October 22nd, 2009 by Antony
It is always there, saying something, either guiding you or misguiding you, either motivating you or putting you down.
It’s your inner voice.
If you’ve seen cartoons before, you’ve most probably noticed how, very often, a character is faced with a ’serious’ moral decision. Should he pull the prank – or not?
Then, out of thin air, an angel and a devil appear by his two ears. Obviously, one will tell him to go ahead and do it while the other will exhort him to refrain.
This illustration can almost be likened to the two types of inner voices that you very, very, very often get. Even as you read this article.
They either help you or they don’t. They either make you feel positive or make you feel negative. They’re either constructive or destructive. They either bring about the best results or bring out the mediocre to worst results.
The trick is to first decide whether or not to listen to it at all. Some of your inner voices are utter gibberish. Ignore them. But sometimes they can lead you to a creative breakthrough. But that’s for another time, another place, another article.
Then, if you decide to listen to it, determine if it is positive, constructive, useful, and will lead to effective results or if it is negative, destructive, useless, and will lead to ineffective or sub-effective results. How?
Here’s how.
First, realise that the thing people commonly call your inner voice, or more precisely, your inner “perceptions” (those things in your consciousness that are not from your five physical senses) can come in many forms – voices, visual images, bodily feelings, emotions, memories, etc. It’s a whole myriad of stuff.
Appropriately categorise it. Ask yourself if it is an auditory perception (that which you hear), a visual stimuli (you see) or a kinesthetic signal (that which you feel with your body). Or is it an emotion or just an intangible concept or thought?
Ask your deeper mind why it gives you this signal. What is its purpose for giving you this message? Is it trying to tell you something?
Then ask if this “voice” comes from that popular concept of your “Highest Self”, that deep, innermost idea of your best self, who is perfect, of supreme integrity, of utmost wisdom and is guided by the highest good, in accordance with the Divine plan.
Okay, so that sounded a tad New Age-y.
Anyway, just ask yourself, “Is this right? Does it feel right at all?” Listen to yourself. Do you feel comfortable with this voice?
“If I listen to this voice, and I do what it tells me to do, what will I get? What results can I expect?”
“If I don’t listen to this voice, and I don’t do what it tells me to do, what will I get? What are the implications of it?”
“Does the core message that my inner voice is giving me match the way it is delivered?”
Sometimes, an inner voice may seem or feel negative to you, but it is in fact constructive. Hey, not all good ideas are fluffy, positive, pink (or purple) and happy!
What I mean by positive and negative inner voices refer to the outcomes that will result from your listening to and implementing the inner voices that you get.
One important question to ask is, “How do I know whether this inner voice I am hearing right now is constructive, neutral or detrimental?”
Here are some more -
“What are the clues or signs or proofs that this inner voice that I am getting now is constructive?”
“How can I decrease the quantity and quality of my negative and destructive inner voices every day?”
“Why must I decrease the quantity and quality of my negative and destructive inner voices every day?”
“What if I have drastically minimised the quantity and quality of my negative and destructive inner voices already?”
The set of questions I’ve just given you in this article serve a few purposes -
1. They help you to decide whether or not to listen to an “incoming” inner voice message at all. This saves a tremendous amount of time and brain power. Unless, of course, you enjoy entertaining EVERY thought that comes into your mind.
2. They help you classify an inner voice into its appropriate categories – auditory, visual, kinesthetic, emotional or abstract idea.
3. They help you decide if it is constructive or destructive. If it is the latter, you can ignore it.
4. Importantly, they help you reduce the amount of negative and destructive inner voices that you get every day.
Consistently ask yourself these questions every day for a couple of days or weeks and you will see a marked improvement in the quality of your daily thinking and questioning.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Amazing! FREE e-Book Reveals How You Can Wipe Out All Your Limits & Achieve Your Inherent Unlimited Potential For Wealth, Success & Happiness In Only 30 to 60 Seconds From Now! Only @ Ultimate Secrets of Success
Read the rest »
October 20th, 2009 by Antony
“Everything should be made as simple as possible. But no simpler”
That is one quote that has been attributed to Albert Einstein. From a mind so brilliant? So complex? So groundbreaking?
No.
In fact, Albert Einstein was not that brilliant, not that complex a character, and his groundbreaking-ness (for want of a better word) is due to his (or his PR people’s) marketing skills.
