Communicating Up and Down from the Middle
Taking the time to “understand the other person” and listen to “emotions behind words” will not only enhance your communication skills, but build trust with your career and life partners.
Taking the time to “understand the other person” and listen to “emotions behind words” will not only enhance your communication skills, but build trust with your career and life partners.
As a team leader, encouraging your whole team to bring their thoughts and opinions to the table takes intentional planning, but has the potential to bring out the best in each team member. Here are a few tips to cultivate a productive environment for your whole team during your next meeting.
Listening can be a tough communication skill to master. Luckily, the active listening method can help you improve your skills.
Knowing what gets in your way names it. Then you can work around, or through it. Agreeing to disagree when it’s not possible or unnecessary to agree preserves the relationship. Preparing your points with potential objections and probing questions in mind makes you look unfazed by road blocks. Multi-tasking when distractions win out keeps up… Read more »
Over the last two weeks, I shared how government leaders should heed Vanilla Ice’s advice in Ice, Ice Baby to Stop and Collaborate. In this final blog of the three-part series, we will focus on how to Listen. While many think of social media as the place to spew every thought one ever had orRead… Read more »
The holidays are over. Gifts have been opened, the eggnog is gone, relatives have packed up and headed out, and there’s just a faint dusting of pine needles left on your carpet. For the most part holidays are about the memories – and hopefully good ones – but more likely than not along with theRead… Read more »
“Even if nobody is home, act like the walls can hear you.” – Jewish saying The other day I went into a store with Buddhist books and Tibetan artifacts. It was empty. I wasn’t totally amazed, since we’re dealing with a worldview steeped heavily in karma and reincarnation – i.e., if you steal a book,Read… Read more »
The other day I was at the local outdoor market and I walked passed a man impeccably dressed in a white suit and tie, standing on a wooden crate. The man, from his makeshift pulpit, was sermoning passersby on the need to repent their sins given the imminent end of days. While many looked onRead… Read more »
I work for a leadership organization. On a daily basis, I am surrounded by comments, articles, research, subject matter experts, blogs, and books on how to be a great leader. I believe in these wisdoms and the years of research that the experts walking the halls around here have uncovered. They are prudent truths toRead… Read more »
“Ninety percent of a project manager’s work is communication.” You have probably seen this commonly quoted statistic but what you don’t see is a statistic that tells you how much of the 90% is devoted to listening. Why is that important? Because, poor communication is at least one of the three causes for failed projects.Read… Read more »