Communicator anxiety can definitely be an obstacle to effective communication in the workplace. Research indicates that people who experience a high level of communication anxiety are at a disadvantage when compare with more talkative, outgoing individuals.

People with high anxiety are perceived as less competent, are less likely to be offered a an interview, make a poorer impression during interviews, typically hold lower status and lower paying positions, experience less job satisfaction, and are less likely to be promoted to supervisory positions (Richmond & McCroskey, 1998.)

In fact, Richmond and McCroskey reported that approximately 95 percent of those surveyed in the United States have some degree of communication anxiety. Thus learning to manage your speaking anxiety and perhaps even overcoming it could have an impact on your potential earnings. It will certainly give you a feeling of control.

There are two types of anxieties:

SITUATIONAL ANXIETY

This refers to an anxiety that is caused by factors present in a specific situation, such as speaking for the first time before an audience, speaking in front of the boss, and being critiqued while speaking.

TRAIT ANXIETY

This refers to the internal anxieties an individual brings to the speaking situation, such as feelings of inadequacy, or fear of looking like a fool in front of others. In other words, situational anxiety is caused by a new or different situation while trait anxiety is caused by the speaker’s personal feelings that exist regardless of the situation. Generally, we suffer from a combination of both.

MANAGING YOUR ANXIETY

SITUATIONAL

View your increased heart rate, dry mouth, and sweaty palms as normal excitement necessary for a dynamic job of communicating. You allow the nervousness to become managed and it often will disappear with time and practice. Poor communicators, who tend to view physical reactions with fear and as further proof that they are poor speakers, often find that their anxiety becomes worse as the presentation proceeds.

Accept the fact that the most experienced speakers –like Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes_ - experiences speaker anxiety. Almost every speaking engagement will produce butterflies in your stomach. According to Edward R. Murrow, a great journalist of the past, “The only difference between the pros and the novices is that the pros have trained their butterflies to fly-in-formation”

FLY-IN-FORMATION FOR SITUATION EXPERIENCES

PREPARE AND PRACTICE

Nothing makes you more nervous than when you are not fully prepared. After all isn’t the nervousness all about the fear of making mistakes or being humiliated in front of your colleagues, boss or customers? Sometimes, people that feel overwhelmed prepare less rather than more thoroughly, thus setting themselves up for that proverbial “self fulfilling prophecy”. Preparation is essential!

Prepare the actual presentation

• Make easy to follow notes

• Say the speech out loud 3-4 times in front of mirror or friend

• Stand while practicing and use visual aids while practicing

• Time yourself to see if you need to shorten or lengthen

• Prepare for the audience’s questions

WARM UP

• Prior to giving your presentation, warm up your neck and arm muscles and your voice.

• Read aloud a memo or a page from a book varying your volume, pitch, emphasis, and rate;

• Do several stretching exercises such as touching our toes and rolling your head from side to side

• Practice various gestures such as pointing, pounding your fist, or shrugging your shoulders.

• SPEAKERS ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN SINGERS WHO WARM UP THEIR VOICES, MUSICIANS THAT WARM UP THEIR FINGERS, OR ATHLETES WHO WARM UP THEIR MUSCLES BEFORE A PERFORMANCE.

USE DEEP BREATHING

One quick way to calm the butterflies is to diaphramically breath. Place your hand on your stomach and take in a deep breath through the nose and feel the stomach expand; Breath in slowly up to the count of 10 and hold for a count of 20; release the breath through the mouth by pursing your lips together and blowing out as if through a straw; blow the breath downward for a count of 10 and feel the stomach go inward.

Feel the stress and tension slowly drain down your arms and out your fingertips, down your body and legs and out your toes. Do this at least 10 times. Deep breathing slows the heart down, lowers the tension and your ultimately feel more in control. Use right before you begin your presentation.

USE AN INTRODUCTION THAT WILL RELAX YOU AS WELL AS YOUR LISTENERS

Most speakers’ find that once they get a favorable audience reaction, they relax. This is one reason why so many speakers start with humor; it relaxes them and their listeners. If a humorous introduction is inappropriate or you are not comfortable with humor, perhaps relating a personal experience would work.

CONCENTRATE ON COMMUNICATING YOUR MEANING

Instead of worrying how you look or how you sound, center your energy on getting your meaning across to your listeners. Pay close attention to their nonverbal reactions. If they look confused, explain the idea again or add another example. A speaker who is really concentrating on the listeners soon forgets about being nervous.

USE VISUAL AIDS

Some speakers do not know what to do with their hands. Using visual aids not only adds eye-catching movement to your presentation but also keeps you so busy there is no time to worry about hand gestures. Visuals also make it almost impossible to forget a point or idea – if you do forget, simply put up the next visual and continue.

FLY-IN-FORMATION FOR TRAIT EXPERIENCES

Whereas nearly everyone experiences situational anxiety, fewer people experience trait anxiety. This is also known as communication apprehension, and it is a personal, internal feeling about communication. People with high trait anxiety often feel different from other speakers, have a history of negative speaking experiences, and consider themselves inferior to others (Beatty, 1998; Beatty et al., 1989)

It is a fact that when nervousness is felt, it is an inward feeling and it is rarely manifested outwardly by the speaker and is therefore unnoticed by the audience. Most people are amazed at how their inner turmoil is essentially invisible to others.

POSITIVE IMAGERY

Also known as visualization. Research has found that visualization has a long-term effect and it is easy to administer. Instead of thinking of all the things that you will do wrong and how nervous you will feel when you speak – Create a detailed positive and vivid mental image of yourself confidently preparing for and giving a successful presentation.

Imagine only success

It has been successfully used with athletes for years It is a psychological fact that we act as the person we “see” ourselves to be (Maltz, 1960) No amount of lecture, encouragement, or practice will make you into a confident professional speaker as long as deep down you believe yourself to be a nervous or ineffective speaker.

• 1. Picture yourself 2-3 months down the road and see yourself as the type of speaker that you would like to be

• 2. Write down the specific characteristics you desire to develop

• 3. Now close your eyes and mentally picture this ideal you on the day of your speech

• 4. Make this mental picture as detailed and vivid as possible, i.e. see yourself walking confidently up to the group; see how professionally you are dressed; see yourself giving a clear, well-organized, and entertaining talk; feel yourself enjoying the talk; feel relaxed and warm; notice the direct eye contact you use and the way you retain your composure when a late arriver slams the door; hear yourself giving a great finish to the presentation and the audience applauding as you walk proudly back to your seat. Say to yourself, “I am a great speaker,” and say it like you mean it!!

• 5. Remember to feel the success. All three ingredients must align and they are: WORDS + VIVID MENTAL PICTURE + FEELINGS = CONFIDENCE

• 6. Each time you use this technique you confidence will grow just like it would if you had actually given a successful presentation.

• 7. This process substantially affects the brain waves, blood flow, heart rate, skin temperature, gastric secretions, and immune response.

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