How many of us have read somewhere that he claimed to be terrible in algebra? How many of us have heard somewhere that he was one heck of a peculiar character indeed?
But my article today is not about Albert Einstein. That was just the appetizer. This essay is about simplicity. One concept which Einstein stood for, and perhaps, because of which, he became what he is today in History.
He was simple, but profound. His ideas were simple common sense, yet their implications are far-reaching.
A fine line has to be drawn between simple and simplistic. One conceals depth while the other reveals emptiness.
Being excessively complex is as a twin sister to being simplistic – the former only weaves a web of complexity and profound ostentatiousness to conceal a fundamental shallowness.
Enough with abstract concepts. The last paragraph itself has been a jumble of complex words. Let me get straight to the point – This is not just going to be about simplicity, but how you can simplify your life.
Now why would you want that?
Simply because we live in a time and place (Planet Earth) that just demands of our utmost productivity, efficiency, creativity, time and energy in order for us to survive.
This demand upon us simply cannot be ignored. Ignore it, and you’ll be left out in the race for more cheese
Hence, we have only one option – to face it. To face this demand head on, and be prepared for it. How? By simplifying our lives.
If there are 100 of you reading this, and I ask how many people have a definite plan for their lives, and live it in an organised manner, I’d say about 20 or so of you would put your hands up.
Let us use the concept of “Divide & Conquer”. No, it’s not a new Real-Time Strategy Game where you get to play a Superpower nuking countries harboring WMDs.
It is rather a very good strategy that you can apply in your life.
An average human being, in his lifetime, has 5 to 7 identities going on. Not split personalities, but identities. For example, I am a Student, a Son, a Father, a Businessman, a Teacher, an Author and a Servant.
Those are 7 of my most important roles and responsibilities I have in my life, right now, personified as these 7 identities.
Do the same for yourself. Define your 5 to 7 identities. If you find more than 7 identities, then you’d have to cut down on some of them. The ideal is 5. 7 is okay.
List your identities and prioritise them. Give the No. 1 position to the most important identity of yours, which holds the greatest significance in your life. This is somewhere near who you truly are as a person, when and if all the other identities of yours have somehow been removed from you.
Now draft out a rough timetable or schedule of activities which you occupy yourself with for 1 week. If you have some activities which you do only fortnightly, then do it for 2 weeks, or 1 month.
What do you do on Mondays, Tuesdays and all the way to Sundays? Divide each day into 24 1-hour segments. Or 48 1/2-hour segments. Fill each segment with an activity that you’d usually do.
Go back to your list of 5 to 7 identities, now prioritised from the most important to the least important. Next to each identity you’ve listed, write the percentage (estimate) of a day that you become this particular identity. If there is an overlapping of identities, then the total percentage would add up to more than 100% and that is perfectly normal.
Does your most important identity enjoy the highest percentage of time devoted to it? If not, if another identity lower on the priority list has the highest percentage, then perhaps that should be your most important one, or you should start devoting more time to your most important identity.
But sometimes, your most important identity need not have the most number of hours. Now write the ideal percentage of time in a day that you should spend as each of your unique identities, if you were to re-prioritise, re-organise and simplify your life.
Now check if the percentage of a day that you should become a certain identity correlates with the number of hours you spend on an activity or activities as this particular identity, which you’ve recorded in your timetable.
If it does correlate, good. If not, why? Write down some reasons / problems that may have caused you to not spend the correct amount of time as the respective identity which you’ve defined previously.
Then ask yourself some questions; actually write them down, concerning how you can optimise your hours per day as the appropriate identity you’ve identified.
Like:
How important is this identity of mine to me? Do I really need to spend the most amount of time as this identity (quantity) or do I just need to spend a certain allocated amount of time as him (quality)?
Which of my identities overlap? What can I do to optimise the amount of time given for each of my identities?
How can I further reduce the number of identities that I have? How can one identity of mine actually be an offshoot of another?
That’s it! Identify 5 to 7 identities you become in your life, give the appropriate amount of time to spend as each one of them (while allowing for some overlaps), and then go and spend the allocated amount of time as each identity!
Every hour or so during the day, ask yourself: what identity, what role am I playing right now? Should I be playing this role right now? Is this the right time? Am I spending the right amount of time as this identity?
