Interpersonal Communication – Page 9 – Business Communication Coaching with Effective Training & Communication

Slow Down … You Talk Too Fast!

August 10, 2015March 1, 2013 by Phil Stella

Now that you’re all speaking up with more volume and vocal energy, it’s time to slow you down. An important component of your vocal delivery, your pace or rate of speaking can also impact your audience’s attention, interest and opinion of you. So can your ability to pause effectively.

Slow Down

Just as audience members tend to perceive a soft-spoken speaker as lacking in confidence or credibility, they react similarly to a fast-talking speaker. It doesn’t matter if this perception is accurate because their perception is your reality. You are what they think you are.

Speak Up to Energize Your Listeners

August 10, 2015December 2, 2012 by Phil Stella

Your Vocal Power – volume, inflection and rate of speaking combined – can significantly impact your audience’s attention, interest in your message … and positive impression of you.

In our culture, we tend to interpret a soft-spoken voice as coming from a speaker lacking in confidence or credibility. Not good reactions for your audience to have about you. Even on a microphone, the soft-spoken voice delivers that weak impression loud and clear. It doesn’t matter if these reactions are valid or not – remember the Perception is Reality demon. If you sound weak to the audience – you are!

Make Meetings Work … Even Better

August 10, 2015August 1, 2012 by Phil Stella

A recent article discussed how to make meetings work better by thorough planning. Assuming that you now do that, the next two steps are to meet as planned and the follow up thoroughly.

Be A Leader – The Meeting Management Phase

While effective planning is essential to a meeting’s success, how you manage that meeting will have a profound impact on its results. You want people to say “That’s the best meeting I’ve been to in a long time” … every time.

Become a ‘Platinum Rule’ Workplace Communicator

August 10, 2015July 1, 2012 by Phil Stella

Many business professionals diligently attempt to practice at work the ‘Golden Rule’ we all learned as youngsters. A workplace communication version of that philosophy would be ‘Communicate with other people the way you want them to communicate with you.’ While a nice warm and fuzzy concept, a quick reality check indicates two serious flaws in the logic: the ‘Golden Rule’ assumes everyone is alike and It also assumes everyone is just like you.

While the ‘Golden Rule’ doesn’t work at a certain level of specific application, the ‘Platinum Rule’ does. First defined by Dr. Tony Alessandra in the 90s, it is 10 times harder to do well, but 100 times better than the ‘Golden Rule’. So, you do the math and see if you find value it.

Make Meetings Work

August 10, 2015June 1, 2012 by Phil Stella

Ask any group of business professionals what they think about meetings at work. You’ll probably hear comments like “ … too long … unorganized … #$%&*(@# waste of time … always start late … no action … I hate meetings.”

Poorly planed meetings translate into inefficient and ineffective results and missed opportunities. Too many business people still haven’t learned how to plan, manage or follow up on meetings; they simply “have” meetings … or, even worse, they “do” a meeting.

Harness Phone Power

August 10, 2015May 1, 2012 by Phil Stella

We all spend a lot of time on the phone, talking with customers, colleagues and managers. Can you imagine doing your job without your cell phone? I can’t.

Our employers and organizations spend a lot of money providing us with the latest phone technology … or we spend our own money doing it. Yet, making the most of this mission-critical resource has little to do with the technology of the tool. It has everything to do with the simple communication strategies blended with uncommon sense and uncommon courtesy of the user.

Before discussing some simple strategies to help you increase your Phone Power, consider two over-arching concepts relating to putting yourself where your callers are. Listen to your voice mail greeting from two perspectives.

1. How do you sound? Is your tone of voice professional, courteous and enthusiastic? Do you sound like someone you’d like to do business with today? If not, re-record your greeting until you’re happy with how you sound. Your tone of voice has a lot of influence over the professional image you project. Make sure it’s the best possible image you can create.

2. What do you say? Does every word have value for your callers? Do you waste their time with such trite phrases as “I’m away from my desk or on the other line …” or “But your call is very important to me …”? Do you insult your callers’ intelligence by telling them to wait for the beep and leave your name and phone number? If you’re not happy with the message the message in your greeting delivers, do something about it. You may need to get approval at work, so make sure you have logical, caller-friendly reasons for any changes.

Are You Power-Listening?

August 10, 2015March 28, 2012 by Phil Stella

Power-Listening? What does that have to do with your job as a business professional? Well … a lot, when you get out of your own box and view your role as a workplace communicator and problem-solver for your internal and/or external customers.

You spend a large part of your day verbally communicating important messages to important people – customers, staff, colleagues, bosses, suppliers, partners, etc. And listening is a critically important part of that verbal communication process. Yet, we tend to be terrible listeners, remembering very little of what we hear.

So, here are 10 simple – but not easy – Best Practice strategies for becoming Power Listeners at work.