Corporate business managers are in key positions in the hierarchy of the company. They oversee projects and the development of their teams, and they are often responsible for the hiring and the firing of those team members. The corporate business manager is in a leadership position, and one of the keys to good leadership is effective communication. A business manager needs to speak well and needs to be able to persuade others. A business manager can find themselves at a round table meeting where new ideas are being pitched or giving a presentation to a group of board members. In either case, there are some tools that a business manager can use to make their presentations and overall communication better and more productive.
The goal of any good piece of communication is persuasion. In a speaking situation, the business manager needs to set themselves apart and ensure that the audience knows that the individual is both trustworthy and worthy of their time. The speaker needs to establish their credibility. One of the ways that a speaker can do this is through an organizing structure. Something like an outline or a story can be a great way to give a speech the direction it needs that people can follow. Affirmations can work as well, but it is important that the speaker know their audience and understand how best to relate their story. A pitch that includes a long story about conscientious objectors might now fly too well when given to an audience of war veterans.
Some people may believe that effective speaking is the result of charisma, but all a speaker is trying to do is to build some kind of relationship with their audience. A great way to build this relationship is through logic. Logic in a speech can mean following an outline or following a series of steps, but what the speaker needs to be aware of is that the audience should repeatedly be made aware of where they are going and where it will end. If the topic is especially convoluted, logic is very helpful, and people are less likely to want to argue with a logically given speech than something that rambles around in circles. Logic also has the added benefit of giving the speaker the aura of authority since they sound like someone who knows what they are talking.
Logic is not the only tool that a speaker has at their disposal to come across with authority. When giving a speech, it can be helpful to cite other authorities. This gives credibility to what the speaker is saying and makes the audience far more trusting. Documentation can help too, but often in a presentation the speaker will already have audio visual aids, and handing out too much documentation during a speech can be distracting. Even more important than logic is the experience of the speaker. This is where a speaker can really shine since citing their own experiences establishes a rapport with the audience because they can feel like they share something with the speaker. Whatever tool the speaker uses, the speaker should know that they are establishing a relationship with their audience, and good communication builds great relationships.
Lisa Drew writes for education blogs where you can read more about emba rankings.