Acting Technique at Work - Ken Okel - Professional Speaker in FloridaA simple acting technique can help your career. It’s about mentally putting yourself into other people’s shoes and preparing for various scenarios before they happen.

In this episode of our weekly productivity series, you’ll learn this great tip. You’ll become better at customer service, negotiation, and communication.

What Productivity Questions Does This Video Answer?

  • Can an acting technique help your career?
  • How can I improve customer service?
  • How can I make a better request to my boss?
  • What can I do to be more productive at work?

Video Transcript: Can an Acting Technique Help Your Career?

Can a common acting technique make you a better communicator? The best actors make their craft look effortless and usually it’s because he or she has done a lot of homework.

Often actors will think about their characters even during those times when their character isn’t even in the same. They’ll think about, what did the character eat for breakfast? What were they doing just before the scene started? Where they running through the hall? Where the eating a power bar? Were they perhaps getting some bad news? All of these things shake his or her performance.

You can do the same thing. For instance, let’s take your customer service crew. How are they reacting to the people who are calling them or emailing them? Because maybe it would be valuable to think about what was happening to that person right before they reached out to you.

Let’s say you run an air conditioning company. I think we can guess that someone is probably hot and uncomfortable if they’re calling you in July. As a result, they might be a little grumpy on the phone. But maybe there are things you could do to warm them up.

Let’s say you need to make a request of someone. Do a little role-play. Think ahead about any objections they might have. Maybe they’ve become fixated on money, so you then are able to counter with the benefits. It’s kind of a verbal kung fu that you’re preparing yourself for.

Another thing, maybe you’re talking to someone, you’re planning on 10 minutes but it turns out you’ve only got one minute to make your pitch.

So ahead of time, you kind of run through that pitch and think about, how could I say the most important stuff in less time?

This preparation can really make you a much more effective and focused communicator. You’re thinking about your audience even if it’s an audience of one person. Bravo!

About This Video Series

Ken Okel’s ongoing Employee Productivity video series will make you more effective on the job. Every week, you’ll learn a new, easy to understand, problem solving tip that you can use right away, like a problem solving tip for leaders.

Tired of a productivity problem, like why the details matter at work? Let us know and we’ll feature it in an upcoming episode.

About Ken Okel

As a motivational speaker, Ken Okel works with leaders and organizations to boost productivity, performance, and profits. At conferences, conventions, and company meetings, he engages audiences with new ways to maximize their time at work. To see a sample of his keynote and workshop presentations, visit his video page.