Dr Louise Mahler, PhD leadership communication, global thought leader in body language, voice and gesture.
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"You speak too fast! Slow down!" If you’re someone who has ever been put under the stress of speaking in front of a group of people, you’ve probably heard this type of feedback. Alternatively, you might hear, "Your pitch is too high" or "We can’t hear you." This is common and seemingly actionable feedback, but is it that easy?
These remarks are concerning and need to be taken seriously. They are clear and often unanimously agreed upon by listeners. The problem is that those trying to solve the problem have often been approaching it in a way that does not deliver change. To solve the problem we’ve been trying to alter pitch, pace and volume. But does it work?
As an ex-singer with a Ph.D. in leadership communication, it is clear that pitch, pace and volume are important to the listener, but changing them at a conscious level will not give you the gravitas you wish to achieve.
The Failures Of Pitch, Pace And Volume
The problem with looking to pitch, pace and volume is that these are nearly impossible to consciously control without sounding enormously manufactured. This was the ultimate downfall of the old school of elocution model.
The rapid decline of elocution occurred during the 20th century, apparently caused by performers and teachers who used vocal patterns that felt artificial to the listener. In fact, the postures and poetic style of diction made those who followed this model easy objects of ridicule. And by 1933 the melodramatic traditional elocution was already out of favor.
There is nothing wrong with analyzing sound through the three areas of pitch, pace and volume, but the problem comes when we try to improve our production by working on those areas as a vehicle for change. Trying to implement vocal change through pitch, pace and volume leaves us in a similar conundrum to the school of elocution—stuck with communication that is artificial and manufactured.
Why It Matters
As leaders, we need our audience to trust us. But when listeners hear irregularities and artificial sounds in pitch, pace and volume, it can send a message of stress and untrustworthiness.
This focus on perception has led to the need to pander to changing these elements as a solution. But when the artificiality arises, through lowering the pitch or speaking more slowly, it gets worse; we are then given the advice to "Just be yourself." Yet if we’d felt we could just be ourselves as leaders, we wouldn’t have found ourselves in this situation to begin with.
Why Doesn’t It Work?
Here’s the reality: When someone complains that you’re speaking too quickly, it’s not usually the case that you are speaking too fast. Instead, the actual problem lies in the lack of space for breath between sentences. These pauses for breath—or breath management—make your speech more musical and appealing. Slowing down alone rarely solves the problem because the solution lies in managing the breath.
When someone complains that you speak too softly, this is merely a matter of not enough air escaping the body. However, asking someone to speak more loudly often leads them to put pressure on their neck, which further strangles the sound.
When someone complains that your pitch is too high, the cause is not usually the authentic pitch of your voice. Instead, it generally stems from stress, which puts pressure on your larynx, causing it to tighten and leaving your voice strangled. The solution is not to impose a lower pitch. This will just lead to extra pressure that will sound raspy and can cause physical damage.
In our modern history, many leaders, including female leaders, have believed that a lower voice would help achieve more leadership gravitas. International examples include Margaret Thatcher and Elizabeth Holmes, both of whom altered their voices to achieve that feeling of gravitas.
However, recent research moderates this effect. In fact, while a low voice pitch is an auditory cue for leadership, this cue becomes weaker when the leaders are female. So women can still achieve the leadership impact they’re looking for with their normal, feminine pitch of voice.
Knowledge Of The Ancients
If slowing down, speaking louder or lowering your voice doesn’t solve the problem of pitch, pace and volume, what does? The greatest of ancient Greek orators, Demosthenes, was quoted as saying the first, second and third most important skills of rhetoric (or communication) are delivery, delivery and delivery. And one of the most important components of delivery was voice. Voice in turn, for the simple act of speaking was a matter for the body.
Quintilian, the renowned ancient Roman rhetorician, wrote of techniques to improve the spoken voice over 2000 years ago. He spoke of the proper alignment of the body, or posture, having the head sit balanced on the torso, keeping tension from the throat and focusing on allowing the breath to move in and out of the body freely.
Indeed, when it comes to vocal change, many problems are solved by simply standing up straight and using the arms to guide your air flow and consequently your sound. Rather than focusing on altering the pitch, pace or volume themselves, the vocal change to those elements is the outcome of body and breath work.
The Importance Of Body Language
Though many today emphasize pitch, pace and volume, this only represents others' perceptions of us. To really create vocal change—to counteract those critiques that "you speak too fast" or too softly or too high—you must focus on body and breath.
You can do this by:
1. Working on the release of your diaphragm
2. Keeping your posture upright
3. Opening your throat
With a focus on upright posture and proper breath management, you’ll be able to improve your vocal quality in a way that’s natural and authentic and builds your gravitas.
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