Effective Communication Blog
This blog is a mini-journal about improving communication in the workplace.
In this blog you can also find out what's new here at people-communicating.com, without having to search through the site to find the new material.
To subscribe to the Effective Communication Blog, right-click on the orange RSS button to the left, and paste the URL into your RSS reader. Or just click on the Google, My Yahoo!, My MSN, or Bloglines button right below the orange RSS button, if you keep a personalized home page there.Once you subscribe, you can keep up with all the updates to people-communicating.com without having to check the site every so often to see "What's New". New pages and updates to old ones are released through RSS.
And the best part is, there is no need to give out your email address to receive RSS feeds.
Sending the Wrong Signals
When people at work (and only at work) react strongly to you, is it time to put up an act? or is it time to look for another job?
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Para Mejorar tu Habilidad de Escuchar
La habilidad de escuchar es quizas la habilildad de comunicacion mas importante que uno puede adquirir y dominar
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A Director and a Wannabe Boss
I received a question from a director of a department facing an employee who's starting to boss her around.
The employee is breaking a fundamental rule of communication established by the chain of command. How is the director going to deal with it?
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Job Interview Questions to Ask a Candidate
You have a vacancy to fill and you need a list of interview questions to ask potential candidates.
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Communicating Change - To Fret or Not to Fret?
Many managers dread communicating change to their employees. They may fret and wait until the last minute to announce the change. Or they may just put a spin on it thinking they are protecting the people affected by the change.
Communicating change can be difficult, especially bad change, like layoffs, or organizational restructuring where employees lose rank. Even smaller changes like moving offices can be a challenge.
Read full post for points to keep in mind when communicating change.
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Retirement Wishes and Sentiments
Someone at work is retiring. Your boss, your best employee, your worst?
Whoever is leaving for good, you may want to tell them a few words to let them know what you appreciated about them and to wish them well.
Imelda
P.S. I just finished changing the look of the people-communicating website. Hopefully it's easier on the eyes.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Retirement Wishes and Sentiments"
Retirement Gift Etiquette
Got a question from a senior level manager in California, asking for help regarding a retirement gift for his boss.
The manager wants to give a memorable gift to his soon to be retired boss but he/she doesn't want to foot the entire bill.
The manager wonders what's the right way to ask the staff to help him/her pay for the boss' gift.
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Someone with half the experience gets the promotion
I received an intriguing story, from Wayne in Texas, about how a guy with half of Wayne's experience got a leadership position while Wayne was on leave.
Wayne fears that the executive staff was given the wrong information about him, causing him to lose the leadership position. Wayne thinks it's going to take a lot of work to undo the damage that may have been inflicted on him.
I took a leap in the dark and concluded that Wayne's absence played a big role in him being skipped for the assignment.
What's your take?
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Communication Anxiety: Fear of Public Speaking
Check out this article about communication anxiety and fear of public speaking, by Barbara Rocha, author of Getting Over Yourself: A Guide to Painless Public Speaking.
I attended one of Barbara's workshops (How to Overcome Stress in Public Speaking) while working at a municipality. At the time I was preparing to give a keynote speech at a technology conference. Up until that point, I had been forcing myself to give speeches hoping that practice would help me get rid of the anxiety of speaking in front of groups.
During Barbara's workshop, I practiced doing a presentation to a "pretend" City Council - Barbara was the Mayor and the others students were Councilmembers.
When I finished giving my presentation, Barbara gave me a puzzled look and said: Why did you change your personality? You became someone else, all your warmth was gone and you seemed... rigid.
I told her that I needed to be that way at work.
She paused and then said: Maybe that job is not a good fit for you.
When the workshop was over, I went on the give the keynote speech at the technology conference, with confidence and ease, despite the fact that over a thousand faces were looking at me. However, back at work I was still struggling with presentations to a few people.
The workshop had changed forever my sense of awareness. I began to notice that my personality did change while at work, more so in front of higher ups. I realized that while I was happier inside and more at ease, the lack of fit was more evident than ever.
I eventually left my city government job to strike out on my own.
Here I almost said: "... and I've never looked back", but it wouldn't be true. When I look back, I think of the people that I used to work with and miss them.
If you're struggling with communication anxiety and fear of public speaking, read the full post for more info on how to deal with it. Better yet, attend Barbara's Workshop How to Overcome Stress in Public Speaking coming up (May 5,6 and 7), and become more confident speaking to audiences.
