Have you ever attended a meeting, workshop, speech, or any other event where the content was good but the delivery failed? It happens all the time, be it on TV interviews, podcasts, or even casual conversations. Unfortunately, when this happens, effective communication does not take place, and this has effects on the short-term as well as the long-term. This effect is especially so as a leader since your ability to communicate with stakeholders has an impact not just on you but on the organization. We talk about the missteps that leaders make when addressing people and the techniques you can rely on to ensure that this does not take place, regardless of who you are addressing.
What Missteps Do Leaders Make When Speaking?
From keynote addresses to investor presentations, policy speeches, and corporate announcements, leaders have their work cut out for them when it comes to putting their best foot forward. While many are able to show up and woo their audiences every time, some struggle with their delivery. Let’s look at how this takes place before we get into what you can do to avoid these instances.
🤔 Confusing the Audience
Sometimes, leaders get caught up in things that take away from their main points. Some fall into the trap of offering too many details, others use overly technical language, while others go down the rabbit hole of tangents during their talks. By doing this, they draw attention away from the main message, such that the core idea gets lost along the way.
Take the example of a CEO announcing a merger with another company. If they were to present this to their employees by spending half an hour on the financial structures, then the employees would likely not understand how this merger would affect them. And while the CEO’s goal may have been to alleviate anxiety among their employees, they would have succeeded in confusing them.
🌪️ Displaying the Wrong Emotions
Leaders are human, and they are prone to showing how they feel about something. They go through cycles of excitement, determination, hope, and all sorts of emotions, which they exhibit through facial expressions and gestures. But while this emotional expression humanizes them, it fails if it does not match the current moment.
Let’s use the example of a manager talking to their team about the rising cost of goods because of high inflation. If they were to use very casual humor because they wanted to ease the tension, it is highly likely that the people listening to them would find their tone insensitive, as it did not account for the very real effects that inflation had on their lives.
⏱️ Poor Timing
On top of displaying the wrong emotions, some leaders have a lack of situational awareness, such that their presentations do not reflect the reality of other people’s lives. How so? Take the example of a company that has just laid off some of its employees. Imagine if the leader were to then announce the executive bonuses immediately after the layoffs. What do you think would happen? They would appear tone-deaf to the staff who would already be trying to adapt to their anxiety over their job security and the departure of their colleagues.
❌ Being Inaccurate
People listen to leaders because they trust them to have vital information that they can rely on when making decisions, both at work and at home. While most leaders play their part by verifying information before sharing it, others take shortcuts, fail to fact-check, or plainly lie to their audiences. And many are the times that these audiences grapple with contradictions, inaccurate information, and overpromises.
For example, a leader may make an investor presentation, claiming that they can guarantee 10% growth in the next year. But down the road, they may admit that their projections were uncertain, which can result in the investors having less confidence in the strategic leadership.
🎤 Having a Poor Delivery
Beyond the content, some leaders struggle with poor delivery. Some are so nervous that they stumble through their presentations, others have poor pacing or monotone voices, while others have awkward body language. Unfortunately, in these cases, the audience’s attention turns from the content and instead focuses on the body language, which takes away from the message itself.
Again, let’s paint a picture. What would happen if you walked into a keynote where the speaker was reading from the slides and barely making eye contact? Like most people, you would likely perceive the speaker as unprepared for the speech or unconfident. Either way, the chances are high that you would disengage.
🔌 Not Connecting with the Audience
Every audience differs in its needs, expectations, culture, and so on. Given this context, what works for an investor’s board meeting may not carry favor in the eyes of your employees. However, some leaders fail to recognize this and treat people the same. A CEO may talk to their employees about layoffs using the same technical language that they used when addressing the investors. And by failing to acknowledge how the employees feel about these changes, they would have paved the road for their staff to feel dismissed.
❓ Mishandling Questions
Leaders can sometimes get so accustomed to having their own way that they may not be ready to receive criticism or questions. So, when they finally receive feedback or questions regarding their presentations or track records, they may be defensive, hostile, or even vague with their answers. For example, a founder may receive questions about the organization’s cash flow during an investor Q&A. But instead of being direct about the current state of affairs, they may choose to offer vague answers or dodge the questions by answering completely different questions. When leaders act like this, they raise red flags because people wonder why they are not answering the questions asked.
