The sound also makes the music in the video call

Practical tips for perfect communication from the home office

"I didn't say that! What are you accusing me of!" – As if through a magnifying glass, small discrepancies suddenly emerge in exceptional situations in the home office and amaze us with dramatic effects. But where exactly are these proverbial pitfalls of the property, especially when it comes to phone calls and video calls via Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Works, etc.?

As a business voice coach, I strongly recommend taking the opportunity when working from home and recognizing exactly what you can do without with all your heart later on:

• On soporific speech in videos and online training
• On long-winded explanations and statements
• To leaderless, unstructured online meetings

The virus has managed to make something feasible that consultants have been preaching for years: companies are investing in digitization and are now working flexibly and agilely. So far, they had been reluctant to do so. According to Statistics Austria, not even half of Austrian companies used video telephony in the previous year. According to a Eurostat study from 2018, only one in ten employees in Austria has worked regularly at home so far.

Now that many employees have been sent to work from home, companies have been forced to initiate the digital transformation, at least on a small scale. Employees de facto learned overnight to work with new messenger, video and cloud services. And: It works. "Working from home will become a bit more normal in the future, the reservations about not doing anything at home will probably decrease" says Jörg Flecker, a sociologist of work at the University of Vienna. *

How to score points effortlessly in online communication

How to speak vividly

The attention span is much shorter online than in a live conversation. Therefore, set accents much more often:

• Give yourself a jolt before the Speak. Voice is audible body language. Make your points of view audible by consciously sitting down actively before speaking. Detach yourself from the backrest. This frees up your gestures, which gives your voice completely new accents. Practical tip: Sit down – as unusual as it may sound at first – on an inflatable Hassock from spinal gymnastics! You activate your diaphragm and sound clearer, stronger and more alive as if by magic!
• Dialogue instead of monologue. If you now say that you would automatically be in dialogue during a phone call anyway, just check how often you use the words "I" or "we" and "you" during an explanation. Practical tip: Speak as often as possible from the perspective of your conversation partners. Example: Instead of "Our solution is so strong because it is cost-effective and quick to deploy!" better say: "If you're wondering what the two clear benefits of our solution are for you... You reduce your costs and do so immediately!"

How to show structure and clarity

Avoid your audience drifting away at the screens. Even when working from home, start your sentences more often with "Um...", "Njaa ..." or "So ..." ? If you want to speak with strong leadership, start your sentences effectively with the clearly pronounced first word of the sentence instead!

• Start suggestively: Secure the Attention of your audience by starting your speech with a strong suggestion. Use the highly effective formulas for this: "If you ...", "Suppose you ..." or "Maybe you have..." . For example: "If you, dear customer, have pointed this out beforehand ..."
• Put strong words at the beginning: Gain full attention again and again with strong words at the beginning of the sentence: "Yesterday ...", "Tomorrow ...", "Today ...", "Proven ...", "Guaranteed ...", "Advance ...", "Now ...", "Currently ...", "First...", "Comfortable ...", "Effortless ...".
• Get to the point. Limit your speaking time. Leave out details.

How to warm up

Professionals never start without a short warm-up! Striving for performance and time pressure, but also the situation behind the webcam and microphone, which is unfamiliar to many, quickly cause tension to develop. Stress tension in the lower back and neck affects your voice. Actively oppose it!

• Take exercise breaks! Let your shoulders rotate backwards for a few seconds. Stretch. Sigh out loud unabashedly. Shake off everyday life.
• Warm up your voice before the first call! It is enough to imitate the sound of a motorcycle starting for a few seconds ( "BOOMMMMM! Boommm!" ) or to make a few exalted grimaces out loud. This stretches the fascia of your articulation muscles and not only makes you easier to understand. It also wipes away all inhibitions and lifts the mood abruptly!

Result:

With these tips, the current situation offers you a great opportunity: You train for normal life afterwards. Courageously sharpen your attention to the hidden traps of communication and effortlessly take your conversations to a new, even higher level!

* Quoted from: Cordula Nussbaum, Productive and successful in the home office: How to work effectively, productively, efficiently, successfully and calmly within your own four walls. The eBook can be downloaded free of charge!

Join the discussion:

What are the biggest hurdles for you in communication from the home office? Do you stick with the good old phone – or do you use Skype or Zoom etc? What good or bad experiences have you had? Write me your thoughts in the comments!

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The author:

Arno Fischbacher is a business voice coach and rhetoric expert, speaker and author. He prepares executives and employees of the top companies in Germany and Austria for negotiations, presentations and media appearances. Fischbacher is the author of several books, past president of the German Speakers Association (GSA) Austria, chairman of the European Network of Voice Experts, stimme.at.

If you would like to learn more about specific training opportunities with Arno Fischbacher, make an appointment here free information talk.

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