Articles

Find Your Voice – Part 2

Jana M. Kemp

Part 1 Recap: Find your voice so that others can benefit from what you know and see that you care. Begin by believing that you have valuable ideas and insight to share. Then actually use your voice to physically speak, making sure that you produce enough sound to be heard.

Now that you’ve mentally and physically found your voice, it’s time to focus on your personal style. Whatever style, use of humor, formal or informal approach you pursue, be sure that you are expressing your intelligence and your care for others. Remember that being physically heard helps you to be understood.

What voice do you use with employees? A coaching or mentoring voice supports employee development and learning. If you quickly become impatient and find yourself cursing at employees, you are demeaning them as fellow human beings and causing people to not want to work with you. And when you use caring and cheering voices, you are more likely to inspire and motivate people to want to keep working with you.

What voice do you use with customers? Customers are the people who keep us in business. So the voice we use with our customers will make or break the success of the business. An appreciative voice expresses your gratitude for the customer’s business and invites each customer back to do business with you. On the other hand, an impatient, uncaring and “I don’t care about your business” voice turns customers away.

What voice do you use at home? Sometimes we spend so much energy on “being nice at work” that when we get home, we turn into the impatient, mean person we’ve worked hard all day not to be. Be aware of the voices you use at home, because as the saying goes “If mama isn’t happy, nobody is happy.” And I’ll add, “if spouses are unhappy, the kids are unhappy too.”

Now for the final question, do all of your “voices” match up? If each voice you use shows your care, your intelligence and expertise, and shows others your willingness to be helpful, then your voices “match up.” The effectiveness of your voice is lost when your genuineness disappears. The effectiveness of your voice is increased when your style, tone, and approach demonstrate genuineness, consistency, and care. Become more aware of how others are hearing you. When in doubt, ask the people you work with and live with for their observations and suggestions for making sure your voices match who you really are.

Action Plan: People notice what you say and how you say it. Discover how many voices you use each day, then refine each voice so that you are saying what you mean.
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Reprint Permission: The author is willing to grant reprint permissions. Please contact Jana Kemp: jana@janakemp.com or call 208-367-1701.