Kate'sVoice

Investing in Your Vocal Image: A Tale of Two Strategies

Recently, a female executive, we’ll call her Joann, came to me, complaining that too often at the end of a long day she left the office with a hoarse voice and a feeling of utter exhaustion. All she wanted to do was to go home, curl up with a good book and tune everyone nearby out.

Joann admitted that things at work were more stressful than usual. While she was intensely focused on trying to secure additional funding for her growing company, her voice giving out at the end of the day was a new and troublesome problem.

Strategy 1: Getting back in shape

We spent some time getting her voice back in shape by raising her pitch to a more natural level and developing some resonance so that she didn’t need to work so hard at being heard. She was surprised at how easy it was to lift the strain from her voice, even though it took a bit of time to become comfortable speaking in this new way, especially on the phone.

Now, let me say Joann is gregarious by nature. She loves to spin a good story and she always has plenty of color and detail to make any subject she talks about come to life. She is also clear, compelling and strong. She uses humor well and can really draw people into a conversation: All ingredients of a great public speaker. (For more information on presentations skills for executives , please read this recent post from Kathy Reiffenstein on  Professionally Speaking.) I suspected, however, that her vocal choices might be getting in the way of her efforts to raise money for her company.

Strategy 2:  Presenting a deal-maker voice

Taking a chance, I asked whether she was having success with her funding efforts, particularly with her presentations. Joann confessed that although she was not scaring potential investors off, she wasn’t closing any deals either. I asked her if she would make her presentation to me. Just as I presumed, her content was clear and compelling, but her vocal image, specifically the cadence of her voice, was not aligned with her message or intent.

One of the things that makes Joanne sound so friendly is a habitual upward pitch, or open cadence, at the end of her sentences that invites people into the conversation. The problem is she uses this cadence even when she is making a declaration. The upward cadence causes her to seem indecisive and, even worse, wishy-washy. Not exactly the impression you want to give a potential investor. *

She was game to try a different approach since she was determined to get support for her company.  We worked on her cadence and other aspects of her vocal image. Within a short time she began to see a difference. She landed the investments she needed, and she started to go home feeling fulfilled rather than exhausted.

Summary

Today, people see Joanne as both authoritative and open. She makes conscious vocal choices to close a deal or make a friend—two situations which require two different vocal strategies.

P.S. I feel great to have been able to help Joanne learn to manage her vocal image in support of her social life as well as her work. I love my job!

*The Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation posts a daily blog that will be of  great interest to executives, and includes information on communication styles and gender differences in the workplace and as individuals,  as well as conflict resolution.  Its authors are some of the foremost authorities on negotiating today.

There are at least ten characteristics of your voice that create your vocal image.  They are pitch, tone, volume, emotion, clarity, pace, rhythm, cadence, and choice of words.  You can find more on clarity, pace, volume and cadence in some of my previous posts.  When you are writing in your voice journal, it’s great to keep a list of these attributes in front of you.  Write them down now, or refer to the “Vocal Image Awareness Exercises” on pages 71-103 in my book.

Here’s how to keep and use an effective voice journal:

Write your observations two or three times during the day.  It is sometimes best to plan to write in your journal at the same time everyday.  For example, write in it when you first arrive at your desk so you can capture your thoughts on how you used your voice at home and on the way to work.  (Singing in the shower and the car, I hope!)  Write in it again after lunch, so you can think back on how you used your voice while having lunch with others.  And finally, write in it before going home so you can observe the state of your voice over a period of a day.

Okay, this post really has nothing to do with decadence and everything to do with sex.  Well, actually with gender or at least with labels we have traditionally assigned to characteristics of speech.  Read on.

Cadence is the way you use pitch or speed at the end of your phrases when you speak.  There are two types of cadence that are particularly important to know.  Traditionally they are known as masculine and feminine cadence.  I prefer to call them open and closed.  As a female I do like the fact that the open cadence is also the feminine cadence, but I also know that open and closed has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with character.

• An open cadence is one in which the pitch goes up at the end of a sentence, and also one in which the pitch is more varied throughout the speaker’s words.  Open cadences sound friendly and invite the listener to participate.
• A closed cadence goes down at the end of a phrase or sentence.  Less variety in pitch through out speech is also a closed pattern.  This can be used to make a demand or a strong statement.

Effective speakers use both styles, and often quite consciously.  Using cadence appropriately will make a person sound open and friendly as well as strong and confident.