We Live and We Die Based on.....

Once upon a time in a land far far away comes a tale of two men.  The younger gentleman had traveled far and wide to find the older wiser gentleman.  When he finally found him he spent many a minute telling the gentleman about how far he had traveled, all of his accomplishments and the reason for his search.   The younger man pleaded with the older - wiser man,

"Oh wise man, how I would love to sit at your feet and learn what you know.  Please teach me as I want to learn everything you have experienced and become wiser myself."

The older - wiser gentleman quietly asked the man in to partake of his lunch, as he was just sitting down to his midday meal.  The man quickly came in to the table to sit down.  As the older man sat down he noticed that the younger man was searching for something and asked him how he could serve.  The younger man replied,

"I hate to be a bother, but do you possibly have salt?"  

The older man turned to the cupboard, pulled down the salt and gently sat it on the table.  The younger man, quickly turned the salt shaker over and began shaking salt over the prepared food.  As he took his first bite, he made a horrible face and he quickly asked for a glass of water.  The older gentleman slid him over his own cup of water and waited while the younger man finished the drink and gasped out,

" I mean no offense good sir, but the food on this dish is horribly over-seasoned and salted.  May I  suggest that  the person who committed this egregious mistake be asked to leave your household until they learn what is enough and what is too much?"

The older, and much wiser, gentleman gently stood up, walked to the door, and asked the younger man to follow him.  As he led him out the door he quietly said,

"Young man you have indeed traveled far and wide to find me.  Unfortunately I am not the one to help you, as you, yourself, said that the person who does not know what is enough and what is too much should be asked to leave" 

As the younger man gaped at him in astonishment and confusion the older man took pity on him and decided to share a 'little' bit of wisdom with  him, as he had traveled so far to find him.  He continued,

"Earlier you told me you wanted to learn what I know and experience what I have experienced.  What I know, is that one who salts his food before tasting it is simply unable to have enough of an open mind to even begin to comprehend what I can teach him.  You are headstrong and determined - and that is good -  but if not coupled with humility and an understanding of  the importance in owning your own decisions you will never learn and become wise yourself.  I cannot help someone who is close minded, quick to blame others, and unwilling to apply the standard you have set for others to yourself." 

Then the older and much wiser gentleman proceeded to wish the younger man good luck in his journey, returned to his house, and closed the door.  As the younger man walked away, he could be heard muttering...

"It was JUST salt......"

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So.. that's the story and I'm sticking to it!  Now before any of you run off to SNOPES.COM to determine if this is reality or fiction let me just ask...Does it really matter?

We all know what the moral of the story is - an individual who is close minded, unwilling to try new things, which  MIGHT possibly fail, and has an inability to admit mistakes is never going to be a true learner.

Learning is about being open to new experiences, it's expanding your mind to include things you never thought of before.  It's changing your patterns of thinking and hopefully through the learning comes growth.

Without growth - we as individuals become outdated, stale and stuck.  As a corporation or a business it's much, much worse.  We simply become obsolete.  How many of you know a business owner or two that didn't shift to digital photography or the DVD?  A great example is Barnes and Noble - it didn't shift early enough to digital sales and tablets and they are taking a HUGE hit.  Amazon is crushing them with the Kindle and online book sales.  Bookstore?  What's a bookstore?

Do we want to live that out in our personal lives and our professional jobs?  EMBRACE becoming a learning organization.  Do some research!  Look up what a Learning Organization looks like and test yourself against the prototype!  Can you grow?  Can you change?    Are you willing to communicate and support the learning of your staff and embrace an ongoing philosophy of improvement?

These are the types of questions you have to ask yourself in order to thrive and survive in our rapidly changing environment.  BE THE CHANGE!  Be the environment that encourages and supports continuous employee learning, risk taking and out of the box thinking.

I wish you best of luck on this journey - SW
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"A Learning Organization is all about uncovering what we don't know."
"A Learning Organization is not about what we can do today but tomorrow."
"Learning is the Silver Bullet to successfully completing our objectives."
"We live and die based on Learning!" 

Quotes from Gus Valen, Owner of The Valen Group - 2014 - thevalengroup.com

Forks in the Road

"Most people fail in the art of living not because they are inherently bad or so without will that they cannot lead a better life; they fail because they do not wake up and see when they stand at a fork in the road and have to decide. They are not aware when life asks them a question, and when they still have alternative answers. Then with each step along the wrong road it becomes increasingly difficult for them to admit that they are on the wrong road, often only because they have to admit that they must go back to the first wrong turn, and must accept the fact that they wasted energy and time." -Erich Fromm

These past couple of months have been daily decision's at forks in the road.  There is a component of fear and anxiety that is consistent without the foreknowledge of how those decisions will turn out.  That truth of 'we are not aware' is so true.  We are people capable of great self-deception.  What we 'feel', our life experiences, our tinted-sunglasses that offer us a perception that leads us to one path or another isn't necessarily the same as a tried and true map. 

