Speak Up, Stand Out

Don’t be one of the many employees who trudge to work everyday and give just enough to get by. Candice Lopez shares how self-improvement can help you get ahead with your career.

Sometimes, after spending much time and effort to find gainful employment, we quickly fall into the complacency trap. It is easy to get buried in the daily requirements of going to work everyday, meeting pre-set goals and deadlines, and, generally, going in the regular flow of things.

It’s easy fall into the trap of being just another employee in the workplace: to become one among many.

A progressive employee understands, however, that there is a need to show improvement, potential and increased capability in the workplace. That employee knows that there is a need to speak up: to have opinions heard, suggestions fielded, recommendations offered to demonstrate motivation, initiative and enterprise.

“Communication is very important in the workplace–for advancement or if you want to move to another company,” states The Talk Shop’s director Sheila Viesta. “In any career, you need to know how to articulate your thoughts. If you can learn to articulate well, your confidence will be an edge.”

The Talk Shop, with Sheila at the helm, deals with a lot of clients who come in for speaking classes. It is usually a combination of conversation expertise, speech eloquence, and grammar mastery. The center evaluates each participant to find out his learning style, level of confidence and to gauge his particular requirements and work consideration. Each evaluation is free of charge and a program is designed specifically for him.

While the center emphasizes on the use of English–”We have to accept the fact that English is the lingua franca,” says Sheila–it aspires for a more holistic, less academic and more practical approach to applying it. As she explains, “You just can’t know how to speak English, you have to be able to talk about life and general topics, and you have to merge logic and creativity. You have to make sense. So the programs are fortified with lessons on confidence building and positive thinking, all integrated in the English curriculum.”

And while the Philippines is already known as an English speaking country, it has been reported on countless time that it is a skill we have yet to master thoroughly and properly. In fact, the overall deterioration of written and spoken English has been seen over the years.

Sheila demonstrates a common problem. “We usually formulate our thoughts in Tagalog and then translate. So by the time we’re ready to speak up, the person we’re talking to already assumes that we don’t know that much. That’s one thing we consider in designing the exercises for individuals and for companies.”

It is not just a skill for call-center agents or executives dealing with their colleagues. Communication, and communicating in English at that, has a vital impact on the career of the employee who chooses to use the language to his advantage. The Talk Shop has actually seen the rewards. “We have so many clients who wanted to become trainers, or manager, or supervisors. They realize that they became those immediately after our program.”

Of course, there is more outside the language than its theoretical applications, which The Talk Shop has initiated and integrated. “All of the courses are for career advancement and personality improvement,” says Sheila. They also have a course on social graces and corporate etiquette for professionals who want to take advantage of their opportunities.

One confident with the language understands, for example, the difference between aggressiveness and assertiveness. Filipinos, especially those who speak of dyahe a lot, will find it useful to learn the mechanics to be the latter and not come across as rude or uncouth. Communications skills, after all, are not purely an innate talent. It is something that can be learned and improved. “You can stretch your potential and tap other avenues, you can improve yourself, your verbal and global knowledge to know what to say, how to say it, at the right time,” Sheila asserts.

She gives an example. “Lets say we have an employee who finished several degrees, and another one who didn’t even finish one. If the latter knows how to draft letters properly, how to answer the phone effectively, how to deal with clients, how to coordinate with the boss, what things to say, how to pronounce certain words, how to communicate effectively, then that person has a better chance of getting the top position, than the other person who finished so many degrees but doesn’t know how to speak up.”

It may all seem very basic and so very simple, and yet the hurdle often lies in the person’s reluctance to admit that help is needed, or in not knowing what to do about it. Sheila shares that their clients range from the ages of six to 56, which goes to show that it has nothing to do with age, just a decision to seek improvement.

She notes sagely, “There are so many resources, so many centers to go to for self-improvement, but it has to start with the individual. Much of the things you need to communicate with other people and to progress in life are learned. I started taking speech courses in high school and I really made an effort to develop myself. Because no matter how much I have up here (brain), if I cannot speak up, if I always have butterflies whenever I speak in front of people, if I’m always nervous, then there’s no chance for me. This is what I learned and exactly what I teach my students.”

Whether it’s to learn how to speak well in front of a crowd, how to master technical writing, or how to integrate corporate etiquette and language usage, you can never stretch your potential too much.

The Talk Shop, like its various counterparts, have their services readily available, whether for one-on-one sessions or for group classes. It’s now just a matter of deciding where to begin.

Hopefully, you can successfully communicate a promotion soon after.

Published in e-yellowpages , March 14 2005