Excellent leadership communication is essential for thriving cultures and a company’s bottom line. The artistic discipline found in the performing arts can provide guidance on all communication skills for effective leadership.
There’s far more to learn from the performing arts than just storytelling. Don’t stop there. Explore further not only the performer’s body and voice awareness for communicating, but also the disciplines of self-awareness and the flexibility of thought.
Many communication and presentation skills trainings provide cookie cutter approaches – as if one size fits all. Your best authentic leadership skills can get buried in those kinds of communication training sessions.
Authenticity Takes Discipline
It takes discipline to become your best self. Performing artists know that for connection and a clear message to come through in any communication, the speaker needs flexibility and physicality, as well as preparation both mentally and emotionally. This is also what leaders need to effectively communicate and connect with an audience.
You can cultivate effective leadership communication strategies by learning from the artist’s discipline of self-observation that leads to self-awareness; the artist’s ability to connect body and voice for greatest ease of use; and the artist’s discipline of sensing things to stay in touch with what can be felt during any interaction.
Build Communication Skills By Interrogating Feedback
So often, disconnection begins to happen for leaders after they have been given poor or ineffective feedback. When C suite leaders suggest that a report you delivered was a bit too formal, or perhaps a bit too casual, you, the leader, likely end up adjusting your communication style to address the feedback received without further inquiry.
This response is reflexive, automatic, without curiosity or questioning. In order to really cultivate authentic communication skills, you need to pursue further inquiry. You may be able to ask for more specific feedback: How did formality or informality show up for you? What specifically did I say or do that landed that way?
Also remember to ask yourself clarifying questions: Is this particular presentation different from how I usually present? And if so, how? Did I prepare for this particular audience? Did I adjust my delivery, content, tone, etc. for this particular message? The questions could go on.
What you want is to get to a real sense of how you showed up. Then align your presentation adjustments to the specific feedback while choosing to show up as yourself. So often when we speak to leaders, we adjust ourselves to who and what we think they want. We adjust our communication style to be the communicator we think they want and end up leaving our powerful individuality behind. The outcome is that, in the next meeting, we’ve adjusted our delivery and message without first discovering what the feedback truly meant.
Being Real is Essential
Effective leadership communication is like good acting. It is about being real in the moment. Neither role works with being fake. Both acting and leadership fail when the audience perceives the communication or connection as insincere or manufactured. Being real, authentic and present as an actor or leader takes courage, curiosity, and energy. All three of these are why there are days or whole careers where people just “phone it in.”
Communication is hard. Not everyone is cut out to be an excellent communicator. Maybe you are, but you don’t know what to do or how to be. The performing arts has a whole collection of effective and user-friendly tools and techniques to help build your communication skills.
Performers have known that communication success involves many nuanced techniques that can be bucketed into 1. words 2. connection 3. instinct/response. In other words: 1. head 2. heart and 3. gut. Sometimes, you’ll need one or a combination of these to convey a point or message. The best connection occurs when all three work in concert.
Story Is Important
For centuries, actors and storytellers have been sharing experiences and understanding through story. We, as human beings, share our hearts and minds through story. These stories are related through words, body language and voice.
Often, we, as leaders, have had our delivery stifled by the idea of what is or isn’t professional nor acceptable. Our natural storyteller is hushed or sometimes even silenced. It is essential for you as a powerful communicator and leader to share your voice through your delivery and message. You can do this by understanding the discipline of the performing arts with increased self-awareness, and staying present and connected with yourself and others.
Self Aware vs. Self-Conscious
Successful business communication involves being self-aware without being self-conscious. Own the difference by taking action. Self-awareness means understanding yourself in relation to your audience, being aware of how your communication is landing. Self-consciousness occurs when we are aware of ourselves without knowing what to do with it. For instance, you notice that others are paying attention to you in a particular way and you’re not sure why. This happens often when we’re speaking to a group. Things about us become noticeable. Your attention is directed toward yourself rather than on the audience to whom you are speaking. You can learn from the world of acting how to connect better through voice, message and non-verbals. These elements are an essential base to all performing artist training.
