Archive for Communication
Corrections
Posted by: | CommentsThe dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. – Vincent Lombardi
You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do. – Henry Ford
As a leader in your team be careful what you send out. Negatives can bring the whole team down, squish energy 
and a bunch of other stuff.
Sending global angry emails to your group is never ever productive. Pick up the phone in those circumstances. Email can build hard feelings and mistrust if you use it poorly.
Group correctional emails are also not usually productive. You need to use them sparingly (like almost never). Have a meeting with a few of your people that are messing up whatever it is, but don’t penalize the whole group for a few people.
If you need to send a directional email that is fine, like a reminder that everyone needs to be on time or park in designated parking or whatever. Make it positive and even toned. Give the offenders a reminder while reminding everyone, they will know who they are.
What if my boss sends me negative emails?
I would recommend NOT forwarding them to your whole team unless it really applies to them. Even then try to have a group meeting, print the email and go over it as a group. Why? As a group you can brainstorm ways to make it happen. Then you are creating an opportunity for positive growth.
Getting nasty emails about sales being down? Do you think forwarding your emails to your team will motivate them to do better? It won’t. You are the manager. You take the heat. Don’t use the “my boss is on my case for us to improve”. Does that make you look like an effective leader? No.
How about having a meeting, ask the group how they are doing then move the meeting forward. Say something like, “Team, we have some real challenges with sales right now. Let’s come up with some ideas to improve.” Guess what? You got the negative email, you don’t need to share it… And guess what, you turned it into a positive!
If you have a developed team working for you and need to come up with some new ideas for something it works best to send them a head’s up a couple days ahead so they will come up with ideas and it won’t be a surprise topic at the meeting. Try this…
“Team, as you know we are facing some challenges right now with sales. I am looking for some fresh ideas we could use to improve. We are going to have a meeting on Wednesday at 2:00. Please come prepared with your ideas.”
Sounds easy doesn’t it? It is. Maybe if your company allows you can also say the winning idea gets lunch with you. Or maybe make the meeting a pizza party so you are sure you will have great participation.
Global Communication
And if that weren’t enough for you to master, consider how global changes are affecting communication in business. Now you’re not just dealing with your business in Ohio, but you might also have technical support sites in India, parts suppliers in China, and manufacturing plants in Mexico.
It’s bad enough when a mis-communication between you and your team means they have to re-work a project, causing another day of work. Now consider a mis-communication between your Mexican manufacturing plant and your Chinese supplier who ships 100,000 of the wrong parts.
Poor communication in business is costly!
The Personal Cost of Poor Communication
Besides costing money within the company, poor communication in business can cost you the job you’re seeking.
Because communication is going to be a part of your job, whether small or large, companies look at your communication skills – written and verbal – during the hiring process.
The National Commission on Writing estimates that American businesses spend $3.1 billion dollars annually just training their employees to write.
Let’s say it again – poor communication in business is costly!
If your business communication skills are higher than those around you, you’re in a better position to get the job, get the promotion, be more productive, and save the company money.
Taking steps to improve your business communication, both written and verbal, will bring you benefits now and throughout the rest of your career and life!
Communication in Business
Posted by: | CommentsCommunication in business is critical to success in business; but not just any business communication, you need effective business communication. How you communicate in business is just as effective as what you say.
Communication among friends and family used to be limited to verbal face-to-face, written letters, phone calls, and the subtle (or not so subtle) non-verbal signals and body language. Add to that now text messaging and email. It’s a little more complex, but still not unmanageable.
Communication Complexity
Communication in business, however, incorporates so many more aspects, creating a complex skill to master. Businesses communicate through print media, television, radio, billboards and signs, advertisements, internet, email, and even word of mouth.
The reasons behind business communications are numerous, too: marketing, branding, public relations, corporate communication, employee engagement, customer relations, and more.
Communication in business is used to advertise services, woo clients, smooth ruffled feathers in customer service, explain team directives, present annual reports, deliver personnel reviews, set attainable goals, and even more.
Communication and Your Team
There are many important aspects of using emails and communication to help your team. Let’s say you have a couple hundred employees, or even a handful, one of your people sends an important instructional email that was a great snapshot of an important change.
What do you do? Just read it and keep going? How about sending them a “Thank You, Jim!” “That’s a great help!” or forwarding it to the team and supporting “Jim” and putting a note from you saying “Team, these are some great points” and mention one of the points.
What does that do? It starts of empower your team and makes them feel valued. It also validates what they are doing to others that may help ensure your team follows the tips. It ensures everyone is looking at the emails. They may not read emails from others but they most definitely read yours, having your name on something puts an extra weight behind it.
Just forwarding an email doesn’t have the same effect. I’ve tried it and so had a lot of other people.
In fact, years ago when I was a middle manager running the Administrative end of a $40 million a year business I used to send out updates to changes in policy or whatever. I made it short, with bullet points so the staff didn’t have to try to read a long memo and figure out what it means to them (which was what I did).
Well……. My boss sometimes would forward the emails I sent out to my peers. That was okay, but guess what? I didn’t feel appreciated and no one paid much attention. So a few years later when I was an executive level manager and I had Admin staff doing the things I used to do, I supported them. When they would send an update I would use my “muscle” to help them get “buyin” and say,
“Team, this is important. Steve makes some great points. Any questions on this please see Steve or myself. Make sure to imform your teams. Thank you Steve for taking the time to send this out.”
