Public speaking skills every leader can learn

Public speaking is often treated like a talent, but for leaders it is a practical skillset that can be learned, trained, and improved through repetition. Whether it is a boardroom update, a team briefing, a pitch, or a keynote, leadership communication shapes decisions, trust, and momentum. DellonVille’s ISSOP programme is built around helping people speak with confidence, clarity, and influence using real life practice rather than passive learning.​

Many professionals are not held back by a lack of ideas, but by fear, lack of structure, and uncertainty about how to engage an audience. ISSOP explicitly teaches how to overcome fear and anxiety, how to structure a powerful talk, and how to engage and influence any audience. When leaders build these foundations, speaking becomes less about “performing” and more about creating clarity and moving people to action.​

Why speaking is a leadership skill​

DellonVille positions powerful communication as a cornerstone of effective leadership and highlights executive communication that strengthens clarity, presence, and confidence in high stakes communication and public speaking. In practical terms, leadership requires explaining direction, setting expectations, managing tension, and influencing stakeholders across different perspectives. If communication is unclear, even strong strategy can stall because people do not know what to do, why it matters, or how to contribute.​

Public speaking is not only the big stage. It includes weekly meetings, client conversations, internal updates, and any moment where attention turns to you for meaning and direction. Improving public speaking therefore improves leadership capacity in everyday work.​

Skill one build a clear structure​

Structure is the fastest confidence builder. ISSOP trains speakers to prepare and deliver with confidence and to structure a powerful talk, which matters because structure reduces rambling, anxiety, and over explanation. When a leader can organise a message into a simple flow, the audience feels safer, and the speaker feels more in control.​

A practical structure can be simple.

  • Start with the point and the purpose so people know why they should listen.​

  • Give two to three supporting ideas rather than ten scattered ones.​

  • Close with a clear action, decision, or next step.​

This kind of repeatable structure makes it easier to speak confidently in any setting, which ISSOP lists as a core outcome.​

Skill two manage fear and nerves​

Fear of public speaking is common, even among high performers. ISSOP explicitly addresses overcoming fear and anxiety and uses a learn by doing model with live practice and feedback, which is often what nervous speakers need most. Confidence grows when the brain gets evidence that speaking is survivable and can go well.​

Practical nerve management is less about “calming down” and more about preparation and repetition. When speakers practise out loud, use a consistent opening, and plan how to transition between points, anxiety usually reduces because fewer moments feel uncertain. This is one reason ISSOP is designed around short lessons and live practice sessions with expert evaluation.​

Skill three use voice and body language intentionally​

How something is said often shapes impact as much as what is said. DellonVille’s public speaking offerings include learning how to use body language and voice effectively, which helps leaders signal credibility and calm under pressure. Small changes like pacing, pausing, eye contact, and grounded posture can significantly change how a message is received.​

This is also a major part of executive presence. When leaders speak with steady pace and clear emphasis, people perceive clarity and competence even in uncertain situations. This makes the leader’s communication feel more trustworthy and easier to follow.​

Skill four engage and influence your audience​

Leaders do not speak to impress, they speak to create movement. ISSOP includes learning how to engage and influence any audience, which is crucial because different audiences need different framing. A team needs clarity and confidence, investors may need logic and vision, and partners may need reassurance and alignment.​

Engagement can be built through simple practices.

  • Speak to the audience’s needs before speaking about your own agenda.​

  • Use concrete examples that make the message feel real and actionable.​

  • Invite alignment by asking for a decision, commitment, or next step.​

ISSOP emphasises developing an authentic style through modelling strong speakers and receiving feedback, which supports influence without imitation.​

Skill five learn faster through feedback​

Speaking improves fastest when feedback is specific and timely. ISSOP highlights real time feedback and expert evaluations as a key advantage, which reduces the trial and error cycle many professionals get stuck in. DellonVille’s ISSOP case study describes a client who saw measurable improvement in speech structure and delivery confidence within two intensive sessions and successfully delivered an important speech.​

Feedback also reduces blind spots. A speaker might not notice they rush, apologise, hide behind slides, or lose the audience in the middle, but a trained evaluator will. When those blind spots become visible, practice becomes targeted and results come faster.​

How leaders can start this week​

Skill development does not require waiting for a perfect event. Use everyday opportunities to practise, such as opening a meeting, delivering a short update, or summarising a decision. The key is to practise intentionally, not just speak more often.​

A simple weekly practice loop aligns with ISSOP’s learn by doing model.

