Why is it so difficult for people to use effective communication techniques? It seems to me that people must be studying how to be ineffective communicators! And within organizations, lack of communication is always in the top three of issues for the organization.

So what are the barriers to effective communication? Here is a list of seven factors that I find each week with clients or just plain old observation of different people situations… Continue reading ‘Seven Barriers to Effective Communication’ »

While having a discussion about the overall differences between the four generations in the workforce today, I realized I have not shared this information with the majority of my clients and the readers of Insights. So today I will share a brief description of the focus differences between the four generations.

So here are the dates of birth for the four generations and their key focus… Continue reading ‘Keys to Generational Differences’ »

One of the amazing things about effective communication is the amount of non-verbal signals we send  to others. In fact, there are a number of ways we send this message to others during conversations and interactions.

While the two biggest non-verbal mistakes are a lack of eye contact during our communication and not leaning forward. These are active listening body language techniques that anyone can easily use to immediately improve our effectiveness during communication. If you want to show your disinterest in another person, then use the opposite of these two actions.

There are seven additional ways that we must be aware of that indicate a total disinterest in the conversation or interaction with another person. These seven include: Continue reading ‘Sending Signals of Disinterest in Conversations?’ »

Continuing the theme of Effective Communication Month, I want to address the importance of communication as a key leadership trait.

In every leadership development process, leadership assessment, 360 feedback report and leadership position analysis – communication is shown as one of the most important traits necessary for effective leadership.

So what is so important about communication and leadership? Here are some of the factors that influence the importance of communication:

Continue reading ‘Great Leaders are Effective Communicators’ »

Yes, selling is all about effective communication. Just ask any sales person who has failed to say the right things or said the wrong things to a customer or prospect. Delivering the right message that the customer can understand is the goal of effective communication.

Sell to people the way they want to buy.

People want to buy solutions to their issues or problems, yet, few sales people take the time to learn how to recognize this key. They go into presentation style – using their style only – and then are amazed that the customer or prospect is not signing up. The reason again, people want to buy they do not want to be sold.

What does this mean to the effective sales person? Continue reading ‘Selling is All about Effective Communication’ »

Yes, June is the official month for Effective Communication. So why dedicate a whole month to effective communication? Based upon my experiences I can vote for a yearly promotion for effective communication.

“Effective communication is all about delivering the same message you send to the receiver. Now that seems as simple as simple can be, yet, it appears to be the hardest exercise around.”

Lack of effective communication destroys productivity and in most cases performance drops because of a lack of understanding regarding outcomes. Communication is an essential skill set for everyone, not just leaders. Therefore, everyone is impacted by poor or ineffective communication.

There are numerous things you can do to improve the effectiveness of your communication. One method is to take a proven workshop devoted to helping people improve their communication with others. This is our number one workshop because every group or team in a company can benefit from improved communication skills.

People skill is ALL ABOUT effective communication. Knowing your style, easily recognizing the style of others and flexing your messages so they understand – the first time – and effective communication is known as having great People Skills.

To learn more about improving your communication skills go to the website dedicated to Effective Communication for Results or the speaker site  – ECRguy – to learn more about doing something effective during the month of June. Two workshops are available during the month of June. And, a private session can be held for your team – from executives to sales to customer service to R&D to finance to everyone. Communication is the greatest skill a person can possess.

Yes, stop reading your presentations. Even if you have great material and lots of facts – stop reading the data and details for sure. You’re boring your listeners and audiences. I know how you feel about all the hard work, research and writing that went into your presentation.

The first time that I experienced this presentation principle was when I entered a speech contest sponsored by the American Institute of Banking or AIB. This was my first speech contest and I had little experience at that time on the principles of excellence speaking techniques.

I researched my topic, took extensive notes and wrote out my speech. (This was before personal computers – so it was written!) I practiced the presentation several times until I felt I had it down cold. Well, when it came my turn to present, I took my written speech with me to the front of the room. Confident that I had a great speech and more importantly great content.