Thank people for sending out communication in business. Make a big deal of it with your whole staff and they will all start communicating more effectively. They will all start to look for ways they can get “a pat on the head”, some recognition, or as I used to call it, a “Skoobey Snack”.
Soon my whole staff was doing extra things and working together. Was that the only thing I did to get that to work? No, of course not.
Some other stuff
Be consistent with your praise. If you give one person recognition and miss another that person WILL feel slighted. You are also once again limiting the synergy and momentum that can build in your team.
Think of it this way….
If you have a team you are trying to build up you need to make big deals of every positive change.
Imagine a baby taking it’s first steps, as a parent or relative your face lights up and you make a big deal don’t you? What does that do? Encourages the baby to try again, they smile with glee when you make a big deal out of their accomplishment.
What happens after awhile? The little steps become bigger and longer steps and soon it’s automatic and you are on to something else to get excited about in the babies development. The same kind of encouragement works with teams. Don’t believe me? Try it. I have run many successful teams in several different industries, I promise it works! IF you are consistent!
Effective Communication
Posted by: | CommentsPoor workplace communication from employees to customers results in hard feelings, frustration between each other, 
and even losing customers if they have another place they can go to get the items or service you offer.
You’ve experienced this if you’ve called for technical support to nearly any major company in the past few years. With so much outsourcing to other countries, it can be a huge struggle for both parties to understand each others’ accents. In this case, the poor communication is due to language barriers, but that doesn’t negate the consequences.
On the other hand, effective workplace communication from employees to customers makes happy customers. And happy customers are repeat customers.
Effective communication within the business is crucial as well. Perhaps you’ve had a boss who was too vague in describing exactly what he wanted you to do on your latest project. You think you heard “do XYZ” and later he says, “No, I told you to do ABC.” Time is wasted, you’re both angry and frustrated with each other, and it may even put your job on the line.
Based on your perceptions and your view of the job, you might actually have heard “do XYZ”. Likewise for your boss, who has another scenario in his head that fits with you doing “ABC.” But without the communication to explain thoroughly what expectations are, disaster isn’t far away.
Your experience with your emotions and understanding your control is an important element. There are assessments to find out and some great books to help. Understanding your role with emotions and how they play into other lives can help you have a better impact on your career and personal life. It makes for better communication skills in the work place and others.
Business Communication
Business communication in its simplest definition is just what it says: communication in business. But because people are so different and the business workplace is often so hectic and bustling, effective workplace communication can be difficult to achieve, let alone master.
Consider, too, that workplace communication is no longer only through meetings, phone calls, or memos posted around the water cooler.
When email became the main course of communication in the workplace, misunderstandings and hurt feelings arose. Why? Because missing in email (and other written communication, too) is the tone of the writer, the non-verbal cues, the body language. People tend to read into an email based on their current state of emotions and their relationship with that person.
A message as simple as “Good one” can be misunderstood. Is it a compliment or a sarcastic retort? But, “Good one. The client was really pleased!” makes the message clear and it takes only a few seconds more to clarify.
There is so much emphasis on communication in every aspect of our daily life it’s really important to understand the impact. A mumbled “thank you” with no eye contact has no meaning. An enthusiastic “Thank You!” with eye contact and a nod, wink or smile can move mountains.
When you get an email that makes you feel hurt or angry, before you type a long outcry take a moment and talk to the person when you aren’t feeling so hurt or angry. Maybe wait an hour or maybe a few hours. Many times people type a long response to something that they perceive is a wrong without thinking it through. Emotional outbursts even in email form don’t really have a place in the work place.
There are many employees out there working everyday to do well in their jobs and make a difference, they diligently send out department or company emails with instructions or information, often they feel they are sending the information to a void. Take the 5 seconds and send them a “thank you, I really appreciate you getting this out to everyone” and follow up with your subordinates if you have any. You have no idea how affirming it is to them, to be acknowledged and feel appreciated, and what did it take from you?
Any communication sent your way is usually a time saver for you. Decide how to best use it. Don’t assume your people read their emails. Typically as people move up their reading comprehension becomes more important, it’s important to develop those skills in your people and yourself.
Effective workplace communication
One of the biggest stresses for employees is often they feel “out of the loop” or like they aren’t told anything. This is a morale killer among a lot of other things. It is critical for you to develop a way to get information to your people. Or maybe you can do it for your supervisor. There is no perfect method, find something easy to maintain and understand.
Communication Skill Builders
Your communication skills, like your leadership management skills, can always benefit from a refresher course, from a session of communication skill builders, or from other communication exercises.
Aside from taking communication building courses, you’ll find a slew of communications management magazines, websites, seminars and courses online.
It’s also maybe a good idea to understand some of the reasons there are problems with communication. The book “The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book”, by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, gives a great insight to some common errors and misunderstandings. The book also comes with a free online assessment, that is if you buy it new and no one has used the code yet. It is a great tool to get started.
And for the serious communication buffs, a degree in organizational communication might be in order. This would open up career doors in areas such as management, human resources, training, consulting, and more.
Communication
Posted by: | CommentsCommunication is so critical to business………
So critical in fact that bad communication can cost jobs, profits, customers and cause the demise of a company.
Bad communication hurts productivity because it causes misunderstandings and lack of trust. When employees don’t trust who they are working with no one wins.
Communication in our personal lives is just as important. Lack of communication and trust is miserable in a family setting and can cause us to have health issues, problems sleeping, and a wide range of other issues.
Good communication basically leads to a more productive and healthier life. The importance can not be stressed enough.