In case you wonder, I don't get a dime for this wholehearted endorsement :) of her workshops, I just think they are extremely helpful.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Communication Anxiety: Fear of Public Speaking"
Business Networking
Here's a useful post from a very interesting site: www.DoItInPerson.com.
The post talk about business networking as a cost effective investment you can make for your business. Contributed by Aron Schoenfeld.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Business Networking"
Interview Thank You Letter Samples
Interview Thank You Letters give you another shot at presenting to your potential employee how you're a perfect fit for the job they are filling.
These samples can be modified to fit a thank you note or email.
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Top 7 Phone Interview Tips
These phone interview tips can help you prepare for any job interview, whether by phone or in person.
If you approach the phone interview in the same way you approach any other job interview, you'll be prepared and do well.
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Covering The Basics: What is Communication?
The post includes the most basic definition of communication plus other flavors of communication (interpersonal, business) that may be useful to know.
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Delegating Work to Avoid Being Swamped
I got a comment in the mail from someone struggling to delegate work to avoid being swamped.
The comment made me think many of us can relate to the feeling expressed by the person that sent the email.
Here's the post where you can read more about this...
Imelda
P.S. I messed up and now I have three posts about the same thing: One post is spelled corrected and the other two are not. Just when I think I've figured out this system, I discover I haven't.
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Avoiding Conflict... or Resolving It?
Conflict, even constructive conflict, just ruins the mood. Given the option, most people will settle for fake peace rather than pay the price of authentic peace that calls for us to engage in conflict every now and then.
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The Mock Job Interview
Added another page to the Job Interview section. The page shares information about the mock job interview, which is a great tool to prepare for a job interview.
Think of the mock interview as tough homework. You may not like it but when you complete it, you are fully confident and ready for that important test.
Prepare and practice until you do a mock job interview well and you'll shine at the real job interview.
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Defensive Body Language at Work
Even before we acknowledge that we are getting defensive, our bodies begin to tell our story of defensiveness.
We may start by crossing our arms, or we may hold our hand out, as if trying to stop the perceived or real attack.
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A Story about Appreciation for a Teacher
I received a story from a teacher that was shown appreciation in a special way.
The fact that the memory of the gift stayed with her through the years shows how powerful an appreciation gesture can be when it's genuine and specific.
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Contributions to the Site
The site now has a couple of articles that were written by people other than yours truly.
The first article talks about Why Business Coaching makes Business Sense. The second article talks about Ways to Deal with Verbal Conflict.
Check them out...
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Contributions to the Site"
Language Differences
I received a question about language differences in communication at work.
You can read the question and my answer on the full post. The question struck a cord with me, it reminded me the many struggles I went through as a non native English speaking professional trying to make it in the US workplace.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Language Differences"
What is Good Communication?
What is good communication? The easiest way to answer this question is to contrast the habits of good and bad communication.
Check out the comparison chart in the full post.
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What writing skills do entry level employees need?
I teach communications courses and I want to provide students with real-world examples of the kinds of writing skills they will need on their first
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New Spanish Section - Nueva Seccion en Español
I'm starting to add pages in Spanish, in case you're interested.
El sitio tiene ahora paginas en espanol, arrancando con el tema de Barreras de Comunicacion. (Perdon por la falta de acentos y tilde, cosas de la computadora)
Permalink -- click for full blog post "New Spanish Section - Nueva Seccion en Español"
Become a Communicator
If you'd like to become a Communicator and start publishing your articles in people-communicating.com, please fill out the form below and submit it for consideration. We'll review your request and get back to you within a day or two.
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Jealousy at Work
A quote from Jennifer James:
"Jealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. Jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point - that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you. There is only one alternative - self-value. If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved. You will always think it's a mistake or luck. Take your eyes off others and turn the scanner within. Find the seeds of your jealousy, clear the old voices and experiences. Put all the energy into building your personal and emotional security. Then you will be the one others envy, and you can remember the pain and reach out to them."
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My Boss Is Failing At His Job. How Can I Help Him Before He Gets Canned?
My boss took the job because he wanted a raise. The company gave him the job because there were no other applicants. He is inexperienced,
Job Interview Body Language
Job Interview Body Language: Nonverbal Communication in Interviews
Being able to decode the job interview body language is very useful, just don't make it the center of your attention.
Focus instead on preparation to build up your self confidence.
Check out the guidelines provided here and if you can, video record yourself while you rehearse your answers to possible interview questions.
That way you can determine if your body is sending the right nonverbal cues.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Job Interview Body Language"
Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote
Con lo que haces, haces tanto ruido que no me dejas oir lo que tú dices. What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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