This kind of awareness gives you the knowledge and control you need to organise your life by living it according to your priorities.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Amazing! FREE e-Book Reveals How You Can Wipe Out All Your Limits & Achieve Your Inherent Unlimited Potential For Wealth, Success & Happiness In Only 30 to 60 Seconds From Now! Only @ Ultimate Secrets of Success
Read the rest »
October 20th, 2009 by Antony
We admire those who know how to talk to people, or have the innate ability to easily engage in a conversation even in an unfamiliar gathering. Others believe that some are born with the natural ability to talk to people or they have what they call the gift of the gab. However, the ability to talk or convey ideas whether in a small group or up on stage before a large audience is not an innate ability but an acquired skill. It can be learned, enhanced, and perfected. All you need are the right information and the determination to do it.
Were you disappointed before because you were not born with the gift? Then worry no more and start to learn the skill. To begin with, here are some helpful tips on how to talk to people.
1. Be presentable. You do not need to get the best couturier in town to have you packaged. All you have to do is to be dressed appropriately. It is one way of building your self-confidence and it will help you to act confidently.
2. Keep a pocket full of information. Be up to date with the current events, and keep a mental list of good topics of discussion. These are handy tools to keep you ready to talk to almost anybody.
3. Get yourself centered and focused. This is a basic if we want to establish connection with the person or people we are talking to. Develop the ability to shake off recent events that somehow ruined your day. Take a few minutes if you need to before engaging in any conversation.
4. Be respectful. Respect the feelings, emotions and opinions of others. Everyone has the right to their opinion and it is healthy to agree that we disagree. Let every one have their moment to be heard and sincerely listen to them. That way it would give them a sense of importance.
5. Maintain eye contact. It is one way of showing interest in the person we are talking to. Women, they say, maintain eye contact more than men but men could acquire the skill through practice. Movements or stray thoughts tend to sidetract a person. Be aware of them and learn to ignore them.
6. Listen. Listening is a serious business. It is easy to talk and talk but we defeat the purpose and lose the chance of establishing rapport. There are
situations that are more important where active listening is imperative. You will not miss the cue for your turn if you listen attentively.
7. Establish rapport. It is not an easy thing but sincerity is the key that unlocks the door in establishing rapport. Synchronizing behavior or mimicking the pose, facial expression, gestures, body language, and tone of voice of the other person are ways of building rapport.
8. Adopt a positive attitude. Make sure your words, tone and gestures are all saying the same thing. Find out what you have in common, or if you seem to have nothing in common, adjust. Try to become the other person for a short time.
9. Always ask an open ended question. This will help the continuous flow of conversation and will help you and the group to keep the encounter alive and flowing with information.
Discovering how to connect with others and employing these strategies will make one successful in talking to people. Talk means to express, exchange ideas by means of spoken words or to convey information or communicate in any way. Take these simple steps and you are sure to make the act of talking to people fascinating and memorable for all. One day someone may come up to you and ask where you learned how to talk to people.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 18th, 2009 by Antony
Knowing how to communicate is an essential life skill. Take your career as a case in point.If you are being interviewed for a job and there is another candidate who is more or less your equal when it comes to skills and knowledge, one of the factors that will surely give you an edge is how you handled yourself during the interview. Sometimes, even if you are not 100% qualified, once the interviewer is satisfied with the way that you answered the questions, you will most likely be accepted for the job.
However, not everyone is blessed with good communication skills. Some people just naturally get their point across more effectively than others. This is the reason why you need to take steps and exert some extra effort in learning how to communicate effectively, so that you would know how to handle yourself in a personal and professional environment. Take a look at the following tips on how to communicate effectively:
1. Do not just hear, learn how to ‘listen’.
Communication is a two-way street. If a person says something to you, you are expected to give a response in kind. It may sound elementary, but often times, people forget how to listen – instead, they just choose to ‘hear’ the message instead of delving deep into what is actually being said. If the meaning of the message is distorted due to a misunderstanding on your part, it will result to miscommunication. The rule of thumb is, listen first to what is being said, then formulate your response from there.
If you merely hear the words being uttered while you are actually thinking about what you are going to say next, then you are not being a participant to an effective two-way communication process. Finally, once you realize that you are actually ‘getting’ what the other person is saying, a corresponding response will automatically come out of your mouth.
