What is a Communication Coach?
What is communication coaching and does it work? Read on to learn how coaching can help you speak with confidence and clarity in meetings, interviews, and presentations.
You know your work and are the best person to speak to it. You’re confident doing the work itself but when you’re asked to talk about your work, you say way too much or far too little, especially around senior leaders.
You start over-thinking or thinking ahead. You lose your train of thought or go blank. You start searching for the “right” words or over-prioritizing how you’re perceived instead of focusing on your unique perspective
If this sounds familiar, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s quite common, actually. Especially for empathetic and/or technical leaders.
If you’ve been told you need more “confidence”, “gravitas” or “executive presence”, it can make it even harder to be fully present or confidence.
So you try harder to communicate “better” but it only makes the pressure and anxiety worse. What’s going on?
What’s Communication Coaching?
A communication coach gives you tools and frameworks to speak with presence under pressure. They can help you build trust in your ability to speak with confidence, clarity, and conciseness.
The best communication coaches will not tell you what to say, or how to say it. Instead, they will give you tools to trust your ability to prepare and present yourself with authentic authority.
What are you focusing on when you’re put on the spot? Are you…
Over-prioritizing how you’re being perceived
Replaying (and critiquing) what you just said
Playing back feedback you received and watching yourself to see if you seem more confident
Scripting and trying to remember what you prepared
Wondering what others are thinking about you
Thinking ahead to craft the perfect thing to say next
Or maybe you’re thinking:
How can I stop shaking when public speaking and presenting?
Why do I get shortness of breath when speaking in public?
Why do I go blank or lose my train of thought?
Can others tell I’m out of breath and nervous?
What should I do about panic attacks when presenting?
What’s a public speaking coach and does it work?
I’m Lee (they/them)—I’m a Leadership Communication Coach helping people speak with presence under pressure.
Speaking up in meetings. Advocating for your team. Promoting your work. Networking. Presenting ideas when put on the spot. Influencing with (and without) authority. Making connections with senior leaders and stakeholders. This has been my life’s work.
I've been doing this work for ten years with leaders across industries, with a focus on technical leaders (engineering, data science, product management), first responders (physicians, military officers), and social impact leaders (activists, non-profit professionals).
Over the past ten years, I’ve collected tools and frameworks from thousands of brilliant, underheard leaders I’ve been honored to support in nearly every industry.
Using tools of nervous system regulation, embodied storytelling, and systems thinking, we create structure in spontaneous moments so you can feel prepared to be put on the spot.
I do this work because I know what it feels like to have debilitating anxiety get in the way of me articulating my ideas in my most important moments.
I feel honored every day to help people speak with more power and presence in their most important moments. Read on to learn how I help people turn habitual behavior into presence and anxiety into attention.
Does your speaking feel splintered?
Your confidence comes naturally when you’re comfortable. But under pressure, your attention splinters and you start thinking ahead or over-thinking.
Especially if you’ve struggled speaking for a while, you may believe you have to work harder to be a better communicator. But over-working and over-thinking can be perpetuating patterns that are detracting from your innate ability to express yourself in the present moment.
That’s why it’s important to remember that you communicate with confidence when you’re comfortable. And all we need to do is access that innate comfort in your most challenging moments.
What’s Communication Coaching?
Communication coaching is not about being perfect or precise. It doesn’t work to focus on perfectionism and only increases pressure on ourselves.
This work is about unlearning habitual fillers and fidgeting and unlocking your voice from anxiety and toxic workplaces. In my approach, we handcraft tools to unlock your ability to be comfortable and confident speaking up your most important moments.
Unconscious habits and patterns can lead to over-thinking and anxiety in challenging moments. That’s why we create tools in the moment that are not habitual. We want to create anchors or tools that force us into the present moment.
We unlock our natural confidence by making the unconscious conscious. We do this by:
consolidating our focus in the present moment
cultivating physical comfort for ourselves and others
communicating with clarity by creating structure in spontaneous moments
How Communication Coaching works
Instead of getting lost in thought (or filler or fidgeting), we consciously focus our attention on something intentional. This distracts the part of our brain that wants to race and run ahead. We give it a job.
The distraction can be anything (my clients come up with the best tools!) but I also handcraft tools on the spot that not only force you into the present moment but happen to improve your hormonal confidence.
We practice not for perfection but for presence so you are comfortable, clear, and present in your most important interactions (which is how you achieve confidence!)
You start to project more confidence because you actually feel more confident. You stop watching yourself or comparing yourself to others because you’ve consolidated your focus on the present moment.
Consciously expressing yourself with concise clarity helps you trust yourself. And that’s the definition of confidence!
We build frameworks for the inevitable return to habitual behavior (we’re human after all!), so that when we do, we can refocus on an intentional tool. Instead of getting sidetracked by beating ourselves up.
We can even craft formulas and frameworks to use off-the-cuff—systems help create structure in spontaneous speaking moments helping you be present.
This approach can help you:
Prepare to be put on the spot so you articulate your expertise without over-working
Replace self-doubt and overthinking with embodied focus and ease
Break free from anxiety to improve hormonal confidence when speaking off-the-cuff
Harness fidgeting and filler to improve connection and presence instead of beating yourself up
Strengthen your ability to think on your feet under pressure by using vagal nerve theory to optimize strategic thinking
Create structure in spontaneous speaking moments by using systems thinking to build frameworks ahead of time
Protect your peace in toxic workplaces and social spaces by regulating your nervous system and anchoring your attention
You're the expert of your voice. A communication coach should never tell you what to say or how to say it. They should help create space for you to define confidence for yourself and handcraft tools to help you vocalize your vision.
My Comfortable Confidence Approach
Comfortable Confidence leverages your voice to speak with presence under pressure.
With Comfortable Confidence, we handcraft tools to unlock your ability to express yourself with clarity and cohesion in your most important moments so you can speak with authentic authority under pressure.
Anchor and align attention to get out of your head
Regulate nervous system to increase hormonal confidence
Practice frameworks for when you’re put on the spot
Does this sound like you?
PresentVoices founder Lee Bonvissuto
You’re a compassionate communicator seeking connection and collaboration but over-prioritizing how you’re being perceived
You’re working hard to get “better” at communicating, but it’s only making you more self-conscious
You feel confident in situations with your team but lose track of your ideas with senior leaders
You’re scripting for meetings and then losing your presence and focus
You know the depths of detail in your work but struggle to share ideas succinctly under pressure
You’ve gotten feedback that you need more confidence or executive presence but find it distracting in the moment
You’re focusing on what words you should use to sound a certain way, especially with senior leaders
You’re being interrupted, talked over, or unrecognized in a toxic environment and want to gain respect while staying true to yourself