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From: Charlie Osborne
Date: 05 Oct 2008
Time: 13:03:24 -0500
Remote Name: 67.142.130.13
Melissa: I’d like to add to what Lynne suggested, working with your client through a series of structured tasks, arranged from easier to more difficult speaking situations. Providing your client the opportunity for success, in graduated steps, may help her to change her belief system regarding her abilities as a speaker. Working through a speaking hierarchy, one jointly developed by your client and you, will allow her to see that change is possible and that as a speaker she has the ability to make changes. There is nothing as powerful as being able to experience “success,” to be able to reflect on the experience (“What did I do? What effect did it have on my speech?, etc.), and to project the possibility of further successes. When working with someone on a speaking hierarchy, it is important to let the individual know that there are degrees of success (from not very to a great deal) and that when moving from an easier step to a more difficult one on the hierarchy, it is likely that the level of success may be less, at least in the initial attempts. If the client develops the notion of success as being on a continuum, she will be able to enjoy the degrees of progress she makes as she advances.