Jan 24 2014

VOICE – A new initiative within the 3DM movement

The minute we stand up in front of a crowd, our body talks – and sometimes it talks louder than words. It sends signals about us being stressed, comfortable, unsure, or upset and sometimes our body language sends signals that are not true. As a listener you might experience a communicator whom you interpret as distant or arrogant, but often these signals are given due to a poor, unconscious and untrained body language.

My name is Hanne Dalsgaard. I live in Denmark with my husband and three kids. I have a degree in singing from the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus. Since 2002 I have coached and instructed singers, business leaders, church leaders corporate managers in how to achieve the best rapport with their audience.

In relation to my work as a coach, I visit many churches, meet many pastors, business men, singers etc. All of them are communicators. Some are excellent. Most of them can become excellent through intentional training and feedback. The work is not about being wrapped in a layer of “performance” and techniques, but rather to be “unpacked” and discover a more authentic, unhindered and varied expression. The goal is to teach communicators the craftsmanship of body language.

Too often communicators stand in the way of what they want to say, their body language is unconscious and unclear.

They have learned to work on creating content, but not on how to deliver it. This means that, unfortunately, there is so much great content that gets lost in poor delivery. A great communicator is one that enables the listener to pay attention to nothing else other than what he or she says. Of course there is such a thing as natural born talent, but most of us have to work on the craftsmanship to be able to produce the art.

What I really love about working with body language is that it releases the communicator to speak freely and with the authority that is given them. It’s incredible to see how much unconscious habits can influence our communication. But what we need to learn is how to be precise in our observation and feedback and be open to challenge each other. Just think about how much time and money we could save if we raised the level of communication in our churches, organisations or businesses. How fantastic it would be if our listeners were actually able to remember the message that we wanted them to hear!

My experience is that communicators tend to make assumptions like “what works for others probably works for me too”, or the other way around.

Perhaps you have once experienced a communicator with a constant, serious and tough expression: An expression you interpreted as arrogant and distant. You decide you don’t want to come across in the same way, which leads you to a more or less monotonous body language with a constant smile and friendly expression. Certainly you don’t come across as arrogant, but you might have also lost the ability to speak with authority.

Too often we don’t give precise feedback when it comes to use of body language.

A lady I recently trained was once told to reduce the tempo of her speech, because she seemed slightly hyperactive and nervous when teaching. In fact, her speech tempo was not that fast, but her feet and hands were very active and almost constantly moving. It took 15 minutes for her to learn to calm this habit and right away she experienced an increased level of presence on stage – the improvement was remarkable. What a shame that she had to struggle with this for years before anyone told her…

Over the last 4 years I have worked with communicators from the 3DM movement, to help them become clearer and better in communication when speaking in front of bigger as well as smaller crowds. The work has been intensified over the last couple of months and we are currently working on establishing “3DM VOICE”; a platform where communication and body language has the main focus. Next month, we will release an e-book that can be used as a tangible tool for individual training as well as a part of intensive group training.

So keep an eye out for this exiting new initiative within the 3DM movement!

CLICK HERE to find out more about “VOICE” by Hanne Dalsgaard