That ability to go back and admit that we are on the wrong road involves a humility that many of us do not posses.  It requires a light to shine brightly on the path so that we can see all the dangers.  Even with the light we can stick our head in the sand, close our eyes, and stubbornly keep on pressing forward.  This happens in our personal lives, our business lives, and it does affect not only ourselves but those around us.

Each of us has that 'fork in the road' choice.  A brief moment in time where we need to choose right/left, up/down, right/wrong and sometimes that 'moment'  isn't as clear and defined as we would like.  I recently saw an article that had several quotes on the choices we make in life.  Several of them were great to pull out, review the fork in the road and to humbly say..."My bad - I made the wrong choice".  Only we have the power to do that in our own lives. 

Because the quotes really sparked my interest I wanted to most definitely share them here with you.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  Please feel free to add your own choice quote or to share which of the quotes impacted you the most.  SW

Dr. Shad Helmstetter’s book titled “Choices.” 

1 – “No one else can ever make your choices for you. Your choices are yours alone. They are as much a part of you as every breath you will take, every moment of your life.”

2 – “You may think that in life,a lot of things happen to you along the way. The truth is, in life, you happen to a lot of things along the way.”

3 – “Choosing to live your life by your own choice is the greatest freedom you will ever have.”

4 – “It is only when you exercise your right to choose that you can also exercise your right to change.”

5 – “It is your programming that has created your choices in the past. It is the choices you make today that are creating the programs of your future.”

6 – “If you were given only one choice: To choose or not to choose, which would you choose?”

7 – “The choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design.”

8 – “Another person’s choice is nothing more than another alternative for you to consider.”

9 – “There is no life as complete as the life that is lived by choice.”

10 – “There may be a thousand little choices in a day. All of them count.”

11 – “Whatever you choose, you  might as well enjoy it. It is your choice.”

12 – “When you have a problem,make a choice…you’ll feel better.”

13 – “If you’d like to know what your choices have been, look at yourself and the life you have lived. What you see is the choices you have made.”

14 – “Who knows what you could accomplish in life if you made more of the right choices along the way?”

15 – “Some people choose to live by complaining. Other people choose to live.”

16 – “You cannot manage your life if you do not manage your self. You cannot manage your self if you do not manage your choices. Manage your choices, and you will manage your life.”

17 – “Learning what to choose,and how to choose, may be the most important education you will ever receive.”

18 – “The choices we make in the heat of emotion would be better if left for some other day.”

21 – “It is the big choices we make that set our direction. It is the smallest choices we make that get us to the destination.”

22 – “Each day that passes, your choices will come and go. They are like diamonds in a chest of jewels, each waiting to be discovered.”

23 – “Those who choose to succeed always do better than those who never choose at all.”

24 – “The highest levels are most certainly filled with those who chose to be there.”

25 – “If you have to take time to make a choice, take time. Then make the choice.”

26 – “The end result of your life here on earth will always be the sum total of the choices you made while you were here.”



What Type of Leader Are You?

DISCLAIMER:  One of my more rambling Blogs - meant to help me 'work a thought out' to learn from it.

I share it here, in the hopes that it might shine some light on a situation you may be facing.  SW

I'm having difficulty starting this Blog because my thoughts and opinions and memories of experiences are all over the place... But it's really on my mind this topic of 'Leadership'.  There are some of the traditional types of leaders to choose from:

•   It's my way or the highway!
•   I want to know what you think, I need your feedback but ultimately...it's my decision
•   I'm giving you complete freedom to get this done...I have other things to do.

I think what I am more interested in is the breakdown of Emotional Leadership.  Actually,  until I wanted to write this Blog I didn't even know they had a category for this and that they have specific names.  I did some research and apparently there is a man named Daniel Goleman and he has a whole 'thing' around this 'emotional intelligence' and how it can be applied to Leadership.  He differentiates between TYPES of Leaders and STYLES of Leaders.  

Here are the  STYLES of Leadership:  

Commanding:

Visionary:

Affiliative:

Democratic:

Pacesetting:

Coaching:

I will summarize a nice little chart below that compares all of these, but for my own purposes I think I am most interested in exploring Visionary - Affiliative - Coaching.  These seem to have a positive effect but I have to wonder, if these aren't coupled with a balance of teaching, correcting, and actually offering practical skills, if these types of Leadership Styles actually show long term success.  

For example:  I am familiar with a leader who is great in his own right and with a Visionary - Affiliative-Coaching style of Leadership he has inspired and motivated large crowds of people to 'keep on keeping on'.

When things were tough, when people couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel and when we couldn't believe in ourselves his encouragement carried us over until we could see the light and we could believe in ourselves and those around us.  

He could take a person who had raw potential and could inspire them to try.  He was very relational and he created harmony through a common goal. His end result was to hold you up, until you started to believe the hype and could fulfill that vision.

This sounds great right?  

Well not so much, when it came to being organized, communicating clearly, and teaching .  Others took on that role.  While he was inspiring us to believe, someone else was teaching us how.  While he was looking to the future, someone else was in the moment and handling the day to day issues.  

When he left the company, those that he had 'raised up' or 'mentored' were some of the most positive people and their self - confidence was off the chart but their ability to lead a project, delegate responsibilities, follow up on tasks and communicate the details were non-existent.

