As a Business English teacher, I often tell clients that spoken fluency and confidence are more important than accuracy. Why? Because listeners prefer fluid, confident speakers over speakers who are accurate but anxious. It is the “Don Draper” effect. (Mad Men is an acclaimed AMC series).
Simply stated, we are attracted to confident people. Nervous people make us nervous, too. Or at least a bit uncomfortable. And whether we feel empathetic or critical, we all prefer to work with confident colleagues.
Consider Don Draper. And just in case you’ve never watched Mad Men, Don Draper (played by John Hamm) is the ridiculously handsome and consummately confident advertising executive who gets all the girls and closes every deal. Don exudes confidence. He (almost) never breaks a sweat. He always knows what to say, and he always looks cool saying it. His character is so confident that he has become a pop culture icon. While Don is, of course, speaking his native language, we can still learn something from him.
Table of contents: Speak Business English with confidence
In this blog, we cover 7 points for you to consider to help you speak Business English with colleagues and clients with more confidence.
Anxiety interferes with your brain’s access to words and structures. ESL (English as a Second Language) experts call this the affective filter. Ever feel like you’re stuck? Like you ‘can’t find the words’? That feeling isn’t overcome by focussing on errors, in fact it can actually increase it! Instead, having a motivating learning environment that is stimulated by real conversations and correct language modelling can help you to overcome the filter.
Speaking business English with confidence is not so much about what you say, it’s about how you say it.
Don is a “golden boy,” and he can teach us something about verbal communication. When you speak fluently, in a relaxed, confident manner, you are entering a confidence circle.
Learning a few key phrases, working out a clear structure to your story and explaining your point in a concise way means that even with a few grammar mistakes, most listeners will understand you.
Once they understand you, you have completed one feedback loop in the circle of fluent speech > success > confidence > more fluency > more success > even more confidence.
Why do we prefer a fluent speaker to a grammatically accurate speaker? Because we are social, empathetic creatures. When we listen to someone hesitate and look for words, and we see their discomfort, we feel uncomfortable, too.
The confident speaker can carry on, looking like their grammar mistakes are just no big deal. We like that person! Because they are relaxed, we are relaxed. We want to listen to them.
Learn to speak business English with confidence with lots of practice and the support of a coach/teacher who will build you up to become as fluent and confident in English as you are in your native language. Of course, errors can and should be corrected, but not at the expense of flow. A good teacher balances fluency and accuracy.
Be wary of spoken business English courses that emphasize grammar and accuracy. Improving grammar accuracy is good, but accuracy alone will not make your listeners happy.
Because our teachers train business people for real world encounters – NOT high school grammar tests – our primary goal is to give speakers good flow and thus the ability to speak business English with confidence. Of course, we correct errors, but providing learners with the structure and vocabulary to keep speaking – finishing spoken sentences and thoughts fluidly – is job number one!
Find out more about our group in company courses to get your team speaking Business English with confidence.
Author: Brenda de Jong-Pauley, Director, The English Center of Amsterdam, 19 January 2021
Updated by: Eva, Business English Trainer, 28 October 2024
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