Get your message across – creatively!

 Communication Skills Training  Tagged with: , , , ,
Apr 102012
 

Poor communication is often stated as a major problem in business and prevents progress.   This applies to both the organisation’s internal and external communication. 

In ‘Brenda Eckstein International’s’ training programmes, we help individuals to enhance their competence in this field.  By improving their personal effectiveness, productivity increases. The ripple effect can be enormous. 

I usually consolidate participants’ input after each session and reflect on what I can learn from it.  That way I can ‘continuously improve’ on my own performance as a trainer and also explore ways to ‘self-generate’. 

Recently after one of our most popular EYES (Enhance Your Executive Skills) Communication Skills Workshops in which we cover ‘effective delegation’, ‘giving instructions’ and ‘how to be more assertive’ I was updating the input from ‘Lessons from the Tree’.  In this exercise, participants observe and then instruct their partners to draw a specific tree.  There are many lessons to be learnt from this simple exercise.  And the CEO’s in the group learn as much as those in less senior positions!  Improving their communication skills through these concepts enable them to generate more time to spend on strategic issues. 

What fascinated me after this particular workshop was that I copied-and-pasted the participants’ combined input into a ‘Word Cloud’.   Have a look at the picture!  It came out looking like a tree.  What a co-incidence! 

Yes, creativity adds energy and can help to broaden our perspectives.  We constantly need to find new ways of ‘getting our message across’.  Different people vary in the way they of absorb information.   So, use a range of ways of providing information and you have more chance of closing the gap between your intention in sending your message and the recipient’s perception of your message. 

Most of our training is ‘in house’ and specially tailored for companies.  However we do run occasional ‘public’ workshops on this topic.  The next will be held in KwaZulu-Natal in May 2012 - Pietermaritzburg on Thursday, May 10 2012 and Mooi River on Thursday, May 17 2012. 

For more information on our training sessions on this topic please contact me – Phone: +27 33 3425432, Mobile: + 27 82 4993311, brenda@strategy-leadership.com

 Posted by at 7:00 am

Greetings

 Communication Skills Training  Tagged with: , ,
Mar 202012
 

Here is one of my templates that has enabled people to improve their conversation skills in a way that helped to build positive relationships.   

When I train workshop participants in conversation skills, I stress the following:

A simple ‘hello’ may end a ‘journey of discovery’.  There is often so much more you could say when you greet others. By feeding them relevant information you are providing the gift of information that they can ‘hook onto’ in order to build a conversation.   

  • By saying your name clearly you are helping others to remember you.    
  • The ‘from’ could inform others about your business or geographic locality.    
  • Please note the difference between, ‘I’m here today because…’ and ‘I’m pleased to be here because….’  The former could engender negative connotations – ‘I’m here because my boss insisted’ or ‘I’m come to be coached because my supervisor said I needed it’.  The latter encourages positive input – ‘I’m pleased to be here because I want to shift, change the way I operate’.  Depending on the circumstances, the word ‘pleased’ could change the essence of your message.’

The above format allows the listener to build a quick starting point for exploring the relationship further. 

I invite you to ask yourself how you could improve your ability to give brief, snappy introductions.  A simple practice that some of my trainees and coachees engage in as follows:

Each morning, using the above template, think of one situation in which you could use this greeting template.  Craft the most appropriate wording for that specific encounter.  Stand in front of a mirror.  Check your posture.  Are you projecting an image of confidence?  Breathe properly.  Practice the greeting, projecting your voice.  How does that sound?  Practice again.

Do this each morning for two weeks, working on a different scenario every day.  Choose the appropriate words you’d use in that specific situation.   Even try some ‘way out’ examples.   One that I enjoy is imagining that you are the new rugby coach.  (This is for you, girls!).  Using the template above, introduce yourself to your team.  For the guys, imagine that you are Miss South Africa.  You are walking into a room and need to introduce yourself to sponsors (who do not know you).  What words would you use?

Have fun practising a wide range of different situations.  It will help you to improve your ability to build relationships in ‘everyday’ situations.

