Identifying your goals regarding accent, pronunciation, or vocal delivery so your speech is easier to follow.

Getting your ideas across means first and foremost making yourself understood, and this is especially important during public speaking when you want to have the most impact. Speaking clearly involves learning to adjust your volume, vary your pace, and stress keywords in order to telegraph your message.

My non-native English-speaking clients often want to understand the rules of American English pronunciation, including difficult sounds, syllable stress, and intonation; together these form the music of the language.

For many global professionals, enunciating clearly while maintaining their cultural accent is an important part of their identity. Together we will define your personal goals and work toward them.

What you might tell me:

• I want to speak clearly.

• I want to be understood when I speak in public.

Understanding how your and others’ cultural backgrounds contribute to communication dynamics.

Most Tech organizations are highly diverse and often have a global presence. This creates synergy and dynamism, but it also challenges interaction with others. Communication is culturally-learned and driven; we grow up absorbing unspoken rules about how we should use language to interface with our social environment. Since these rules differ from culture to culture, they can create issues for my clients.

I will often find myself working with someone on presentation or meeting skills, and discover that there are ways in which some culturally-learned rule set is keeping them from performing ideally at work. Examples of where this has shown up include assertiveness, turn-taking, humor, and rapport-building.

These issues can affect their ability to perform in the preferred American business communication style, which is very direct and to the point. Coaching can help you uncover these issues and choose how to respond.

What you might tell me:

• I’ve received feedback that I’m not communicating in ways that are appropriate for my audience.

• I’m not sure if there is a cultural component to communication that I am ignoring.

Sharpening your active listening and empathy so that you are more present and receptive while interacting with others.

Listening may be the most powerful of all communication skills because it allows you to really tune into your speaker’s message. It is also counterintuitively difficult. We are trained to prioritize speaking, which leads us to focus on formulating our response when we should be listening. Active listening coaching can provide valuable practice in skills such as quieting the mind, using open questions, paraphrasing for clarity, and validating a speaker’s concerns. These skills may increase empathy, and therefore help you deal better with day-to-day communication as well as conflict. One client told me empathic listening helped him both at work and at home, even with his infant daughter!

What you might tell me:

• I need to be a better listener.

• I sometimes get so focused on what I need to say that I miss connecting with the person I’m speaking with.

Learning the skills to organize and present your ideas in business meetings.

Meetings are often high-stakes events in which participants are expected to convey important information in a clear and organized way to a variety of attendees and in very little time. That’s a lot. With business taking place increasingly in virtual environments, it is becoming more common for meetings to take place over video conferences and to include participants in more than one geographical location and of different cultural or linguistic backgrounds. Coaching can help you identify which factors make meeting participation most challenging, and then develop skills and strategies to adapt to these circumstances. We might address challenges such as analyzing your audience, addressing their needs, and staying on topic.

What you might tell me:

• I tend to ramble a bit when I speak in meetings.

• I need to make sure I am addressing the needs of all the stakeholders in the room.

Defining the qualities that define your purpose and linking them to your communication style.

Defining one’s Personal Brand is popular not only with entrepreneurs but also with members of many companies and organizations. This practice can help create a consistent image and message aligned with who you are and what you stand for. In communication coaching, defining a Personal Brand can help to clarify the tone you want to establish in written and oral communication. We may discover that descriptive words like inspiring, informative, or motivational give definition to your brand, which when integrated with your writing and speaking projects, may create more opportunities for visibility and leadership within your organization.

What you might tell me:

• I’m wondering if Personal Branding can fuel more visibility and career growth.

• I’d like to determine which words best describe my Personal Brand.

Assessing and refining your presentation skills to deliver your message with impact.

Whether you give presentations at work often or only once in a while, you want to feel confident. Most tech professionals have experience in public speaking, but many see improvement in this area as a crucial part of progressing in their careers. Each job, role, or field has its own set of requirements for presenting, making it a challenge to pivot from one public speaking situation to another. In presentation skills coaching, we assess what you are expected to do and what is preventing you from performing successfully. Together we choose scenarios that mimic real-life situations and address the strategies that are required, such as being organized in impromptu and planned presentations, or knowing when to inform and when to persuade.

What you might tell me:

• I want to be more impactful when I make presentations.

• I need to figure out how to organize my ideas when I speak on the fly.

Assessing your strengths and areas for improvement and applying the steps of the writing process efficiently.

Writing coaching can focus on process, product, or publication. At least that has been the case for my clients. Since they are always very busy, it can be helpful to have a reliable step-by-step writing process that takes them from brainstorming to proofing. These steps, once mastered, can be used with any form of writing, from reports to e-mail. Whether writing more traditional correspondence or the type of writing we do more commonly today (such as comments in chats), it is important to be aware of aspects like using the correct vocabulary to convey the right intent. Writing coaching can help you assess your writing process, apply that to the writing you need to do at work, and also help you make time for career-boosting goals like publishing an article in your field.

What you might tell me:

• I want to write better and faster.

• My goal is to publish an article in a professional journal by the end of the year.

Redefining and sharing your unique contributions, challenges, and viewpoints in a way that fosters authenticity.

I have had the pleasure of working with many amazing, talented women with key roles in global science and technology organizations. One thing I have noticed about these women is how dedicated they are to mentoring and passing on knowledge that can help others coming up in their fields. Building on their inspiring actions, I would like to create a space for women to use their voices to share any workplace communication challenges, obstacles, or goals they see as being important at this moment in history. Ultimately, these messages have the potential to help everyone in Tech understand what an inclusive workplace looks like and how that can lead to greater innovation.

What you might tell me:

• The challenges I see for women communicating in the Tech arena are…

• My goals are to reach my full potential by…