2. Be observant while you are being observed in turn.
If, for example, you are in a situation where you need to speak in front of a few friends or before large audience and you find that you are suddenly the center of attention – and people are eagerly awaiting your response – do not panic! Understand that public speaking is one of the most common fears of a lot of people, so you are not alone in this dilemma.
Fear cannot be conquered if you do not ‘force’ yourself to face it, and the sooner you start, the better. Take a deep breath and start looking at the people around you. Are they straining to hear your voice? If they are, increase the volume of your voice a little. Do they appear restless or uninterested? Try varying your pitch, inject humor into what you are saying to get their attention back, or ask questions to get them more involved. You, in turn should learn how to gauge their reaction. With an attentive audience and an observant speaker, the communication between both ends should flow easier.
3. Choose your words carefully to clearly get your message across.
The purpose of communication is simply this: to send a message and make sure that it is clear and understood by the receiver. Whether you are engaged in a one-on-one conversation or if you are speaking before a group of people, you need to choose your words carefully so that your message will be understood. If you find a certain point particularly difficult to describe, use a common scenario by which you can
compare the idea that you are trying to impart. If questions arise during the course of the discussion, answer them straightforwardly.
By following these tips on how to communicate effectively, you will certainly overcome any fear of speaking that you might harbor deep inside. Also, your goals – whether it is simply a matter of expressing an opinion, asking someone to do something, or persuading an audience into your line of thinking – they will be realized once you learn how to succinctly get your message across.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 17th, 2009 by Antony
Do you know how to improve your people skills? Improving your people skills entails knowing to create a good connection with people. And there are certain things you have to remember if you want to connect well with the people around you.
1) Connecting with people does not mean you have to be a phony. It is the direct opposite of pretending to be someone you are not.
2) Connecting with people means you should be aware of who you are first and what you hold dear to yourself. This means being aware of what values you espouse and stand for.
3) You must then be able to form a relationship between your personal set of values with the values that other people hold dear to themselves. This then is the act of connecting with people.
How does one go about connecting with people?
1) You connect with other people by taking advantage of your potential for communicating with other people. This means using your body and your faculties during the communication process.
2) Make eye contact with the other person. This may be one of the most valuable non-verbal means of communication you can use. One glance from another person can speak volumes about that person’s feelings and attitude about you. How many times have fights broken out in bars and restaurants simply because one person looked at the other person “the wrong way”? Much of what we want to communicate can be delivered through the eyes.
3) Be conscious of the different channels for communication that you and other people use. Many misunderstandings crop up when someone uses a communication channel that the other person is unfamiliar with. For example, some people like to talk a lot so they don’t understand people who aren’t so vocal. Others are “touchers” who like to convey part of what they are feeling to the other person through touch – perhaps a pat on the shoulder, or a friendly swat on the behind are all it takes for this person to show approval.
4) Be conscious of gaps between cultures. In this age of multiculturalism, where different cultures can co-exist in the same community, it is inevitable that communication can breakdown occasionally (and sometimes more often than is comfortable.) It helps if you are tolerant towards other cultures because then you do not instantly become hostile at the mere presence of a person from another culture.
If you are aware of what you stand for and know you will not be immediately convinced to follow another cultural perspective, then there is no need to bristle when a new person from another culture makes his presence known. On the contrary, you will welcome cultural exchanges for their potential value to you.
5) Be aware of your potential for change. Sometimes, it is necessary to interact with other people because you have a need to change something about yourself. Fanatics have a hard time changing because they believe their beliefs are superior to other beliefs.
If you look inside yourself and find that there are aspects of your beliefs, thoughts, or personality that could be adjusted, then this can only help to improve your relationships with other people. If another person is able to point out that need to change, it is beneficial if you are open to changing. Otherwise, hostilities will result but you will remain the same person who needs to change.
People skills can be improved if you only know how to go about it. And improving your people skills will benefit you in a myriad of ways. So do take the appropriate steps to enhance your people skills and see the difference these make in your relationships with other people.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 16th, 2009 by Antony
Unless you are a hermit living on a desert island or high on a mountain, you will most likely have to learn how communication in relationships works. You will have relationships with your family members, your neighbors, people in school, colleagues at work – even vendors in
the market place. To improve communication in relationships, it is necessary to:
1) Be open to the prospect of improving communication in relationships.
2) Be aware that it is necessary for more than one party to change so that communication can be opened and enhanced.
3) Be open to changing your attitudes and way of speaking or writing, if necessary.