Non-verbals Are Powerful
Body awareness, movement, and the nuances of non-verbal communication help to clarify our message. So many leaders disregard body movement, and act as if the only important part of themselves is what is being shared from their head. For example, in a virtual presentation even if you aren’t speaking, if you have your camera on, it matters how you show up in the box. If you decide to have your camera off, it creates its own powerful message. Stopping the camera does not stop the non-verbal message that’s being delivered. Always remember: one cannot not communicate.
Your Voice – Your Breath — Your Truth
Vocal awareness will either connect your audience to you or cause them to tune out. If they tune out, your message isn’t being heard and you aren’t connecting. Your speaking voice is an instrument that is worth learning how to play expertly.
We’re not talking about manipulating our voice. We’re talking about learning how to use your breath, release your tension, and have a sound that is varied and connected to your message. So many voices we simply tolerate. Why not have a voice that enhances your message and makes it easy to connect to you? If your message is worth being heard, your voice is an important partner in the equation.
Be More Flexible
Leaders can learn to be more flexible through improvisation. Actors study improvisation whether or not they go on to do improv as part of their career. Improvisation teaches the tool of continual observation, to learn that there are many ways to see events, conversations, or what’s happening in a room. Improvisation trains you to let go of what you think you see and what you think is happening so that you can hear what others are saying and remain open to your own shifting and expanding awareness.
In improv, your hold loosely to your perception and hold tightly to the truth that the duo or group is creating collaboratively. Improv is all about working with your improv partners. Your communication is in concert with each other and the moment. Thus, learning good improvisation is just like good leadership and good communication. It is being flexible in the moment.
Messages Need to Be Clear
Message clarity and impact is essential. For actors, rhetoric and word choice have depth of detail that are respected and applied with great care. There’s also a realization that message is dependent both on the audience and on the relationship with the one communicating. Words shift, meaning shifts, phrasing is designed for connecting. Even if in debate or convincing someone in an argument, there must be understanding to move forward. This understanding is clarified through how you choose the words and deliver them.
Dialogue in Communication
You create greater connection and trust when you dialogue with others rather than speak at them. Actors are trained that even a monologue has an intended audience, and the powerful understanding of that connection determines whether the monologue succeeds or fails. How many times in rehearsal for a play, movie, or other does an actor ask themselves – who am I talking to and how does that shift me and my message? So, even monologues are created through the lens of a dialogue, but most non-actors don’t understand that.
You must remember the importance of remaining in a dialogue with your audience. How do you know when you are in a monologue without the connection or regard for others? If you send an email or you deliver a message to your team or your board without expecting a response from them, you’ll know you’re in a monologue rather than a dialogue.
You must know your audience. Taking the audience into consideration is a basic tool of not only the director in a play but of each and every performer.
Rehearsal and Practice
There is work in figuring out what’s best in communicating a message, and it takes time and a variety of attempts to hone it. Find the best way by trying things on – by rehearsing. Get the feeling of the message and intention in your whole body not just your head.
We often refer to muscle memory – where we are able to call on those instincts in our body and bones when needed. Communication is a whole body affair – not a group of ideas coming from the head. Practice and rehearse so that you’re ready to flex during the inevitable turn of events. This counterintuitive mind set, that rehearsal prepares you for the unknown, prepares you for better improvisation.
So Remember: Authentic Communication Starts Within
The story has been emphasized and lauded because business communication realizes that story is the basic mode of human connection. Enhance your stories and adaptability for your audience with your own deepened body awareness, voice, and messaging. Your stories need connection, not only from your head, but also from your heart and gut.
Everyone is being asked to develop their leadership presence. No longer is the burden on the leaders in the C suite. As a leader, we invite you to connect to the actor’s discipline in order to live into your authenticity, transparency and connection. These communication skills are not new – the artists have been living them and using them for centuries. Tap into your curiosity and call up your courage to elevate your communication – your team wants to hear from you – yes, the unique you.
More info on the performer’s discipline is available in “Articulate at Work: How Performance Techniques Bring Business Communication to Life”
And we’re always ready to speak with you about ways to support you and your teams.
Hilary Blair is a leadership keynote speaker based out of Denver, CO, and is the co-founder of ARTiculate: Real & Clear. She is also a highly regarded, actor, improviser, facilitator, voice-over artist, and voice expert coach. Contact us today to learn more.
