How To Become a Public Speaking-Friendly Organisation

​I was running a public speaking workshop for a company a few years ago, and the national manager attended. He commented on the value of public speaking. He said that hearing people speak – whether it is giving presentations or speaking up at meetings – helps him to identify talent in the workplace.

This supported what I already knew – that people who are comfortable expressing themselves in front of audiences are more likely to be recognised at work. 

However, in running courses and workshops on public speaking, I have observed that some of the most talented, motivated and hardworking people lack confidence and skills.

So, both employees and employers are missing out. Many people are being held back in their careers due to a lack of confidence/skills around public speaking. And organisations are also missing opportunities to recognise some of their best talent. 

In my last article, I encouraged anxious speakers to talk to their managers. In this article, I want to explore what an organisation that truly invested in helping staff become confident communicators would like. 

I have called this a ‘public speaking-friendly’ organisation (for want of a better term at the moment).

Here is a working definition:
“Creating an environment where staff feel comfortable sharing information, ideas and opinions on work-related topics in front of an audience of peers, managers, decision-makers, clients and/or stakeholders.”

It would include things like having staff able to:

• Facilitate or contribute to meetings and workshops
• Give presentations to a variety of internal and external audiences
• Brief others including senior leaders/decision-makers
• Front client-based interactions.
• It should be immediately obvious that the benefits to the organisation are much wider than being able to identify talent!

How do you become a public speaking-friendly organisation? Here are four things I recommend.

Start with a survey
Ask how your staff feel about their public speaking skills, confidence in presenting to different audiences, and how well your organisation supports people acquiring the skills. Make it confidential to get honest responses. You may be shocked to find out how many people are fearful of public speaking and are avoiding it when they can.  

How can I guess this? Partly because of the courses I run for people who fear public speaking. Many of them have heartbreaking stories about ongoing stress and missed opportunities. Also, I do quite a lot of corporate training and organisations never have a problem filling these courses. Even when I encounter initial doubt from managers about demand, the workshops fill up quickly. People are hungry for any opportunity to improve their public speaking skills.

Offer a wide range of training opportunities
As a starting point, pay Toastmasters fees for any staff interested in joining a Toastmasters club. This is a cost-effective option as fees are very reasonable ($60US for six months at the time of writing – plus additional fees added by a club for room hire or other expenses.)  You will see significant results from this investment when people attend regularly and participate fully.

In-house training in public speaking can be hugely valuable. Participants will gain confidence and basic skills. And, an in-house course can be a great team-building exercise.  I am always impressed at how supportive and encouraging participants are of each other. There are many companies that will design something to meet your requirements. 

However, not everyone wants to attend a course with their colleagues. For very anxious speakers, having to attend an in-house course could be their worst nightmare. Although I am a huge advocate for Toastmasters, in my experience, some highly anxious people will avoid Toastmasters too. I recommend letting these staff investigate and select their own training. They will do well in a small course designed for nervous speakers.  

Encourage preparation
I always stress the importance of good preparation before public speaking. Very few people can successfully ‘wing’ a presentation unless they are both highly experienced and familiar with their material. But I hear many stories of people being put on the spot at work – finding out at the last minute that they have to talk to an audience (often using slides they did not prepare themselves).

In my opinion, it is very unfair to put staff – especially less experienced staff – in this position. And it can have disastrous effects. I had a client once who used to be a confident presenter - until he was asked to substitute for another presenter at the last minute. He found it very difficult to speak to someone else’s slides and as each new slide appeared, his panic grew. Unfortunately, this experience made a huge dent in his self-confidence and he started having panic attacks while speaking in situations where he was once very confident. Don't ask staff to present at the last minute unless it is optional.

You should expect people to prepare well – but you also need to give them the time and space to do so. You might consider creating opportunities to practice presentations in front of a small friendly audience who can provide supportive feedback and ask challenging questions.

Create a culture so that people feel safe when contributing
At another workshop, when I encouraged people to take every opportunity to speak at work I had a participant say that they needed to know it was safe to do so. They were not talking about ‘freedom of speech’ or whistleblowing (both important topics but not what I am directly discussing in this article). They were talking about being scared that their contributions would be ridiculed.

This is a valid concern. One way around it is to create a culture where people are encouraged to share ideas freely – a ‘no idea is a bad idea’ approach. Blue skies brainstorming is not appropriate in every situation, so an alternative is to encourage people to challenge (or debate)  the idea but not the person. In other words, be respectful!

In summary
Ask for staff feedback, offer a variety of training opportunities, encourage and enable adequate preparation, and create a culture where people are respected when they share information and ideas. I'll add a couple more - include goals for upskilling in professional development plans, and encourage people to develop their own speaking voice and style.

With a small investment, I am certain you will see a significant uptick in confidence and capability.
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I would love to see these suggestions picked up by an organisation – and built upon. Please feel free to reach out if you are reading this article and are interested in turning your organisation into a public speaking-friendly organisation. I’d love to hear from you! 

Article written by Catherine Syme