Verbal Communication Skills….What’s your Communication Quotient? Workplace Communication — your Key to Success!

September 11th, 2009

 

In this article Craig  explores many of the aspects of communication, ranging from verbal communication skills right through to you confidence in front of a crowd…

 

Forget GQ! These days it’s your CQ that matters…your Communication Quotient. Degrees and awards are fine, your bilingualism and knowledge of the latest programming languages are nice, but how good a communicator are you? In English? With co-workers and customers?

Every job description emphasizes it: must have excellent communication skills. In performance reviews many get marked down for it. And as entrepreneurs who wear many hats, speaking with many voices is also a requisite skill. So how is your communication quotient?

Communication takes many forms. Think for a moment about a typical workday. You must communicate with customers, clients, co-workers (both superiors and subordinates), vendors, and even city, state and federal bureaucrats. Perhaps you even have interns or volunteers to communicate with. On occasion you’re also speaking with the media, members of your association or even competitors. How well are you communicating with each?

Each form of communication draws on different skills, each requires different approaches and sometimes even a different lexicon. The checklist below has broken out many of these types of communication into categories. Place a plus, minus or equal sign next to each line to rate whether you see yourself as already strong (+), average (=) or weak (-) in each area.

Can You Interact Successfully with Strangers?

– Make Small Talk?

– Ask them About Themselves?

– Tell Them About Yourself?

– Introduce Two Strangers to Each Other

– Discuss Current Events with Confidence

Networking and the ability to work a room are invaluable skills for a small business owner. Knowing how to introduce yourself to others through your elevator speech can also open many doors of opportunity. As you meet strangers are you exuding confidence?

Being able to mingle and mix, compliment strangers and inquire of their line of work is an effective way to expand your sphere of influence and prospect for new business. You can even qualify prospects deftly while schmoozing.

How Effective Are Your Communication Skills?

– Can You Give A Prepared Speech?

– Can You Speak Extemporaneously?

– Can You Make A Sales Presentation?

– Can You Interview Someone Else? Be Interviewed?

Some basic communication tenets to keep in mind in public speaking situations:

1. Speak clearly and audibly at all times.

2. Don’t rush your presentation. Pare its content down if you have too much to cover in the time given.

3. Enunciate effectively. For many, English is a second language. Focus on the consonants of each word.

4. Employ vocal variety to keep people paying attention. Avoid sing-songy patterns of speech.

5. Learn all about interview dynamics

How Versatile A Communicator Are You?

– Can You Make A Cold Call?

– Can You Train Others?

– Can You Conduct A Meeting As Its Leader?

– Can You Constructively Critique Another’s Performance?

I help small business owners take the chill out of cold calls. Once you understand the rules of the game, develop your script, learn to bypass gatekeepers and handle objections adeptly you will find cold calling to be better than going to the dentist.

• Sometimes the true test of your understanding something is the challenge of training others. How well can you communicate your knowledge to others? Do they “get” it? Are you sure? Training requires its own approach.

• Taking the lead in conducting meetings and discussions can be a delight once you understand how best to apply your leadership. You don’t have to master Robert’s Rules of Order to be able to fairly and ably conduct meetings.

• Constructively critique another’s performance can be one of the hardest things to do. Learn to separate performance from person, to get specific and also offer remedies or corrective plans, as well as benchmarks for success.

• Employ active listening techniques to insure you are hearing the other party and they are feeling heard as well. Many professional and interpersonal difficulties arise from a feeling of not being heard. Learn ways of insuring that you are hearing correctly and similarly being heard.

When The Going Gets Tough…

– Can You Handle Constructive Criticism?

– Can You Assert Yourself When Necessary & Speak Up?

– Can You Negotiate Effectively?

– Can You Co-exist With Diverse Personality Styles?

See Hecklers, Hardliners, and Heavy Questions for tips on this difficult area of communications.

Many of us shy away from speaking up and speaking our for fear of negative feedback or political ramifications. In our quest to be liked or avoid “making waves” we bite our tongue and look the other way instead of righting wrongs and correcting improprieties. Yet there are times when speaking up and speaking out is the right thing to do. Learn to speak your mind when it’s time, professionally and with precision, to get the results you desire.

