Part 2: Good communication skills are vital for leadership

Do you feel public speaking has helped your career, or is it part and parcel of it?

I really see it as integral to career success. I bundle it in with all communications skills as a vital along with great stakeholder engagement and of course commercial performance. These three are the most important attributes to senior progression. If you do great things and you can’t articulate what you’ve done and your stakeholders aren’t aware you’ve done you won’t get recognition and get on. Good communication skills are absolutely core attributes they are essential. And you have to face your demons. Unless you are a trained actor (which few are) then you have to teach yourself how to appear to be confident– whether that is in a 1-2-1 with your line manager or in front of 5,000 people in the NEC!

Who are your public speaking heroes?

Here at Lloyds I’m the co-chair of the women’s network which is another one of my passions. It’s called Breakthrough. The team behind the group developed a regular series of talks we call “Footprints in the Snow” where we invite a woman to speak to the group about what has formed them: their successes and failures, challenges and values as well as offer her top tips and advice for women who want to further their career. All three board members spoke brilliantly and honestly and encouraged openness and questions from the audience.

So I think some of the best speakers out there at the moment are women. They are humble, they are often prepared to be candid and speak straight from the heart. Without generalizing female speakers can often be very empathetic and be very aware of what the audience needs.

Any advice to women on public speaking?

Put yourself out there! Especially while you are young and not as confident, seize those opportunities and speak to small groups whenever you can. You never know there could be an invitation to speak to 5,000 people around the corner! It’s all about confidence.  Ask yourself ‘do you know more about this topic than everyone else in this room?’ because quite often you do and so don’t forget that you know this. Remind yourself of this, practice, and remember that the worst that can happen is that you might be asked a question. Go in quietly confident (not cocky or arrogant) and chances are you will do yourself and your subject justice. And of course the more practiced you are, the more confident you will become. I really like this story told by Gary Player, which sums it up nicely:

“I was practicing in a bunker down in Texas and this good old boy with a big hat stopped to watch. The first shot he saw me hit went in the hole. He said, “You got 50 bucks if you knock the next one in.” I holed the next one. Then he says, “You got $100 if you hole the next one.” In it went for three in a row. As he peeled off the bills he said, “Boy, I’ve never seen anyone so lucky in my life.” And I shot back, “Well, the harder I practice, the luckier I get.
(from Golf Digest)

My thanks to Eva for such an open and honest interview.