4) Be open to adjusting to the other party’s point of view, when that other person is proven to be correct.
There are people who find it hard to do all these. Such people may need the help of a counselor or psychologist to uncover and thresh out any possible problems hindering them from accepting these steps for change.
Improving communication in relationships may necessitate:
1) Fostering an environment in which all parties may feel encouraged to express their opinions without fear of being attacked, criticized, or made fun of.
2) Acknowledging that other people have a right to have feelings and opinions, just as you do.
3) Acknowledging that you may have problems with communicating in relationships, and that the problems exist not just with the other person.
4) Holding back from blaming the other party for all problems that crop up when communicating.
5) Acknowledge that you only have control over
changing yourself, not the other person.
6) Going slow at relaying emotionally-sensitive
information.
7) Opting to write down any perceived problems before sitting down with all other parties to discuss these problems.
Miscommunication is a pretty common result of a breakdown in communication in relationships. When does miscommunication become prevalent?
1) When one or both parties believe that their point of view is the only correct one.
2) When the individual belief systems of all parties concerned tend to clash because of inherent differences.
3) When one party prefers to keep his thoughts to himself, leaving the other party jumping to conclusions.
4) When one or both parties rush into message delivery without thinking that the message imparted may hurt the receiver of their message.
5) When one or both parties opt to use negatively-worded statements when addressing the other person.
So how does one improve communication in relationships? Communication can improve if one takes the following advice to heart:
1) Learn to see things from the point of view of another person.
2) Use words which have a more positive slant to them so that the other person will not react negatively.
3) When possible, try to encourage and motivate the other party to improve – particularly if the other party is a subordinate.
4) Do not react in the heat of anger.
5) Think carefully about what words to use before you speak them.
Communication with another person can be affected by our powers of persuasion. How does one manage to persuade another person to accept his point of view? Here are some ways:
1) Restructure your message according to the point of view of the other person.
2) Maintain a friendly environment in which you and the other person will communicate.
3) Supply proof to back up your own statements.
4) Think if you are in a position to supply what the other person wants. If you are, then perhaps you should attempt to meet such desires, needs or expectations. Certainly a person whose wants have been satisfied will be in a more accommodating state of mind, meaning most likely he will try to acknowledge in return what you need.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 16th, 2009 by Antony
Communication that is interpersonal is the process of sending and receiving messages between two or more people. Examples of interpersonal communication are:
1) a conversation between two people
2) small group communication
3) a speech made to a wide audience.
All these can be considered forms of interpersonal communication. All forms of interpersonal communication rely on a sender (from which a message originates), a message, a communication channel (or medium such as the voice of a person), a receiver, and feedback. Examples of these elements of interpersonal communication may change depending on the situation but it is still interpersonal communication.
When something obstructs the process of interpersonal communication, such as noise, there are negative consequences that result. For example:
1) if the sender finds it difficult to be heard, the receiver may not be able to react to the message being sent.
2) the receiver may not be able to provide necessary feedback to the sender of the message.
This makes interpersonal communication a very important process to follow, regardless of the size of the group involved in interpersonal communication.
What are the ways in which interpersonal communication can break down or be obstructed?
1) Predominance of emotions – the sender may be subconsciously influencing how the message is received because of his emotional state. Or the receiver could be providing emotionally-influenced feedback in return.
2) Filtering – when this problem occurs, the receiver may not get the whole message because the sender has restructured the message to suit his own purposes.
3) Information overload – sometimes, there are senders who provide too much information at one time, making the receiver feel burdened with the size of the message. The receiver may then not be able to respond to the sender.
4) Defensiveness – a receiver who feels threatened by the message could react in a defensive way – even if the sender did not intend to put the receiver on the defensive.
5) Cultural bias – the message of a sender could subconsciously be colored by the cultural perspective maintained by the sender. If the sender and receiver come from different cultures, this could result in communication breakdown.
6) Jargon – a sender should make sure that the receiver can understand him when the sender resorts to using jargon. This is because the sender may wind up being frustrated because the receiver fails to understand him or reacts in an undesirable way.
How does one improve interpersonal communication then?
There are four possible ways:
1) Make messages simpler – do not resort to long messages because this makes it more likely that the message will not get through, be misinterpreted, or simply ignored. Short messages are easier to absorb and react to.
2) Restrain your emotions – if you become emotionally agitated, wait until you have your emotions under control before you send a message or feedback.
