The Power of the Pause
Silence is golden!
Next time you are speaking at work (or anywhere for that matter)... take a moment, breathe and pause.
Pausing is up there with one of the most important and impactful things I teach. We are all so prone to speaking too fast as nerves make us speed up. We often just want it to be over and done with!
Why pausing is so invaluable to communication:
Clarity and processing information - pausing allows your brain to catch up with what you are saying and process your content. If you allow yourself the time to think a little then what you are saying will improve.
Allowing Your audience to actually process what you are saying! They cannot take in what is being said if you don’t allow them the time between thoughts.
Vitally, pausing will allow you the time to breathe and control your nerves.
Pausing allows you the time to breathe and think!
Think about what projects confidence? Silence is empowering, it actually makes others listen. Just imagine you are a University lecturer who is gradually losing the attention of the audience by rattling through content. Do you talk louder or faster to gain their attention? No, just stop speaking, that will get them looking up from their phone and wondering what is going on! Take a breath and continue slowly and confidently to re-engage them.
If you are anything like me, once I am unable to keep up with a speaker I just switch off completely. Thoughts of ‘what should I have for dinner?!’ creep in along with any stresses about day to day life. It is your job as a speaker to be heard, not the audience’s job to listen harder. Think of a great orator like Obama. You don’t watch him thinking - wow he speaks sooo slowly - you just easily take in what he is saying without effort.
How to pause and when to pause?
Chunk your information and pause between thoughts
Remember to take fuller breaths when needed
Slow down to help you communicate with clarity.