Finding The Right Voice For The Job

Finding the right voice for your job is PART of your job.

You owe it to your customers, clients and co-workers to show up as the professional they can trust and depend on.

Your professional role calls for a certain voice. Whether you're a doctor, a financial advisor, a marketing expert, or a manager, the voice you present yourself with is critical to the ways others perceive you. It's up there with people skills and writing skills, but doesn't get nearly enough attention.

That professional voice, however, needs to be balanced with your unique personal voice: one that is human, flexible, dynamic; capable of expressing a wide range of thoughts and feelings.

A lot of people have trouble finding the voice(s) they need to play their professional role effectively-one which demonstrates their credibility AND showcases their unique style and best personal attributes.

             See also: A Reminder To Employees and Managers

A pitfall I see frequently with my clients is the tendency to get stuck in the habit of using a particular voice, or staying within a very narrow range of expressiveness. In some cases, it's the "professional" voice which they think is the way a person in their role should sound. They've latched on to this voice, and it has become their de facto way of expressing themselves-even outside of work!

Other times, a person may find themselves speaking in a voice that no longer suits matches up with who they are now. They've changed, but their voices have not. Perhaps it's a voice that was shaped during a certain period of their life, or due to outside, often cultural, influences. It's a voice they no longer wish to be using but they struggle with finding a voice to replace it with. Speech and voice habits can run quite deep-in case you were not aware.

In a nutshell: You should not sound like any other professional in your field, because you bring your unique sounds to it-ones that represent who you are now, when you're your best!

If you are struggling to find the right voice(s) to suit your professional role, I can help you with that... So get in touch!

Judy

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