, organizers, images, and even humor or a friendly debate to keep audience participation. Get to know your audience and stay close, gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Simply inserting a funny anecdote into presentation will entice the attention of the audience. Presenters may want to slow down and be deliberate with wording. This allows the audience time to actively listen, feel at ease, and offers time to digest the information presenters are trying to convey. While it felt unnatural, especially at first, being able to see positive audience feedback throughout the process, allows presenters to develop their own style. Over time, with practice, team members will grow more confident in this skill. 
• And lastly, leaders should train their staff to design their speech in a way that grabs the attention of their audience in the beginning, and close with a dynamic end (Vrooman, 2015). As an example, start the speech off with a startling statistic, an interesting anecdote, or concise quotation. This can be seen in the TED talk with Anne Morriss as she opens her speech by calling the owner of Facebook by his first name. She does this to get the attention of the audience. After she gained full attention, Ms. Morriss went directly into the meat of the presentation. There she used humor. Her use of audiovisuals was used sparingly, and she held great eye contact with the audience. Ms. Morriss concluded her presentation with a strong statement, which is how as professional speakers, we should summarize our speech to ensure that our closing statement leaves an impression that is unforgettable to the audience (Vrooman, 2015).  

Conclusion 

As leaders, we must take the necessary measures to support our team members and offer educational opportunities for our staff for continued growth and development. Public speaking offers many benefits to employees overcoming anxiety issues, building better relationships, enhancing personal and professional growth opportunities, increasing confidence and communication skills, and increasing your professional network. As leaders, we will train our team members to recognize that public speaking is an essential skill and how to hone-in on that skill.  

References 

5 steps for fixing any problem at work [Video]. (2023). https://www.ted.com/talks/anne_morriss_5_steps_to_fix_any_problem_at_work/c 

 
Vrooman, S. S. (2015). The zombie guide to public speaking (2nd “dead”ition.).