Pause

Pause

It’s a scientific fact that people listen and absorb things slower than anyone speaks. When I was coaching a client about how fast he spoke and how little people were hearing, he tried to slow down but it “fellllt soooo sloooow” to him and he had trouble doing it. To solidify the idea, I had him make an announcement to one of his teams at a weekly meeting that had five specific instructions and numerous details. Of the nine people in the room, six immediately asked questions of validation and clarification to be sure they knew what he wanted them to do.

He then gathered another team together and delivered the exact same announcement but he said it at HALF the pace. People jotted down notes. At the end he asked, “Any questions?” No one had any. When the two teams delivered the assignment, the first team left some critical things out. The second team nailed it.

As a leader, you are often given two minutes to tell a group or a room full of people who you are. The first thing most of us try to do is pack as much information into the two minutes that we possibly can. So nobody remembers us at all. It sounds fast and jumbled to the listener. What we should do instead is slow down. Say less. Choose the MOST important things we want people to be remembered. And say it in SLOW MOTION so they can hear it. We want to be remembered and we want them to know us better. Be the one up gives the extra few seconds to the next person who goes over the two minutes. I assure you that you might even be remembered for thankfully being brief.