Negotiating effectively can involve different types of communication skills. You may actually want to induce silence, or to repeat yourself, reiterating your stance or stipulations, for effect. Listening skills and creative problem solving skills are also involved. Learn to speak the language of win-win and be able to reiterate your adversary’s perspective so as to build consensus.

There is no right way to speak. Each of us speaks in our own communication style. Some of us use long sentences and many words, others are short winded and direct. Learn recognize how best you communicate and how to best communicate with others.

How Effectively Can You Communicate in “One-on-One” Situations

– Can You Instill Trust in Others? Engender their Support?

– Can You Diffuse Verbal Criticism and Maintain Control?

Learn coaching and training techniques for speaking one-on-one with co-workers, subordinates and superiors. Learn to communicate with others so as to build trust and confidence in others.

Where Do You Go From Here?

We’re all developing our Communication Quotient on the job. Learn to recognize how different forms of communication require different skills. Make a point of analyzing your style and the results it engenders. Where can you improve? Can classes, practice or coaching help? Become a student of improved communication. As for feedback. Study those whose communication style you respond to. Seek to raise your own CQ!

Craig Harrison
http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/whats-your-communication-quotient-workplace-communication-your-key-to-success-118581.html

 

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The Importance Of Communication Skills In All Areas Of Life-How To Improve Communication Skills

September 11th, 2009

 

Many of you focus on how to improve communication skills. This article that I found begins to explain why it is important to do so and also explores a few of the consequences. Knowing how to improve communication skills is only the beginning. You must also have a good enough reason to take the neccesary steps. Like any thing else in life it will take time effort and practise….

I will be going into this in more detail in future posts that I will make…For now read this and enjoy…

Michael

 

Maintaining a good relationship is part of living healthy. Your communication skills are important to maintaining those relationships that help you be healthy. How do you communicate? How often do you communicate? Do you initiate conversation?

The people we interact with on a regular basis see you at your best and at your worst. You probably want a healthy overflow of those best moments. Communicating wisely and effectively can help you.

No one likes to be offended and no one likes to be insulted. These are common sense statements, but it is amazing how often this is ignored. The usage of profanities in any conversation can be taken as insults at anytime. One of the best ways to avoid this mistake is to make a conscious choice to not use profanity.

Insults can come in two forms, words and/or gestures. You can avoid a lot of problems by thinking before you speak. Choosing your words before sharing them may be all you need to bring a smile to someone’s face rather than a frown.

Think about how you communicate. Sometimes the way you say something can mean the exact opposite of what you intended. Think about the message your body communicates to others.

Crossing your arms can send the message that you don’t care or you can’t be bothered with the message being communicated to you.

When was the last time you called that “best friend?” Part of communicating is taking the time to say I care by starting conversation and initiating the contact whether it be by phone, email or in person.

Do you initiate contact with your friends and family? Do you call and share your thoughts and concerns? Sometimes it’s up to you to make the contact and this is a healthy way of communicating to others that you care about them. Take the initiative to say that you care.

Gabriel Adams
http://www.articlesbase.com/relationships-articles/the-importance-of-communication-skills-in-all-areas-of-life-94356.html

 

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Improve Communication Skills in 9 Easy Ways

September 5th, 2009

Want to know how to improve communication skill in just a few easy steps.

communication skill does not necessarily come naturally. The reason it is called a skill is that it takes practice and it cannot be acquired overnight, so do not beat yourself up over it if it takes a little while.

There are a few things to learn about both speaking and listening to really develop great communication skill.However, you can start today, this very minute, on getting better and more comfortable and having conversations with people.

Here are just a few ways you can get started:

1. Start a conversation with someone

It can be someone you know well, to begin with. That should be
easier. Just make a comment to them preferably something that requires and answer so you can start a bit of a to and from volley of words. Conversations are a bit like tennis matches that way you throw the subject to and fro between you.

2. Plan what you are going to say.

Now this may not be necessary for every casual conversation you have, so do not get too uptight about this, but if the conversation calls for something more formal or you are particularly nervous about having the conversation plan ahead. Have in mind the poinof the conversation and at least a few of the points which you want to get across.

3. Check the understanding of your listener

As well as subtly taking cues from their body language, there is nothing wrong with breaking off from what you are saying to ask,”Are you following me?”