3) Listen closely – make it a point to listen well to the person speaking to you. Many cases of breakdown in communication occur because the receiver does not listen closely to the message.
4) Provide sufficient feedback – If you are the receiver, make it a point to assure the sender that you have received the message by providing a summary of what the message was about. This facilitates the communication process even further.
For interpersonal communication, it is important that both sender and receiver make an effort to improve the
communication process. If only one party chooses to make an effort at improving communication, interpersonal communication will still not be achieved. Both parties – the sender and the receiver – have to do their part. Only then will dynamic communication interpersonal be achieved.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 14th, 2009 by Antony
Effective business communication is a priority for any business that wants to develop value in its business relationships. If you find that your business relationships are faltering, you may need to learn how effective business communication works so you can apply it to your business.
Business communication can be broken down into two major types:
1) internal business communication and
2) external business communication.
Under internal business communication, we can find some examples of this type of business communication:
– communication of corporate vision
– communication of corporate strategies
– communication of corporate plans
– communication of corporate culture
– communication of shared values
– communication of guiding principles
– communication to motivate employees
– communication to generate ideas
Under external business communication, some examples exist such as:
– branding
– marketing
– advertising
– customer relations
– public relations
– media relations
– business negotiations
All these examples of business communication share a commonality – to produce value for the business. To become masters at business communication, it is important to understand that we communicate what we perceive. So to become a master at business communication, you should know how to manage perceptions.
Business leaders and followers alike have to figure out how their customers perceive them. There are customers who favor their sense of sight, so to reach out to such customers, the business has to promote itself through visual means. There are customers who prefer to taste and feel things, so perhaps the business could provide samples of its products to give the customer a favorable perception of what that business is about. Other customers prefer to rely on what they hear from other people and from media – such customers may be wooed through catchy music (like background music played in malls and car showrooms.)
When a negative perception exists among many people and the business does not take steps to correct this mis-perception, business will have a harder time to correct this and later reach out to the affected customers. And when a mis-perception goes uncorrected for a prolonged period of time, the mis-perception may become absorbed into the belief system of the customers. This could be disastrous for the company. This is why many businesses invest so much money into conducting surveys – they want to find out how their customers perceive them so that problems can be caught early on.
Even the very employees of the business may have a negative perception of the business – a problem exists with the company’s internal means of communication. Many business leaders are aware of this so they make an effort to reach out to their employees and find out what they are thinking.
Even surveys about management performance whose respondents are anonymous are useful because they give management a good idea of how they are perceived by their own followers. When employees are disgruntled but find it difficult to voice out their opinions for fear of reprisals, they may react in negative ways – like sabotaging the company’s product or service. Or the business may experience fast employee turnover, resulting in losses for a business which has invested heavily in employee training.
So, to improve internal and external business communication, organizations should do the following:
1) Constantly reach out to target audiences through various means (i.e. surveys, online contact forms, targeted mailings of questionnaires)
2) Review the content of feedback and figure out how the feedback can be integrated into future business activities
3) Inform target audiences of improvements and changes that have been done because of their feedback.
A business that takes these steps will find that effective business communication is not so impossible to achieve after all.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 13th, 2009 by Antony
Can you count on the fingers of one hand the number of true friends that you have? Would you like to increase your circle of friends and prove to yourself that you have ‘people skills’ and you can get more people to like you? This may be easier said than done, especially if you are the loner type – but there are steps that you can take in order to win friends and influence people.
You do not need to entirely change who you are just to make other people like you. What you can do instead is to ‘adjust’ your attitude so that you can ooze that self-confidence that a lot of people would like to attain, without being over-the-top. At the same time, you can take on a positive way of thinking and attitude so that you can attain these two goals: by
learning how to win friends and influence people. Take a look at the following easy-to-follow tips which are a sure-fire way of attaining your personal goals:
1. Learn how to take risks.
When you walk into a room full of strangers, do you just go straight to your destination, sit and mostly keep to yourself? If you do this, you may think that you are saving yourself from rejection or hurt – but you are actually doing the opposite. By not taking a risk and sticking to your old habits, you are sending a message to other people that they should stay away from you. However, if you smile, take a general sweep of the room and try to make small conversation with a friendly stranger, you are sending a message that you are easy
to talk to.
