What if you could buy better communication skills?
It’s the season of gift-giving. A recent survey revealed that “U.S. consumers expected to spend 846 U.S. dollars on average on Christmas gifts.” But there’s a trend happening in gift giving. Many people are moving away from material items toward more experiential gifts. I know of several families who have replaced toys with trips. Or clutter with classes. Because let’s be honest, many of the things we purchase in December will end up in the yard sale this summer. (Like the hoverboard my daughter just had to have last year.)
In the spirit of that trend, we’d like to encourage you to invest in a gift for yourself this year. But this investment isn’t one that will end up in the garage. This gift has the potential to launch both your personal and professional trajectory. It’s the power to present with great communication skills. So back to our initial question.
What if you could walk into a store and purchase the ability to effectively and confidently communicate your ideas? You can.
Well, sort of. Here’s the deal. We don’t like hard sells or annoying pitches. But we truly believe the ability to deliver presentations with stunning design and powerful narratives can be the catalyst to so many great things: better communication skills, more confidence, and increased career potential.
Better Communication Skills
The thing about communication is that we all have our own styles. At Ethos3, we aren’t looking to change your speaking style. We just want to help you enhance it. But you can’t do that without goals and feedback.
Research conducted by Bandura and Cervone showed how much clear goals and feedback can affect our performance. They studied 80 cyclists who were split into 4 training groups. Only one of those groups received both clear performance goals as well as performance feedback. That group improved by three times as much as the other 3 training groups.
At Ethos3, we use a combination of goals and feedback along with results-driven training methods to help you be the best communicator you can be. We have resources like Badge, our speaker’s self-assessment. Think of it like the Myers-Briggs for presenters. It can help you discover your specific strengths and address and overcome weaknesses. But that’s just one of our many resources for developing better communication skills.
More Confidence
Any time you invest in learning a skill, your confidence gets a natural boost. Take me, for example. I’m not a great cook. I’d rather give a speech than cook a meal. But bemoaning my culinary inadequacies wasn’t helping. So one year I invested in a cooking class. Those few hours didn’t turn me into an expert, but I did get better. And most importantly, I stopped doubting myself so much because I had new knowledge and valuable experience.
That’s what communication skills training can do for you—equip you with new knowledge and valuable experience. We are serious about backing all of our training with scientific research. Writer, speaker, and entrepreneur, Elizabeth Laiza King says, “Knowing how and why certain practices and processes work can boost confidence in your ability to do them.” So not only will you get practice in becoming a better speaker, you’ll know the theory and research behind why tactics work to create a better presentation.
Increased Career Potential
Investing in your presentation skills is one of the best ways to open a path to greater career potential. In fact, Linked In Learning said that of the 93 million people who used their educational programs in 2019, communication was the number one sought-after skill. Pull up any report on what employers are looking for, and you’ll nearly always find communication skills near or at the top of those lists.
Here’s the truth. No matter what field you are in, you can’t go very far without the ability to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively. Nearly all of the top leaders of prominent companies are excellent communicators. It just goes with the leadership territory. But even if you don’t aspire to climb the corporate ladder, presentation training is beneficial you. It can open doors and opportunities that you never dreamed of, and all because you’ve learned to communicate with warmth, clarity, and confidence.
So jump on the new trend in gift-giving this holiday season. Invest in valuable experiences and new knowledge. Give yourself a foundation of communication skills that will launch you into 2020 with greater confidence in your ability to present and share your ideas.
Click here to invest in your personal and professional development. Let’s do this.
