Public Speaking: How to Create a Sense of Urgency Without Sounding Desperate

Ohhhhhmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, guys, okay, okay. So, I just got off this call with management and our conversions are waaaaay down and so we’re in bad shape for the quarter and we need to take immediate action, as in now. As in, I need you all to stop what you’re doing and come up with immediate solutions for this problem. I need you to take ownership of your own roles, be prepared to work late today and have proposed solutions on my desk before you leave for the day. We’ll implement this first thing tomorrow. Okay? Okay! Go team!

Yikes.

That sounds pretty dire. I can almost feel my heart rate accelerating just reading it.

But, odds are, you’ve probably been in a situation where that kind of messaging was either required of you or delivered to you in order to convey a sense of urgency and action.

The problem? It’s not efficient and it leaves the hearer(s) feeling slightly panicked or frantic without delivering any concrete or measurable metrics for action.

It also sounds desperate.

So how do you create a sense of urgency that inspires action and not stress in your audience? Here are my 4 tips to do just that in any public speaking role – whether you’re talking to your team, presenting to the board, or delivering a keynote address.

1. Take a Moment to Collect Your Thoughts
   I get it: you’re in a hurry. The information you’re conveying is important and it needs to be delivered quickly… but this doesn’t mean an extra 5 minutes is going to make or break it! (Unless it’s an office evacuation message, but you know what I mean). Rapid-fire speech and rambling, off-the-cuff directions and information combine to create communication that is really hard to follow. Your audience is going to struggle to understand what you’re trying to say if you are talking a mile a minute in a disorganized fashion.
   
   Acting with urgency doesn’t mean shouting, threatening or panicking. Your team will be looking to you to stay calm even when the most pressing matters arise. Think of ways you can show a sense of urgency while also maintaining a sense of calm, and be sure to take into account that some will read more into emotions, tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures, while others will focus on your word choice. Say your team is coming up on an important deadline, and you’re not seeing the progress you’d hoped for. Use your words to reiterate what’s at stake with this project and why it must be completed on time, and use a firm, measured tone of voice to indicate both urgency and calm. Maintain a balance between your emotional presence and your vocabulary to effectively communicate to your entire team.

   You can do this by taking a step back, practicing some simple breathing exercises and running through what you want to say beforehand. Contextualize what you'll address first when speaking to others. Slowing down purposefully – even in what can feel like an exaggerated fashion – and letting your mouth catch up with your brain works wonders to help you focus and convey your message to others.
   
   
   

2. Establish Shared Values & Purpose
   When something’s urgent, it can be tempting to run around rushing your team to get things done—but that’s not the best way to approach it. Sure, it might stress them out enough to get them to work on things quickly, but long term, it could lead to mistrust and burnout (and I’ve addressed the dangers of this extensively).

   You need to begin with the basics: establishing shared values. True urgency won’t happen until everyone buys into the same values and everyone finds them important. 

   In the same vein, it’s important to define purpose. A team under a tight deadline will act with urgency, but a team under a tight deadline and with a shared purpose will act with conviction. The former will stress people out, the latter will energize them with meaning.
   
   
   

3. Speak to the Benefits
   One very effective way to get immediate buy-in from your audience or team is to present your work, project, task or idea like a product. This type of sales-driven communication comes naturally to some but it can easily go wrong with too much jargon or too much focus on pure information without excitement. Give someone bullet points of operational or analytical detail and they’re less likely to feel the thrill of the potential joys of what you’re trying to “sell” them (or convince them or motivate them…).
   
   Don’t focus on the devil-in-the-details but rather speak to the benefits of what you’re pitching, proposing or promoting: how will it help them? What problems will it solve? How will people be transformed as a result?This type of approach resonates with the right brain – the more emotional side of your audience which is where their ability to become inspired and motivated lives. Think about the last car you purchased. When you saw the commercial for it, it wasn’t the narrator rattling off all the features of the car that got you excited. It was seeing that car whip around town with beautiful, happy looking people in it. It was the shots of the sleek interior and the sound of the narrator talking about how cool you’ll look pulling up in it that motivated you to take action.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Edit Yourself
   If you have struggled in the past with imputing a sense of urgency without causing panic or anxiety in yourself or others, DON’T SWEAT IT! Remember that old adage: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again? That’s the secret! If the current approach isn’t working, it’s simple: time to change it up.
   
   Don’t be afraid to change your approach mid-speech either. If you begin to notice eyes glazing over or people obviously losing interest, you need to be willing to react in real time. Presentations in any form, whether you prepared for them for a month or not at all, are highly dynamic and must be reactive in order to be successful. Remember: it’s more important to communicate the sense of urgency along with an effective action plan than it is to be highly entertaining, witty, erudite or polished. Though it certainly helps to be all of the above! 

Remember that leaders are responsible for creating a sense of urgency in their organizations. It’s time to realize that as a manager or leader in your organization, you have the power to foster a strong sense of urgency in your team to help create real change. Your method for doing so is communication! If you are struggling with creating a purposeful sense of urgency to help move your team forward, reach out today to see how I can help support you to become a more effective communicator.