Can your voice stop your race? Episode 2

The independent review containing her team’s complaints revealed that over 50% of the team had complained about Sarah’s weekly motivational teleconference calls. More specifically, it was noted in the report that his voice was harsh and really difficult to hear. Many members of his team felt that he was unfairly criticizing them. The report concluded that her speaking style was perceived as authoritarian and, over time, had caused her team to have serious negative feelings towards her.

Until we are told, many of us don’t really perceive how we sound to others. Sarah, like many smart, highly skilled and talented experts, worked 24/7 to always be there for her team. When informed of the situation, he immediately looked for a way to solve the problem.

Sarah was willing to do whatever it took to correct her sound. My assessment was that his speech pattern sounded strained and nasal, which is very difficult to hear over a period of time. And he also spoke very fast with little variation in his tone: he basically had a nasal, machine-gun speech pattern.

Sarah realized that her plaintive tone could push the buttons of the subconscious in many male minds. Most men have a lower tone of voice and a higher nasal tone that can easily sound annoying and critical, even if that is not the intention of the speaker. Sarah had a high-pitched nasal sound that she learned by mimicking her mother, who was also nasal. Unconscious imitation of an important adult is the way most children pick up on their speaking voice pattern and it usually sets in when they are 8 or 9 years old.

“Knowledge is power.” Sarah’s first task was to learn to slow down her speech. “We talk to get someone else involved, and it’s hard to do it when we’re talking fast,” I said. “You can never speak as fast as you think so why try? As we worked on the breathing, rhythm and diction exercises, she heard the difference between her new and improved voice pattern and the old one that was negatively impacting her team. . and its new CEO.

Once he was able to slow down, we worked out exercises to get rid of his nasality. I explained that her nasal sound was created by lifting the back of the tongue against the soft palate, which effectively closes the back of the throat and forces the sound out of the nasal passages.

Within three months he consciously switched to a non-nasal voice pattern that took the edge off his voice when he spoke. Sarah was now in control, and as a result, her voice sounded richer, fuller, more resonant, and definitely more pleasing to the ears.

The CEO was impressed by her new command on the calls and complimented her on her communication skills. Sarah is still at her job. And because of her confident new voice, she’s now on her company’s internal radio show as an expert in her field.