4. Set the tone. Warm enthusiasm is the right tone for most conversations because it shows that you are interested in your topic but also that you will take account of your audience and respond to their needs too. You can vary this tone as and when the situation or conversation calls for it, of course.

5. Any questions?

Often in a conversation especially one that has more purpose than general getting to know you talk, it is appropriate to invite questions. When you answer the questions, though do not feel you have to launch straight into an answer; take your time and make sure you have the answer right in your head first.You could also paraphrase the question and mirror it back to the person that asked you, to ensure that you have understood correctly. People will like this kind of courteous care.Do not feel you have to hold all the answers, either. If you do not know something, say you do not know and offer to find out. That is much more respectful and helping than making up an answer!

6. Listening is as important as speaking.

Develop your listening skill by listening attentively to the whole sentence or message, so you can be sure you fully understand what is being said.Look at the speaker and maintain a comfortable level of eye contact so that you are concentrating on them all the time. Their facial expressions and tone of voice will tell you just as much if not more than the actual words spoken. Show that you are listening by nodding and making occasional noises of approval.

7. Give people a chance

If you are not going to do all the talking and turn this into a lecture and not a conversation then the other person needs to speak. Let them. Leave pauses and also pick up on body language of when it looks like they want to speak.

8. Be prepared to be pro-active

You are not the only one who might find it difficult to take part in a conversation. The person you are talking to may feel just as awkward if not more so. Help them along by inviting them into the conversation with an easy question to answer.That does not mean putting them on the spot; just a simple “what do you think?” is as good as anything, often.

9. Value contributions of others

Once you have let someone else speak, do not immediately think, “Oh right, my turn now let us get back to the important subject me!”Pick up from what was said with a question that shows you were
listening and allows them to illustrate a little further, or make a comment of approval, perhaps by saying how their vacation sounded lovely and you would like to visit there some day: something along those lines, anyway.Follow these few tips will soon have your conversation flowing more easily
and you will feel much easier about starting conversations. Do you see now how it does not have to be so hard to improve communication skill

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Murphy
http://EzineArticles.com/?Improve-Communication-Skills-in-9-Easy-Ways&id=631157

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The 5 Pitfalls Of Poor Business Communication Skills For Managers

September 3rd, 2009

Everyone knows that effective business communication skills are a necessity for any successful manager. But what are the pitfalls of poor business communication skills by managers?

1. Lowered Efficiency

Poor business communication skills can hamper the efficiency of your company or department through vague emails that need to be clarified, rewriting of vital documents, and the inefficient preparation of speeches and presentations.

2. Low Employee Morale

Poor business communication skills demoralize employees by forcing them to sit through boring presentations and by providing them with unclear direction on projects. The monotony and confusion associated with poor business communication skills is a chronic complaint of employees everywhere.

3. Inability To Complete Large Or Complicated Projects

Business communication skills are essential to efficiently completing large and complicated projects. When multiple people or departments are involved in a project, the value of effective business communication skills increases exponentially.

Without the ability to clearly communicate project responsibilities and objectives, your organization’s projects will never get off the ground.

4. Lack Of Motivation

An often overlooked impact of effective business communication skills is how they serve to motivate employees. A collaborative and communicative environment fosters employee creativity and inspires them to action. In contrast, if your business communication skills are lackluster, your employees will drag their feet on their assignments and question the wisdom of projects.

5. Decreased Innovation

The inability to adequately handle current projects due to poor business communication skills will decrease any organization’s innovation. The ability to innovate is predicated on the ability to communicate tasks and outcomes and the ability to get things done.

Being a successful manager means having the ability to communicate with your employees and outside vendors and customers. Improving your management skills is really just a question of improving your business communication skills. All effective managers are, first and foremost, effective communicators.

 

By Matt Nadell

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Business communication Covering Your Back

September 1st, 2009

When you hear the words “Business Communication”, what comes to mind? In this article I want to give you a brief synopsis about how you may need to think in your business communication. This is just one article in a series of many that will complement one another.

You may now be wondering what exactly business communication is.

Is it what is communicated within the business from the president to vice president to CEO, or maybe even further down the hierarchy?

Maybe it is how and what the business communicates to the clients, customers, partners and suppliers?