  • Choose one speaking moment you will lead.​

  • Prepare a short structure and rehearse aloud once.​

  • Ask for one piece of feedback and apply it next time.​

This is how confident speaking becomes a habit rather than a rare performance.​

Call to action​

If public speaking is limiting your influence, the right programme can compress years of trial and error into weeks of structured practice. DellonVille’s ISSOP is designed to build confidence, clarity, and persuasive communication through experiential learning, behavioural insights, and expert facilitation. To explore the best fit, start with DellonVille’s free assessment or schedule a discovery call through the contact page.​

Building resilient teams during change and uncertainty

Change is now a normal operating condition for many organisations. Teams are expected to deliver results while adapting to new priorities, new structures, new systems, and shifting expectations, often at speed. DellonVille’s organisational and team effectiveness work includes supporting teams navigating growth, change, or transformation, which makes resilience a practical capability rather than a motivational slogan.​

Resilient teams are not teams that feel fine all the time. They are teams that keep clarity, cohesion, and performance when conditions are unstable. Resilience is built through habits and leadership behaviours that reduce uncertainty and help people stay aligned to what matters.​

What resilience looks like at work​

In workplace terms, resilience is the ability to recover quickly, stay productive, and keep relationships intact during pressure and disruption. It shows up in how teams make decisions, communicate, solve problems, and manage tension. DellonVille frames high performance around trust, alignment, and shared understanding, and those three factors tend to predict whether a team becomes resilient or reactive during change.​

Resilient teams also maintain a learning posture. They treat obstacles as data rather than drama and adjust the plan without losing confidence. That mindset is easiest to sustain when leaders provide clarity and the team has simple working agreements.​

Why uncertainty breaks teams​

Uncertainty increases guesswork. When people are unsure what success means, what priorities matter most, or how decisions will be made, they tend to fill in the gaps with assumptions. Assumptions often lead to duplicated work, misaligned effort, and conflict about what should have happened.​

Uncertainty also amplifies differences in working style and communication. Some people push for speed, others push for certainty, and without a shared process both sides can interpret the other as difficult. DellonVille’s approach starts by understanding the real context and challenges, because resilience interventions must match what is actually driving instability for that team.​

The leadership moves that stabilise change​

During change, people look to leaders for signals about safety, direction, and meaning. DellonVille’s team describes work grounded in behavioural insight and strategic thinking to help organisations navigate change while strengthening cohesion, communication, and leadership capability. That points to a key truth, resilience is built as much by leadership behaviour as by team attitude.​

The most stabilising leadership moves are simple and consistent.

  • Clarify what is changing and what is not changing.​

  • Translate strategy into short term priorities the team can act on.​

  • Communicate with confidence, structure, and intent so people know what to do next.​

  • Name uncertainty honestly without spreading anxiety.​

  • Protect trust by addressing tension early and fairly.​

These moves reduce fear because they reduce ambiguity. When ambiguity drops, performance tends to rise.​

The team habits that create resilience​

Resilient teams do not rely on heroic effort. They rely on a few habits that keep work flowing even when priorities shift. DellonVille supports team effectiveness and organisational development through tailored engagements using proven tools and frameworks, which aligns with building habits that actually stick in a real operating environment.​

High value habits include the following.

  • Weekly alignment on top priorities and what will not be done.​

  • Clear ownership on actions and decisions to prevent drift.​

  • Short, consistent communication rhythms instead of long irregular updates.​

  • Explicit working agreements on response times, escalation, and handovers.​

  • Regular reflection on what is working and what needs adjustment.​

These habits keep the team out of constant reactive mode. They also make workload and risk visible earlier, which is where resilience really begins.​

Using behavioural insight during change​

Change is also personal because it triggers different stress responses. DellonVille’s BSG is designed to help people understand how they behave, communicate, and lead, and it is powered by the Maxwell DISC Assessment, which reveals personality style and its impact on leadership, teamwork, and decision making. This matters during change because teams often misread stress behaviour as attitude.​

Behavioural insight helps teams reduce friction by improving how they communicate with different styles. It can also help leaders anticipate resistance and design communication that meets people where they are rather than forcing compliance through pressure. When teams feel understood, they adapt faster and hold trust more easily.​

What to do when resilience is low​

When a team is already stretched, resilience work needs to be light enough to implement and strong enough to matter. Start with clarity and basics, then layer deeper development as stability returns. DellonVille’s work is tailored to specific needs and outcomes, which is important because different teams break down in different ways during change.​

A practical starting point is to identify one high friction area, such as decision making, meeting chaos, or lack of accountability, and fix that first. That creates immediate relief and shows the team that change can be managed rather than endured. Once momentum returns, more advanced leadership and behavioural development becomes easier to sustain.​

