How Public Speaking Can Help Your Personal Growth and Leadership Skills

Speaking is a very necessary component of our daily existence. There are many advantages of being able to communicate effectively. However, not everybody enjoys having such a skill. In fact, public speaking seems to be something that some people are born with, while others do not just have the talent for it.

Fortunately, you don’t need to be a really good public spokesperson to savor the advantages that public speaking could bring, as well as enjoy the rewards, both personal and otherwise. But with learning to be proficient in public speaking, there are personal benefits to could gain such as:

• You will enjoy augmented listening skills. It doesn’t mean you do all the chatting when you’re a public speaker. In fact, there are times when your audience is given the opportunity to ask you questions, so it pays to have great listening skills in order to pulse the opinions or the ideas of others effectively.

• You will be in a position to develop communication skills that you did not have previously. There are communication lines that you may not have noticed before, and you might now be in a position to explore them through public speaking.

• You will be able to hone your unrealised skills. You’ll find that there are certain aspects of communication that you can only explore through public speaking.

• You will be able to harness the power of speech. In order to communicate effectively, you will be exploring different and often uncharted avenues. Your self-improvement starts here.

• You will achieve your targets as your self-confidence grows. In working closely and communicating with people, you have the opportunity to build up your self-esteem, even in the most awkward of situations.

• Through public speaking, you will be able to meet new people and build a wider network. Speaking to people not only gets you heard, but you also create relationships, as well.

Public speaking and leadership

Public speaking also goes hand in hand with leadership. As a matter of fact, most of the world’s most notorious leaders were accomplished speakers. For example, Adolf Hitler was alleged to be one of the most influential leaders throughout history, despite being a warmongering dictator. There was just something in him that made people pay attention, enabling him to influence a huge population in that time. So what is the link between being a good speaker and being able to establish the command for leadership? Well, not everyone has both leadership and eloquence—that’s for sure. However, being able to speak your mind effectively does affect the way you lead your subordinates.

The fact of the matter is good speakers are better able to build that picture of dependability. After all, how could you gather people to follow you when they don’t even care to hear what you say? Suffice it to say, you have the ability to mold perceptions and influence beliefs when you have a good command over your words. You can give recommendations and even lead. And because you are somebody to look up to, it is a lot easier to get people to follow you and believe in you.

Another advantage is that when you are able to express yourself in the form of public speaking, the more you could increase your self-esteem. And to become an effective leader, you must be comfortable and confident in your abilities. Most leaders can also be considered as merchants of opinions, which is why it’s very much important to be articulate and an effective spokesman. This enhances your people skills greatly.

In a nutshell, you are exposed to many different people when you are a public speaker. This makes your privy to what they want and expect to hear, so you need to meet these as much as you could. Your leadership will greatly be enhanced this way. The more you are exposed to different folks, the more you understand their needs and wants.

So can leaders be created or must they be born? Do you have to be a great spokesman to be a leader? There are advantages but no real guarantees. But it does help to have the right skills in place—in this case, public speaking—to effectively communicate your position and reach the right people.