It could also mean how colleagues and team members interact with each other, and how they communicate with the team leader.

There are numerous ways of communication in business and that includes the electronic variety from computer to computer…. and then from the recipient to accounts maybe.
There are such a lot of different types of communication in business that it will be easier if I separate them into two distinct parts.

The second type is about the delivery methods, and I will deal with this aspect in future articles. They will cover topics such as hardware and software.
For now I want to focus on the human or interpersonal aspect of communication.

The first thing that springs to mind about communication is what is actually said and what they mean with what they say. You can think about these meanings as two aspects of the communication process.

And these are what the sender of the message wanted to convey AND what was understood by the recipient.

This means that there are at least two aspects or parties taking part in every communication.  This is similar to contracts, and there may well be as much  legal  weight and legal obligation attached to a communication as any other form of contract.

Let’s assume here that you are the sender of a message.

Your message has to include the correct information, and it needs to be put into a format that the recipient of your message can easily interpret it. Your message should be clear and unambivalent so that there is no room for misinterpretation. You want to make sure that all business communication are carefully considered in view of any effects on contracts already in place or any ongoing or planned  negotiations.

Your business communication should also, ideally contain a mechanism for clarifying anything that the recipient may be unclear on. An example of this is an FAQ ( frequently asked questions ) page on a website. It’s not necessarily always the case that your FAQ page will answer all of the queries that someone may have, so it is advisable to have other mechanisms in place as well, such as a freephone customer support number.   

As a business owner or manager, you should be aware that there may be potentially difficult calls from customers, and so you will want to make sure that the people answering this freephone number are well trained and able to handle these queries politely. You may wish to have a system in place whereby your customer support can pass calls outside of their expertise to a supervisor or even to a more senior person.

There must also be a system in place for keeping records of all communications received. Ideally, you would want to include times, dates and the names and contact details of all parties involved. It should also include details about who said what. This may mean the use of call recording software that is filed in an accessible system for later retrieval. In most instances this is probably excessive but you never know when an event will be escalated into a full blown dispute. The important thing here is that you make sure that your business’s interests are protected.

In a nutshell, you as the sender are responsible for providing a message that is clear and unambivalent and that can’t be misinterpreted. As there will be alsway cases where a message is not that clear, you will need the means for clarifying the message if there’s any doubt about its meaning. You are also responsible for protecting the interests of your employer, yourself or your company. If neccesary, take appropriate legal advice on your written communication or planned conversations because how something is said can drastically change it’s legal meaning or interpretation.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in no way does anything in this article constitute legal or business advice. You should seek a professional legal opinion from your legal representative.
This article on business communication merely reflects what has worked for me over the last thirty years while running import companies, large construction projects and various other enterprises.

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Gets You The Communication Skills, That Get You What You Need…

March 2nd, 2009

In business communication skills are critical to your success.

While this may seem to be a glib statement it is true nonetheless.

The same applies to any area of your life that involves other people. In fact it even applies to how you communicate with your self. Communication skills are everything…

 

Don’t believe me

 

Click here to find out the truth.. http://www.topcommunicationskills.com

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Communication Skills

September 22nd, 2008

communication skills

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Verbal Communication Skills

June 23rd, 2010

Mooi and Kates video presentation. communication skills.

Duration : 0:6:44

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findcourses.co.uk – presentation skills & how to improve them

June 23rd, 2010

Improve your communications, business relationship and presentation skills with training from Speak First. Better presentation are delivered more effectively, judge their audience better and in the end improve productivity by developing positive relationships:
See more business communication courses at: http://www.findcourses.co.uk/Speak_First__b12472.html

Duration : 0:3:25

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Communication Skills

June 23rd, 2010

http://www.jayneclarkson.com communication skills are very important, not just in business but in our everyday lives.Barry shows you how “Words, Music & Dance” play an important part in communication.

Please call me for a no obligation chat on UK 07712 668832
Email: mib1961@ymail.com

Please rate, comment & subscribe if you have enjoyed the video.

Many thanks, Barry

yournetbiz your net biz internet mentor marketing yournetbiz success yournetbiz secrets yournetbiz mentor your net biz report internet business secrets make money online net marketing online tips secrets net biz opportunity internet biz opp business YNB online trainer communication skills

Duration : 0:3:41

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