BUSINESS
CAREERS
Shaky voice can stall your career
SHELDON GORDON
A few years ago, a senior associate at a Bay Street law firm,
suffered a career setback: She
was passed over for promotion.
The partner who oversaw her
work was dismayed that he frequently received phone calls
from one of her clients seeking
reassurance that she was providing good advice.
She had excellent technical
skills and solid experience, but was
failing to inspire confidence in her
advice, because she spoke to her
clients softly and uncertainly. So,
the firm paid for her to see a
speaking coach, Trevor Currie of
Podium Consulting.
Over three sessions, he coached
her to make a few small changes in
how she communicated over the
telephone and in person—and it
had a dramatic impact on how she
was perceived. The client stopped
calling the partner for reassurance; the senior associate made
partner the following year.
Says Currie: “Most of the law-
yers who come to us do so not
from a place of great weakness but
because they’re now at a stage in
their careers when they’re in front
of clients more frequently. It’s
important that they speak with
clarity and engender confidence in
their listeners.”
Currie sees three presentation
flaws in his clients:
Not all lawyers will become
stellar communicators, even with
coaching, but most can achieve a
substantial improvement by mak-
ing two or three small changes,
Currie says.
Poor presentation skills, of
course, are only one reason why
professionals may fail in their
careers. Australian career coach
Siimon Reynolds, who has written
a self-help book Why People Fail,
cites other reasons for failure:
n Negative thinking: If you
always focus on the negative and
PAVEL LOSEVSKY / DREAMSTIME.COM
Most of the lawyers
who come to us do
so not from a place of
great weakness but
because they’re now
at a stage in their
careers when they’re
in front of clients
more frequently.
“
Trevor Currie, Podium Consulting
undervalue your new ideas and
those of colleagues, you are sabo-
taging your advancement.
n;Low productivity: If you are
disorganized and lack the disci-
pline to plan and make the time
needed for priority tasks, your
productivity will be low.
n;Fixed mindset: If you feel your
capabilities are limited, you won’t
stretch yourself to outperform.
n;Emphasis on IQ over EQ: If
you think high IQ is the passport
to success, you’ve underrated
emotional intelligence, which is
twice as likely as IQ to predict
success later in life.
