What Makes A Good Speaking Coach?

Training and coaching speaking skills isn’t a one size fits all thing. We can't simply teach somebody speaking skills and send them out to be a great speaker. It won't happen. We can have all the skills in the world, but if what we’re being taught isn’t a natural fit, then it’s just not going to work.

So many speaking coaches get this wrong and it can be a total disaster.

When we find ourselves taking those tools and using them in a way which is alien to us, we’re instantly recognisable as inauthentic, and nobody believes us. Nobody trusts the words coming out of our mouths. Often in these situations, our voice and body language are all off because we’re working in a way that we think we should work rather than in a way that works for us. We can’t be our believable selves, we feel dishonest, and it leaves us feeling terrible. Confidence is lost because the experience was awful, but that’s not how it should be.

We have to be completely at ease and natural, rather than be plagued with should-haves and could-haves. ‘Maybe I would have done this’. Or ‘damn, I didn't do that’.

A good speaking and presentation coach should be able to listen first on a deep level to their client. They should be able to ask the right questions at the right time, to be able to provoke honest responses from their client and really get to know them and what is important to them before they start to train them in how to speak and present.

I always go through a process of getting to grips with all aspects of my client's life, looking at where they want to be eventually.

My goal is to help them reach their end goal, looking, feeling, speaking, and behaving in a way that they know they want in order to reach that goal. And when we're both on that path together, I work alongside them to discover the right ways to communicate and speak authentically according to what’s right for them.

It is then that we start to add in all of the technical tools; finding the right diction, breathing correctly, finding the right words, and editing scripts. All of those key tools are essential, but it’s vital to get the basics in first before we hit the technical skills.

When we take the time to lay the right foundations, that’s when you can feel robust and resilient no matter what.

Contact me to see if I could be the coach for you…