For more information on training in communication skills, or on ‘integral coaching’ please contact me – Phone:  +27 33 3425432, Mobile:  + 27 82 4993311, brenda@strategy-leadership.com.

 Posted by at 2:00 pm

Effective meetings – Part 3

 Communication Skills Training  Tagged with: , , , ,
Jan 192012
 

Rate yourself as a meeting participant

Often participants presume that ensuring the success of the meeting is the responsibility of the leader.  However, there is a great deal that each participant can do in order to add value and improve the outcome of the meeting.

Please score yourself in the questions below and then reflect on what you could do, as a participant, in order to make those meetings more effective. 

Instructions:  Check ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each of the following questions based on how you act (or would act) as a meeting participant.  Be honest.

YES
NO

 

_____      _____    1.  Do I typically know the purpose of the meetings I attend?

_____      _____    2.  Do I have a clear understanding of my role in meetings attended?

_____      _____    3.  Do I confirm my attendance in advance of the meeting?

_____      _____    4.  Do I complete required ‘homework’ such as looking up information or

                                   studying proposals?

_____      _____    5.  Do I arrive at meetings before they are scheduled to begin?     

_____      _____    6.  Do I engage in side conversations while the meeting is in progress?

_____      _____    7.  Do I leave meetings for reasons such as non-emergency telephone

                                   calls?   

_____      _____    8.  Do I ask questions when I am not sure about something?

_____      _____    9.  Am I typically open to the ideas of others?

_____      _____    10.  Am I a good listener?

_____      _____    11.  Do I actively participate in discussions when there is something

                                     worthwhile to contribute? 

_____      _____    12.  Do I help others stay on the subject?

_____      _____    13.  Following meetings do I take agreed upon action?

_____      _____    14.  Do I contribute to improving meetings by giving feedback to the people

                                     who conduct them either by a note, phone call, or visit?

_____      _____    15.  Following meetings do I inform appropriate people who did not

                                     attend about what was discussed and the outcome?

(These questions are adapted from ‘Effective Meeting Skills’ – Marion E. Hayes.)

If your organisation or you personally would like help in developing skills that will result in more productive meetings, you are welcome to email me – brenda@strategy-leadership.com

 Posted by at 7:00 pm

Effective meetings – Part 2

 Communication Skills Training  Tagged with: , , ,
Jan 172012
 

This is the second blog in a series of three in which we look at how meetings can be more productive.  There are simple ways in which you can improve your skills.

Rate yourself as a meeting leader

Instructions:  Check ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each of the following questions based on how you act (or would act) as a meeting leader.  Be honest.

YES
NO
 

_____      _____      1.  Do I have clear objectives for the meeting?

_____      _____      2.  Am I selective about the invited participants?

_____      _____      3.  Do I prepare an agenda and distribute it in advance of the meeting?

_____      _____      4.  Do I arrive early enough to check the arrangements?

_____      _____      5.  Do I start the meeting promptly regardless of who is present?

_____      _____      6.  Do I follow the agenda?

_____      _____      7.  Do I manage time and conclude the meeting as scheduled?

_____      _____      8.  Do I elicit everyone’s participation?

_____      _____      9.  Do I help in the resolution of conflict?

_____      _____      10.  Do I maintain proper control of the discussion?

_____      _____      11.  Do I summarise accomplishments at the end of the meeting and clarify

                                       any action to be taken?

_____      _____      12.  Do I prepare and distribute a memorandum of discussion?

_____      _____      13.  Do I request evaluative feedback from participants?

_____      _____      14.  Do I take agreed upon action?

_____      _____      15.  Do I follow up on action to be taken by others?

The above questions were adapted from ‘Effective Meeting Skills’ – Marion E. Hayes, a book I read many years ago.  I use a similar approach and have continuously improved on this.

So, now that you have answered the questions, what are you going to do to enhance your performance?  If you’d like more information on training in this area, you are welcome to email me – brenda@strategy-leadership.com

 Posted by at 7:40 am
 Older Entries
© Copyright 2011 Brenda Eckstein International
© 2011 Brenda Eckstein International Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

WordPress Website by Gary