We all keep hearing about the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico and the negative effects on the environment that will be years before they are fully known. Less talked about are the tragic deaths of the workers on the oil rig.
Even less attention has been given to the organizational behavior that is being attributed to at least part of the tragedy. Continue reading ‘Organizational Silos are Deadly’ »
There is an over-abundance of toxic talk lately. Economy, joblessness, unemployment, underemployment… So, what is toxic talk? Toxic talk, whether expressed internally or externally, is conversations that are poisonous. Yes, conversations can act as poison.
In mid-evil times poison was placed on arrows that were then were poised and strung into bows to kill the enemy. This same effect is seen when our words and conversations with others are toxic. The same is true of our thoughts, also known as self-talk.
Words that are toxic, harsh, cruel, and negative can harm and even kill relationships and friendships, stifle productivity and creativity, and can even cause stress and illness if the words come often enough. Continue reading ‘Toxic Talk Killing Your People Skills?’ »
Sometimes the word “collaboration” brings up negative connotations. Many times the negative connotations come from opposing sides of the perceptions people have of the word itself. Some people will bristle at the word because they think it means to give in or compromise (passivity.) The reverse thinking gives rise to negative connotations when yet others perceive collaboration to mean “aggressively forcing people to agreement” (aggression.)
In actuality, neither perception is correct. True collaboration is neither passive nor aggressive. When done well and for the right reasons, collaboration is a skill necessary for effective communication in all realms, whether in a personal relationship, inside the C-Suite, or in the call center. Collaboration is the perfect balancing tool for effective leadership. Continue reading ‘Collaboration…What’s that?’ »
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 discussing the potential of certain employees with a HR manager, a question was raised by the HR Manager… What Are People Skills? At first, this sounded like a simplistic question yet the more we discussed it, the more complex it became.
So, let’s take a look at this key term – People Skills.
There appears to be certain factors that resonant with the term People Skills – other than People are involved. There appears to be six key elements when looking at people skills: Continue reading ‘What Are People Skills?’ »
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.
Last week I was asked what was the key factor in successful change. My knee jerk answer was leadership. Then we discussed the impact of leadership upon change. It is a factor that you must have in your organization is there is a need for significant change.
Strong and effective leaders known the status quo will not get them to the next level of performance or success. They also know that many people within their organization will continue to do the same things over and over without any change.
Therefore, effective leaders do things to get change done within their organizations. Here are five things effective leaders to make change work for their organizations. Continue reading ‘Leadership and Change go Hand in Hand’ »
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.’ »
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