Well, after I started I lost some of that confidence when I made a small mistake and then I started reading more than speaking. At the end of my presentation it was a pure, head down, reading every word off the paper in front of me. Now the audience was polite and clapped like they liked it – but I knew something was wrong.

The next and last presenter – was a real speaker – he spoke from the heart and with passion – and no written speech! I believe he had some notes or a brief outline that he used to stay on track. Well, he won the competition and I came in second. Today, I can admit that he was a better speaker that day. He won the speech contest and I won the reading contest! Oh, well. We learn from our adversities.

So here is what it means to you. Study your content and know your material cold. Prepare completely for the first five minutes of the presentation to gain confidence. Have a brief outline of the important points to be covered during your presentation. Then, get up, take a deep breath, stand tall and give your presentation from the heart with passion in your voice.

Do these well and everyone wins. Your listeners will believe in you and your message. And you will feel great – knowing that you gave your best and with high energy. You can do this.

As a communication tip, you need to lose the word “WHY” when asking questions of others. This rule of thumb is to be used if you prefer to have objective discussions like two adults.

When you use Why as the first word in the question, you are creating a potential emotional reaction. When a person is asked why they chose something or made a certain decision, they usually feel the need to defend their position. Then the discussion goes emotional and feeling take the center stage. I prefer to learn the reasons or circumstances that were involved in the decision. Then we can have a true dialogue, rather than a potential debate.

Learn to ask questions using other questioning words – what, how many, did you look at, etc. – that create a back and forth dialogue. Learn this technique and become a better person, friend or boss.

There is one exception to this rule: You can ask yourself questions using the WHY word. Since it is difficult to debate with yourself, learn the factors that influenced your decisions and choices. This is the only time it is okay to use the  WHY word in a question.

Listening a core skill. Do you listen to people? More importantly, do you really hear what they are saying?

My experience says that most people are not really listening to what is being said without some type of filter system. Yes, a filter system is what I said. There are four types of filter systems being used by individuals as part of their natural behavioral style.

The four filtering systems are: Continue reading ‘Are You Listening? It’s a Core Skill.’ »

Are you speaking the same language as the other person you are communicating with today? Really, this is a serious question. No, I’m not talking about English vs. other Foreign languages (however, this is a subject for a later blog post!).

I’m asking about using the same representational system language so others will understand you and get the real message you are sending. Okay, so what are representational systems? These are the ways your brain prefers to think. There are five different systems – which three are primary.

The three primary systems are visual, auditory and kinesthetic. The other two are smell and taste – which are not used as often – yet are in play in some professions such as taste for chefs. A chef will understand the variations of taste and can accurately express their thoughts regarding the taste of food.

To match the language of others you must study the visual, auditory and kinesthetic languages and practice using the words for each group. Practice is a key part of learning to speak the same language as others.

An example of this information is visual thinkers. Visual thinkers use words such as “I see the big picture.”; “the vision of the future is clearing up for me.”; “Let’s look into…”; “This issue is cloudy for me.” If you look into the words used you will see the visual language. Then when dealing with type of thinker you want to use visual words so they can see the message in their minds clearly.

Auditory thinkers use words like hear, sounds, clear as a bell, I like the tone of this, it’s music to my ears. As you read this you will hear the tones and rhythm of the message and it will music to the listeners ears. Use the same language and your message will ring true.

Kinesthetic thinkers are the doers and touchers of the world. They grab things, handle issues, get in touch with others, hang on to ideas, play the game, and hit the home run or carry the ball. These people are the ones that need to hold on to things in order to get it. Once they get a handle on the issues they can carry on.

Okay, there is the crash course on the three primary representational systems and the words that each will use. The key is to get the other person talking and then listen for word patterns. Then use the same pattern as you reply and you will be in rapport. Then you can discuss any topic with objective understanding. Learn to speak the same language and watch your effectiveness in communication increase.