Follow-up test
Effective Speaking
Which of the six principles of effective speaking is the one that you need to practise most?
Do you always invest sufficient time in preparing well before you have to speak?
Are you systematic about your planning?
How many times in the last year have people commended you as a speaker for being clear?
‘Everything should be made as simple as possible but not more simple.’ Is that principle reflected in your professional or technical speaking?
Do you avoid overloading your listeners with non-essential and irrelevant information?
What is your record like for avoiding unnecessary jargon and academic abstractions?
Have you made a conscious effort to learn the language – the frames of reference – of those you aspire to lead?
Where appropriate, do you allow your enthusiasm to show through, giving life and vigour to your speech?
Do you use the kind of humour that works best for you and your particular audience?
What matters most to you: the truth you are trying to communicate or what your audience thinks about you?
Do you let the truth speak for itself?
Are you eager to avoid inaccuracies or misleading exaggerations in what you say or write?
Can you relax and be yourself – your best self – on occasions when you are called up to say a few words?
Have you a reputation for being brief and to the point?
When you speak, do you have a sense of talking to each individual in the room as opposed to addressing a crowd?
The Art of Listening
How far are you afflicted by the disease of not listening?
Can you identify instances when you have engaged in selective listening, avoided the technical or difficult, or criticized the speaker’s delivery or visual aids?
Are you willing to listen?
Do you make a habit of evaluating carefully and responding appropriately?
Would you describe yourself as intellectually curious about matters relevant to your profession?
Have you a method for recording the ideas that strike you as being important or potentially useful?
Listening is a form of thinking. Do you use what people say as a stimulus for your own thoughts and creativity?