Imagine for a moment sitting in a presentation by a division President of a Fortune 500 company. Wouldn’t you expect that person to be a polished and motivating speaker?
Here is what I have in my notes from the first 10 minutes of a presentation by a division President of a Fortune 500 company: 125 ums, T-Rex arms, monotone.
Not a very flattering evaluation of someone who is supposed to “know” what they are doing up there.
125 ums, ahs, or ers in the first 10 minutes! That is 12.5 fillers in a minute or one on average every 4.8 seconds. It amazed me that someone of that stature, of that position, was blind to the fact that his message was lost in a stream of monotonous language and stammering filler.
For 45 minutes I sat through this presentation and thought, “Why does our company not do a better job of promoting Toastmasters?”
We have a club, but there is little to no management support. I have had some managers tell me that they like the concept, but the actual club is a total waste of time. Waste of time? Management just wasted 45 minutes of my time delivering messages that because of the delivery, did not stick.
Why is our management not in there every week practicing their skills?
Why are they blind to their own lack of communication skill?
What can be done about the sorry state of communication in Corporate America?
Comments?
About the Author: My Toastmasters Blog is written and edited by Chris Elliott, a professional speaker and blogger. Chris serves as a leader for supply chain and international non-profit organizations. He enjoys uses his knowledge and experiences during his speaking engagements, workshops, consulting projects, and one-on-one coaching sessions. The result—connecting people and empowering change. If you would like information on how you can bring Chris to speak to your next meeting, please download Chris' one sheet or contact him by clicking here.
When I read stories like this one I’m reminded of what Patricia Fripp said in her speech Million Dollar Words:
“It never ceases to amaze me that intelligent, well-educated, and ambitious people frequently overlook developing the number one skill that is guaranteed to position them ahead of the crowd. Namely, the ability to stand up and speak eloquently with confidence or at very least stagger to their feet and say anything at all.”
Any training program, including speech training, including Toastmasters requires effort on the part of whoever is in charge of training for your company AND organizational managers and executives.
Usually the training function does not rank high on the organizational food chain and is seen as a pair of hands rather than a partner in organizational performance.
On the Toastmasters side, there really does need to be some PROFESSIONAL support for organizations using Toastmasters as part of their communication skills training program.
Yes, many managers are blind to their weak presentation skills and will not take a typical Toastmasters evaluation seriously within the organizational setting… unless the evaluator is seen as a peer or higher. (Not ALL managers. Don’t get upset.)
As a human resources professional and long-time Toastmaster I believe that the Toastmasters training model is absolutely great and yet needs better support from Toastmasters to make it a more viable tool in many organizations.
Great blog, Chris!