Level 1; Collapser: When a collapser speaks, they tend to allow their words to trail off and not finish sentences. Their voice loses its volume and pitch and often lose making their point. As a result, their audience loses connection and confidence in them as they often have to pick up the rest of the conversation. Most collapser’s aren’t aware that this is what is holding their communication back, and their confidence is deteriorating, so it’s about making them aware that this is happening and making a decision if they want it to change.

Level 2; Struggler: The struggler will often keep their volume and pitch low in their voice. They’re often afraid of saying the wrong thing and hoping that if they speak quietly enough, no one will notice. The irony is that it stands out more than ever for the wrong reasons. Once they have the right advice and steps in place, the next focus for them is to practice.

Level 3: Amateur: The amateur often has some variety in their ability to perform but aren’t using their body and voice intentionally or in a way that aligns with their message and audience. The next focus for them is to have pressure applied to them so they have the opportunity to use the skills in different contexts and so they can see the impact of their mind, body and voice on the audience and get their message through. The key insight for the amateur is that they don’t know what they don’t know. They think they’re good, but they still have some way to go.

Level 4: Intern: The intern often has the ability to use a broad range of skills to get their message across, but they haven’t had enough experience to use it all to improve. Their eyes are wider open; they’re like sponges and very keen to learn. At this level, it is about observing the master, operating from high to low pressure to see them in action and applying in practice themselves. Once they have achieved this level of skill, they are about 80% of the way on their journey to increasing their confidence.

Level 5: Professional:  The professional is typically well versed in the skills to grow their confidence. They’re getting away with it every time, but they actually feel not as confident as they could. The only issue for them is that some situations can cause them to lose their self-belief, but the audience won’t know. They might be listening to the wrong people or beating themselves up a little too much when they are in face really effective communicators. At this level of their journey, they are at around 90% of the level of confidence. They just need reassurance that they’re on the right track. Things like going red, legs shaking and pitch variations and other irrelevant things may be putting them off, but in fact, the audience isn’t noticing them at all.

Level 6: Master: The master is focused on being exceptional. They know that you never achieve perfection, but they can keep learning to help them stay sharp and focus on continuous improvement to be the best communicator they can be. They surround themselves with masters of their craft, thrive on the challenge of communicating well and will even begin teaching other leaders to be more effective in their communication. Ah, Grasshopper!