Options for Executive Speaker Training
This particular challenge has a few distinct obstacles. The first of which is that if you have noticed that a few of your executives need additional speaker training or coaching, it can be a little uncomfortable to tell them. In addition, there aren’t a lot of good options available to fix the challenge. At this level of presenting, toasting clubs, YouTube videos, and eBooks aren’t going to work. So, our instructors have compiled a list a few common options that you have along with the pros and cons of each.
1) One-on-One Executive Speech Coaching.
The most common solution that human resources or training executive offer in these situations is one-on-one coaching for the executive. The inherit obstacle here, though, is that the executive may think that you are singling him or her out, or that you are drawing attention to an obvious weakness for some type of personal advantage. So, this option must be used judicially and tactfully. In addition, the coaching may be very expensive to your organization. Finally, because the coaching is one-on-one, the executive may not receive a lot of practical real-life practice using the new skills, so the content of the coaching may be quickly forgotten.
2) Sending the Executive to a Speaking Course.
Another common option is to send the executive to a speaking course — outside of the organization. One of the advantages of this option is that the executive will be able to see presenters from other companies and industries to see what others are doing. The executive also gets to grow and build the skill without having employees or people who report to him or her see the work product along the way.
By the way, as person who owns a company that teaches these types of classes, I love this option. In fact, one of the reasons that my company has grown so much in the last decade is that we, quite often, have executives from big companies go through our public classes, and they get so much benefit from the program, that they end up sending hundreds of their employees through our classes over the years. However, not to shoot myself in the foot, I’d like to admit that this option also has a few obstacles. Open enrollment public speaking classes can’t be tailored like private classes can. So, although public classes have fantastic benefits, they may not address every possible challenge that the executive may be facing, or they may cover material that isn’t pertinent. Also, if you end up recommending a class to an executive, and if the class doesn’t work, the executive will hold you responsible for wasting his or her time.
3) Custom Executive Speaker Training
That is why many training executives and human resource directors love to create and deliver custom executive speaker training programs. There are a number of great advantages to this type of executive training.
- Training groups of executives together avoids singling out any one executive that needs particular help.
- Because the training is customized, it is specifically created for the needs of these particular executives.
- Saves the executives’ time and your training budget.
- Improves communication between the executives, so everyone is on the same page.
- Skills developed are reinforced because the executives tend to coach each other after the training.
- Since your executives are the role-models for your organization, the techniques and processes that they use after this type of program are picked up by their direct reports. Before too long, your organization is transformed in a positive way.
As technology changes, an executive’s ability to communicate well with poise and confidence is becoming even more important to success. You want to create a team of executives who are viewed by your associates and your customers as confident leaders. A custom executive speaker training program is an easy way to create that perception.
