Communications Resources

Is Poor Communication Costing Your Company Money?

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “ Poor voices and presentations aren’t just annoying, they’re unprofitable.”

Problem:  Fear of Public Speaking is the #1 phobia in the world.

Problem:  Poor listening alone costs businesses over 2 ½ billion dollars a year.

Problem:  Over 90% of a message is determined by listener’s interpretations of body language and vocal tone. In telephone communication, the emphasis shifts entirely to vocal tone.

Problem:  On average, 97 out of 100 people mumble, requiring listeners to request repetition
for understanding.

Source:  Lyle V. Mayer. Fundamentals of Voice and Articulation. 12th ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Professionally Speaking offers personal training and customized workshops that provide dynamic techniques in oral communication improvement.  With over 25 years experience, PeggyRae Johnson offers you and your company individualized assessments, clear guidelines, video training, and interactive feedback.  Participants learn skills that improve their delivery styles and help them evaluate and adjust to the communication skills of others.

Working on a specific project?  Professionally Speaking training will help you present it in the most effective manner.  Needing to improve committee results?  Professionally Speaking will tailor workshops to streamline group discussion results.  Having trouble with your staff’s telephone accuracy?  Professionally Speaking training will enhance both speaking and listening skills. 

Speech is merely the shaping of exhaled air.  Learning to properly support your breath and shape it with the articulators – lips, teeth, tongue, jaw, and soft and hard palates – can help you overcome years of habits that may be contributing to ineffective communication. 

We are a nation of mumblers; we rely heavily on visual images.  This creates a problem for most English as a Second Language programs that rarely address effective pronunciation techniques.  Additionally, rote audio repetition of another language fails to take into account the formational variables of sounds that are specific to every language.

When a phoneme, or sound family, isn’t present in a native language, speakers aren’t able to connect an audible sound to a functional pronunciation.  Improved diction occurs by learning to reshape the articulators in terms of the placement and tension required for that new language.