Being a good listener is one of the most important communication skills you can develop. Here are 10 easy tips, which if practiced regularly, will make you a better communicator.
Be Free! ************************ Listening seems like a simple process and yet so many of us are more eager to talk than to listen. Someone once said we were given two ears and one mouth for a reason. What better gift could you give to your family, friends, peers and bosses than to listen to them so that they feel really heard? Here are some tips:
1. Stay present – Don’t let your mind wander. Many are composing a response before the speaker has Read More...
If you are a manager or supervisor, how are your communication skills? Poor communication with your employees is one of the key reasons people choose to leave their job. By following these communication tips from Glenn Ebersole, you can increase employee satisfaction and improve productivity.
Be Free! ************************** Recently I read about a study conducted in 2001, which included approximately 20,000 exit interviews. A major finding in the study was that poor communications skills of supervisors were a leading factor in poor supervisory behavior, which caused people to leave Read More...
Have you ever received an email message that you thought could have been communicated in a better way? I bet if you were one of the 400 Radio Shack employees who were laid off last fall via an email message, you have this thought. (In defense of the situation, executives at Radio Shack said “they (the employees) were warned that firings would be made via email. . . ). Does that justify it? I don’t think so.
This situation got me thinking about all the times that sending email is appropriate and more importantly, when it is NOT appropriate. Here are just a few situations at work I thought about:
If your boss has been away and you need to Read More...
Do you find yourself writing a lot but getting little results?
To write effective business communication, there are 2 things that should be an overriding theme: 1) grab the reader’s attention and 2) layout your document, so visually, your reader wants to continue reading.
Grabbing the Reader’s Attention
To connect with the reader, do not open with something that is stuffy, formal or includes, “Please find the blah, blah, blah.” Talk to the reader. Write to them the way that you would talk.
Ask a question. Open with a quote or a joke or a reminder of a recent time together – something that connects you to them. What you are aiming for is the reader Read More...
How often do you find yourself saying things you don’t mean just to be polite? How many meetings have you been in where you know the real issues were not being discussed? What difficult but essential conversation have you been avoiding?
As business becomes more complex, people have more distractions and less time to thoroughly read documents. Therefore, the ability to communicate effectively in writing, especially email and on the web, becomes more critical than ever.
Write with a clear purpose in mind, and state that purpose at the very beginning of your written communication. Readers should know at a glance what your email, report, or letter is about, why you are sending it, and what action you want them to take.
Here are 10 tips to help you write more effectively:
Keep it simple.
You may think complex sentences make you sound impressive, but they can prevent your Read More...
Whenever you write a document, it is always good to let sit for a little while before you push the send or print button.
For a rule of thumb is, the longer you can wait between finishing writing and the editing, the better. It gives your mind time to digest and rest so when you come back to edit, you are looking at the document with fresh eyes.
Here are five easy to follow steps to help you in the editing process:
Read the document through from top to bottom and just get an overall big picture. If it is fairly clear what the message you are trying to convey is? Does this concept pop out? A good check is to take another person read the document and as them to tell you in Read More...
We’ve all heard it before, “Seek first to understand, then be understood”. A powerful lesson from Stephen Covey in “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” that holds true. I recently got reminded of this idea on a river.
My wife Peggy and I were in Wisconsin for a family vacation recently and decided to go on a 3 hour canoe trip with her sister and brother-in-law. Each couple had a small, rickety, rented canoe and hopped into our canoes. The weather was perfect and we were having a great time.
About an hour into our trip Peggy asked a simple request, “Can you tell me when you switch sides with your paddle?” Now, this IS a simple request. I was in the back of the canoe, and she couldn’t see me, Read More...
Filed under: Communication — Freedom Personal Development @ 6:00 am
Mind Mapping it is a great exercise for starting the writing process or getting past writer’s block. Mind mapping is also known as Clustering or Chunking information.
The reason this method works so well is that it ties into the way your memory works most effectively, by grouping information.
By following these steps, you will make the writing process more manageable and you will become more efficient.
How Mind Mapping Works
1. Take a blank piece of paper, and in the middle, write down a word that describes the general subject you planned to write about.
2. For 30-60 seconds max, write down everything that comes to mind or is connected to your keyword. Write it as Read More...
Being a good listener is one of the most important communication skills you can develop. Here are 10 easy tips, which if practiced regularly, will make you a better communicator.
As business becomes more complex, people have more distractions and less time to thoroughly read documents. Therefore, the ability to communicate effectively in writing, especially email and on the web, becomes more critical than ever.
