Communicating Under Pressure: What Happens When a Witness Gives Evidence?

What happens to the way we communicate under pressure?

Appearing as a witness can be a stressful experience. It is an unfamiliar, high-pressure environment, where even experienced and confident people may find that they communicate differently from normal.

Stress doesn't only affect how we feel. It can influence our voice, pace, posture and theway we respond to questions sometimes without us even being aware of it.

Sally Cooke is an experienced communications expert and Assurety trainer, specialising in helping individuals communicate clearly and effectively in high-pressure situations. Her expertise in voice, body language and communication brings an important dimension to witness preparation, helping witnesses understand not just what pressure feels like, but how it can affect the way they communicate.

Here, Sally explores some of the ways pressure can show up in a witness's communication and the practical techniques that can help witnesses remain composed and communicate clearly when giving evidence.

Stress is often visible

Some level of stress when giving evidence is entirely understandable. The challenge is managing that stress so that it does not begin to interfere with how a witness communicates.

As Sally explains:

“You are inevitably going to have some level of stress, but the key is to do your best to ride out that stress and not to allow it to affect your voice or your body.When people are stressed they reveal a lot through non-verbal signals. The key is to strengthen the way you communicate so that a decision-maker is not distracted by such signals.”

For a witness, this matters because the way evidence is communicated can influence how it is received. Fidgeting, closed body language or changes in the voice may simply be signs of nerves, but they can become a distraction from what the witness is actually saying.

The aim is not to eliminate nerves altogether. It is to help witnesses recognise how pressure affects them personally and develop practical ways of remaining grounded.

Start with posture

One of the simplest techniques Sally uses with witnesses is helping them think about how they sit.

Rather than crossing the legs, hunching forward or adopting a closed posture, she encourages witnesses to sit comfortably and upright, with both feet firmly on the floor.

As Sally explains:

“Lots  of people sit with their legs crossed, but I encourage people to adopt a comfortable pose with feet on the ground. Sitting with your feet hip width apart is alien to most people, but it is an open, relaxed posture that helps you to feel grounded.”

Posture can also affect how a witness appears to those listening to their evidence.

“If you have got your shoulders back and are sitting upright it signals that you are attentive and engaged, and are willing to interact in the way that is called of you. Whereas if you are hunched over and have got your arms and legs crossed, or are fiddling or fidgeting, you can be seen as being defensive and unwilling to assist.”

The point isn't to manufacture a particular appearance. It is about creating a stable, comfortable physical position that can help the witness feel more settled and reduce some of the physical behaviours that can appear when pressure increases.

Create space through breathing

Breathing is another important tool.

When people are under pressure, breathing can become shallower and physical tension can build. Slowing the breath can help a witness settle themselves and, importantly, create a valuable moment of space before responding to a question.

Sally says:

“It can create space for you to consider your answers, it oxygenates the brain to give you clarity of thought and it gets rid of tension, which can affect your demeanour. Breathing deeply also gets rid of that butterfly feeling and helps you to have a resonant voice.”

For Sally, breathing is something witnesses can consciously return to when they feel pressure building.

“When you walk into the courtroom, you can touch your stomach to remind yourself that you need to breathe deeply.”

That pause can be particularly valuable during cross-examination, where a witness may instinctively feel they need to respond at the same pace as the person questioning them.

Think about your voice

Stress can also change the way we speak.

Some people become quieter when nervous. Others speed up or find that their voice changes. Sally also sees witnesses who start strongly but allow their voice to fade towards the end of an answer.

“Manypeople tail off towards the end of sentences, so it is important to carryenergy through to the end of every sentence, to sound assured.”

Breathingcan help here too.

“Breathing deeply also helps warm up your vocal cords and produces a richer, more resonant sound as opposed to the thin voice people sometimes speak with when nervous.”

Again, this isn't about creating a particular 'performance'. It is about helping the witness communicate naturally and clearly, without their physical response to stress getting in the way of what they are trying to say.

Don't let someone else set your pace

Pace becomes particularly important under cross-examination.

A witness can easily find themselves responding quicker as the questioning gathers momentum. Sally encourages witnesses to recognise this and maintain their own measured pace rather than automatically matching that of the barrister questioning them.

As she explains:

“A lot of barristers use the technique of speeding up and getting the pace going to the point where the witness is saying things they don't really mean to.”

A witness does not need to match that pace.

Taking time to listen to the question, process what is actually being asked and then answer accurately can help protect the clarity of their evidence.

This is an important part of preparing for the experience of cross-examination. Experiencing pressure beforehand can help witnesses recognise what happens to their own communication when the pace or intensity increases  and understand that they can take the time they need to give an accurate answer.

Finding control in an unfamiliar environment

Ultimately, these techniques are not about teaching a witness how to perform or present themselves in a particular way.

They are about helping someone understand how they personally respond to pressure and giving them practical tools to manage that response.

For many witnesses, simply understanding this can make a significant difference.Courtrooms and tribunals are unfamiliar environments, and cross-examination can leave people feeling that they have very little control over what happens next.

As Sally puts it:

“It is about enabling people to find some control within an environment where they don't think they have any at all. That is both empowering and comforting.”

That sense of control can make an unfamiliar experience feel considerably more manageable.

The objective is not to remove every sign of nerves. Nor is it to teach a witness how to 'look' credible. It is to help them manage the effects of pressure so that they can concentrate on what really matters: listening carefully, thinking clearly and communicating their evidence accurately.

Sally Cooke

Communications Expert

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