2. Remember that it is not all about ‘you’.
When talking with a first-time acquaintance, do you often find yourself talking about nothing else but “yourself”? Remember that the person that you are speaking with has his or her own life, too. In order for you to win friends and influence people in a positive way, you need to learn how to initiate a two-way conversation.
After saying a little about yourself, encourage the person that you are talking with to tell you something in return. This is where your knowledge about a wide array of topic becomes useful. Once you find a common ground, you can talk about that and take the conversation from there. If you are joining a group of people, try to inject some humor into the anecdotes that you are sharing, and encourage other people to do the same so that you will not dominate the conversation.
3. Be as sincere and honest as possible.
In the course of interacting with people, you will find that those who are most honest and sincere have the most number of friends. If you are not one of those ‘people magnets’, you can take a small step and start being one by being a little more open with your interactions with other people.
A little honesty will go a long way, and you may even be surprised at how much people are willing to share once they see that you are genuinely interested with what they have to say. Maintaining eye contact, remaining polite with your
gestures and trying to make other people feel as comfortable as possible would also help a lot in making people like you.
In learning how to win friends and influence people, you do not necessarily that you need to create a new ‘you’ just to make other people like you in turn. By staying humble, injecting a little sense of humor into your conversations and maintaining a positive frame of mind, you are bound to attract new friends and influence people to widen your social circle and live a fuller and better life.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
October 12th, 2009 by Antony
The skill of communication is one that not all people can grasp easily; yet whether in our business or professional lives communication and clearly articulating feelings, instructions and needs are a vital element to both success and happiness. There is more to the skill of communication than many expect.
It is not just about what you say but also how you say and it, do your body language and eyes replicate the message and are you addressing each person in way to ensure that your message always gets across how you intend. Not only will learning an effective way to communicate improve your status in the work place but can stand to improve all relationships as you realize the importance of clear and direct communication.
We communicate in many ways each and every day, whenever we write, speak, or direct our ideas and thoughts towards someone else we are communicating and in these situations there are a few ways you can insure that your message is getting across. For example if you are excited about a new project you will be bubbly and infectious when sharing your idea causing more people to want to become involved whereas if you were quiet and down no-one will listen.
So before you tackle the direct contact you must initially recognize how to best communicate your idea. Will you be passive or quirky? Confidence is key, stand tall, be direct, no stuttering, plan or rehearse what you will say before you do so as to deter fumbling for words.
Simple ideas include adding a spell checker to your email account so as to ensure 100% accurate and professional communication via email. When sending written contact check; no double check the words you have used to describe or create a visual picture. Remember you will not be there to clarify or add character to your words so they must be clear and understandable to the reader.
It is also of importance that your language is suited to the reader; we all use differing types of language dependent on the kinds of people we communicate with regularly, and it important to remember some simple boundaries within written contact. Ensure that the language is suitable for the audience and that the words actively create a clear visual picture of the desired message. This may take some practice but you will notice a difference.
One of the hardest things to communicate whether in a personal or professional setting is feedback or correction and while giving advice or correction is hard; taking it is just as difficult. Your boss calls you into his office and says that there are a few changes he would like you to make concerning your work. Initiate acceptance and interest immediately never become defensive!
Communication goes both ways and if you can effectively learn to listen then it will stand you in good stead when effectively communicating yourself. Eye contact and active listening skills are vital a person likes to know they are being listened to, and this in turn allows them the freedom to competently communicate with you. Be sure to ask for specific ways to improve while when asking for change it is important to ensure that you can articulate specific needs for improvement yourself. An easy trick for this is to try to summarize back to the person what they have just communicated that way any misunderstandings can be fixed immediately.
In relationships communication while being of vital necessity is often lost within the emotion and attachment of a relationship, but if you and your partner are struggling then it’s is likely that a lack of communication is at the core of the problem. When people are not communicating they are not sharing their ideas and feelings and will often complain that their needs are not being met.
Communication offers a time and place where discussion and reprisal can be made in a safe and open manner. It is imperative not to hinder the communication boundaries for others concerned so that all involved can feel safe and listened to, in turn ensuring they listen to you. Communication especially conversation follows a general rule that the amount of information that a person gives you is how much they are comfortable receiving.
Get free articles in various topic for your website or blog content as much as you want at Article Directory: http://www.articlecompilation.com
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available only at: conversation starters
Read the rest »
Tags: 
Loading ...