The Top Strategies for Delivering Effective Talks in High-Stakes Settings
As we have seen, commanding the room goes beyond having a clear voice and instead also ties to how well you communicate with your audience. Here is the right way to go about this while addressing the common issues we covered earlier.
Pace Yourself
While you may understand your entire presentation inside and out, your audience likely does not and will need to process the information as you go. If you are too fast, you will confuse them. But at the same time, if you are too slow, they will disengage from you. The best balance lies in maintaining a rhythm that shows you are in control of the room and the content, which makes you appear confident.
How? You need to slow down when explaining highly emotional or complex points. Then, speed up when talking about things that your audience already knows or may not be interested in hearing about, such as vision. And when you get to the most important statements, make a point to slow down and pause so that your audience can take them in.
For example, a founder presenting the yearly growth numbers will do well to pause after stating the actual figure before going on to what this means for the organization.
Structure Your Message
If your speech feels like it is all over the place, you will look like you are unprepared or are trying to evade scrutiny from your audience. The best way to convince people that you know what you are talking about, especially in a high-stakes setting, is to have and communicate a clear structure. It should include the hook, the body, and the close while centering on one message the entire time.
Let’s use a layoff announcement as our guide. If you were to jump from financials to employee support to vision with no order, people would not trust your word. But if you started by explaining why the change was necessary, what would happen, and how the organization would support the team, then you would exude transparency and control, thus making you look credible.
Integrate Stories
Leaders who fail to weave in stories often come off as cold or detached. And while they may have all the facts and a clear structure, their audiences are likely to distrust them for this very reason. Stories, however, help them humanize their messages, which makes their talks more relatable and memorable.
Even if you are not a gifted storyteller, you can achieve this relatability through origin stories, customer or citizen stories, or even personal anecdotes. Whether you are explaining how an initiative came about, things affecting people in society, or success stories, you will have caught people’s attention.
As an example, let’s assume two leaders are presenting a talk on inflation and how they can develop a product that matches the current times. Leader 1 says, ‘Costs have gone up 10% in the last year.’ Leader 2, on the other hand, says ‘Last week, I met a mother of one who works two jobs but is unable to afford her child’s medication.’ Which story do you think would tug at people’s heartstrings and attention because they want to know more? It’s the second one.
Find ways to bridge your stories with your message structure while ensuring that the emotions are not misaligned and that the stories do not come off as fake or forced. Again, people value authenticity and will want to understand why you chose to share a given story.
Ensure Stage Control
Some leaders have very compelling messages and have even mastered the art of storytelling to the point that they can take others on a very inspiring mental journey. However, once they take the stage, their messages fall flat because their audience often centers on their poor body language or delivery. From nervous gestures to poor posture and monotone voices, there is a lot that can weaken your authority on the stage and detract from your key points.
If you want to seem confident and keep your audience hanging on your every word, it is imperative that you stand tall and make purposeful gestures, such as pointing to your slides, so that you avoid looking like you are frozen in place. Next, you want to move intentionally such that when you move forward to emphasize something, back to signal a memory or historical event, and sideways when transitioning from one part of the story to the other. Finally, you want to ensure that everyone feels included, which you can do by making sweeping eye contact across the room. These small changes are enough to draw people in and show them that you are willing and able to take charge of the room.
Handle Questions Correctly
It is easy to exude confidence when you are the only one speaking. But what happens when people start asking you questions? Some leaders mishandle these key moments by losing their composure, failing to be transparent, or subconsciously giving up control. As a leader, now is the time that you want to show that you know your stuff. How?
First, do not assume that people will go easy on you because you have presented a topic well enough for everyone to understand. In fact, regardless of your audience, you will find that some people will have skeptical or hostile questions. If this happens, maintain your composure, avoid mirroring their skepticism or hostility, and respond to the question at hand rather than the person behind the message.
Secondly, while many people will ask questions relating to the topic at hand, others will venture into other areas. In such cases, you do not want to disregard the questions or brush these people off. Instead, what you want to do is lean into the bridging techniques. Here, you acknowledge their concern, answer it briefly, and immediately tie it to the key points that you had prepared.
Thirdly, you want to balance honesty and reassurance. If you are too honest, then you might make people feel afraid or unsure about the future. But if you are too inclined to reassure people, then you will dilute the truth in a way that makes you appear dishonest. It is important to balance the facts with some words of encouragement, while also taking note of the emotions that you display.
By basing your answers on the reality of the situation while strategically weaving in your key points, you will protect your credibility.