Call to action​

Resilience is not something to hope for, it is something to build intentionally through leadership behaviours, team habits, and shared understanding. DellonVille supports teams and organisations leading through change with tailored team effectiveness and organisational development engagements designed for practical impact. If your team is navigating uncertainty and needs a clear next step, start with DellonVille’s free assessment to clarify the situation and identify the most useful support.​

How to handle difficult conversations without damaging trust

Difficult conversations are unavoidable in leadership. Performance issues, missed expectations, tension between colleagues, and change decisions all require honest dialogue, and avoiding them usually makes the problem louder later. DellonVille’s work in communication and conflict resolution is built around the idea that clear communication is a core leadership skill and that high performing organisations are built on trust, alignment, and shared understanding.​

The real challenge is not whether to have the conversation. The challenge is how to have it in a way that protects the relationship and still addresses the issue directly. Trust is damaged when people feel attacked, embarrassed, ignored, or left guessing, so the aim is a conversation that is both clear and respectful.​

Why trust breaks in hard talks​

Trust breaks when intent and impact drift apart. A leader may intend to “be honest,” but the message lands as blame, impatience, or disrespect if the tone is harsh or the structure is unclear. DellonVille positions communication as something that should be delivered with confidence, structure, and intent, which is exactly what difficult conversations need.​

Trust also breaks when leaders delay too long. When problems are left unspoken, people create their own stories and assumptions, and those assumptions usually make trust worse. A timely conversation, handled well, often feels safer than months of silence followed by a sudden confrontation.​

The leader’s job in conflict​

Conflict is not always a sign of dysfunction. It is often a sign that expectations, boundaries, or communication norms are unclear. DellonVille’s team includes a registered mediator and conflict resolution specialist who supports organisations to navigate conflict, improve dialogue, and build stronger working relationships, which reinforces that conflict can be handled through structured, respectful conversation.​

The leader’s job is to create the conditions for truth and dignity to coexist. That means addressing behaviour and impact without attacking character, and creating a space where the other person can respond without fear. When leaders do this consistently, difficult conversations stop being dramatic events and become normal leadership practice.​

A practical conversation structure​

Structure reduces emotional chaos. DellonVille emphasises communication with structure and intent, and a simple structure makes it far easier to stay calm and clear. Use a repeatable format that can work for performance feedback, conflict, boundaries, and alignment issues.​

Use this five part approach.

  1. Start with purpose and care.​

  2. Describe facts and behaviour, not personality.​

  3. Explain impact on outcomes, people, or trust.​

  4. Ask for their perspective and listen fully.​

  5. Agree next steps, ownership, and a follow up point.​

This keeps the conversation focused on shared outcomes rather than who is “right.” It also protects trust by giving clarity and voice to both sides.​

How behavioural insight helps​

Difficult conversations are often harder because different people handle stress differently. DellonVille’s Behavioural Strategy for Growth uses the Maxwell DISC Assessment to help people understand how they behave and communicate, including stress triggers, which can reduce misunderstanding during tense discussions. When someone knows their own stress pattern, they can notice it earlier and avoid escalating the conversation unintentionally.​

Behavioural insight also helps leaders adapt delivery. Some people prefer directness and speed, while others need more reassurance, detail, or time to process. Adjusting delivery to the person is not weakness, it is skilled communication that increases the chance of agreement and action.​

What to avoid​

Certain behaviours almost always damage trust, even when the leader is trying to fix a problem. DellonVille’s emphasis on clarity, care, and professionalism in implementation points to the importance of how feedback is delivered, not only what is delivered. Avoid these common traps.​

  • Speaking in generalisations like always and never rather than describing specific examples.​

  • Saving up issues and unloading a long list in one conversation.​

  • Trying to “win” the conversation rather than solve the problem.​

  • Using indirect hints instead of clear requests and agreements.​

  • Ending without next steps, which creates repeat conflict.​

Avoiding these mistakes protects the relationship and keeps performance standards clear.​

Rebuilding trust after tension​

Even good conversations can feel uncomfortable. What rebuilds trust afterward is follow through. If an agreement was made, honour it, and if something was unclear, clarify it quickly. DellonVille links high performance to trust and alignment, and follow through is one of the simplest ways to create both.​

It also helps to close the loop with a short follow up conversation. Ask what has improved, what is still difficult, and what support is needed. This signals that the goal was growth and alignment, not punishment.​

Call to action​

If difficult conversations are becoming a regular source of stress, support can help leaders build a repeatable approach that protects trust and improves outcomes. DellonVille supports leaders and organisations through communication development, conflict resolution support, and tailored interventions designed around real challenges and measurable impact. A practical first step is DellonVille’s free assessment to clarify what is happening and identify the best next action.