What is more important? Is that real Leadership success?  Is it a question of priorities? Where is the balance?   I look at this type of Leadership and I think that it's needed, but it can also be so hurtful to those that you "Lead" if you can't follow through.  When our Leader left, he left behind great people but with no skills.  So now we have projects with no real clarity or direction.  We have no communication between the managers and sadly enough we don't have those types of people in the organization who can do these things because they got frustrated long ago and moved on to other projects in the building.  

I recognize that these STYLES of Leadership are needed and can have positive outcomes but I really believe that this kind of relational - orientated Leadership has to parallel some sort of organizational - orientated Leadership.   

MBA-LEADERSHIP-TYPES Software Strategy Model Framework Analysis Management

My last thoughts are this:  Balance...Yin/Yang...Right side/Left side - It's all about putting the pieces together. This last leader was fantastic at the People Focus(left side of chart above) but in order to be really successful you HAVE TO be able to balance that with Task Focus.(right side of chart above) 

Being Task Focused is the other half of the complete picture.  It's about the organization as a whole and tackling those Leadership skills and behaviors that are needed for success.  I like to think that I am a balanced leader. In probability I can tend to get task focused, and I could need some mentoring in Business Leadership.  I guess the point is - We can all improve somewhere - the first step is recognizing what we are missing and then pursuing it in order to create a more balanced leader.  What are you pursuing today?  Where are you lacking?  Who is in your life that can help you in an area where you can improve?  I wish you the best of luck as you continue on this journey.

**Would you like to know a fun fact?  As I was closing the article down and sharing my feelings I went to Google to find an image for my BLOG and the above chart showed up which PRECISELY summed up what I was struggling with understanding.  It's amazing how small a world we really do live in.  

Thanks for reading, please feel free to post a question, comment or your own experience of unbalanced leadership and how it turned out for you.  

Styles Chart (as referenced above)

Optimism in the Workplace - What Does it Matter?

For whatever reason this past week has been full of articles, quotes and random conversations on 'Optimism'.  It's like the Universe has been screaming I want you to BLOG about this or so I am interpreting.

Does the question ' Is the glass half-full or half-empty' really matter to an Executive or an Administrator? How does that view point affect the big ticket items like sales, employee retention, and decision making?
Why is optimism even important?  Can't you be just as effective and be a pessimist?  Here is what I think -

Pessimists can be quitters.  They see an obstacle, they can visualize the perceived outcome and they just give in and give up.  I mean, it wasn't going to work out anyway so why not quit?  Whereas Optimists see the possibilities and continue to search for a solution because they know that one is out there....just around the corner!

But wait!  Before the pessimist's get all snarky let's look at what I mean by Optimism.  I'm definitely not talking about the Pollyana types.  The kind of people that float through life making impossible goals and setting outlandish expectations in the hope that everything will magically turn out ok if you only believe!  I'm referring to the kind of optimism that is denoted in the following paragraph by Dana Lightman PHD:

The optimists who are needed in today’s workplace embody qualities that include self-awareness, flexibility, self-confidence, initiative, resiliency, and adaptability.  Whether CEO, manager or line staff, these optimists employ a system of thinking, feeling and behaving that creates conditions for success.  Their optimistic attitude allows them to recognize and redirect unproductive reactions, to think before acting, and to choose beneficial responses.  Optimism equips them with a perspective that fosters personal accountability, innovative thinking and appropriate risk-taking. 

WOW!  Optimism is sounding better and better.

Did you know that your brain can actually tell when you are feeling optimistic and it can affect your learning and your work output?  When you are pessimistic it sees danger and tells you to slow down, be cautious, hunker down and wait it out.  Alternatively when you are feeling optimistic it's saying - Be generous, explore, learn and take it all in so you can be fantastically productive.  Your attitude can actually affect  how you think and how your perform in a particular setting.  AH-mazing!

So for all of you pessimists out there don't worry - Optimism can be learned!    You can become 50% more optimistic by simply learning how to make the right choices.  In effect, those right choices will signal your brain how to react, adapt and change more positively in today's competitive and sometimes stressful workplace.  Are you ready?  Here are the top five questions you can ask yourself in any situation:

1. What can I do to achieve the best results/outcome?
2. What are some out of the box responses that I can have to this situation?
3.  What piece of knowledge do I need to know to reach a productive conclusion?
4.  What can I learn from this situation that will help me in the future?
5.  What is an interpretation of this event that will motivate me to continue to strive for excellence/success?

By employing strategies that allow you to put these questions into practice, you become more adept in handling any situation that might arise.  When things don’t go your way, don’t waste time and energy thinking, “This always happens to me.  I can never get a break.”  This kind of thinking leads to inaction, helplessness, avoidance and conflict in the workplace.  Instead, respond to a difficult situation by focusing your energy on areas of the situation that can be controlled.  Figure out ways to solve problems creatively and appraise events objectively in order to find beneficial actions.  When there is a setback or mistake, look for insights that will help you improve.  And approach difficulties by looking for potential gains. (Dana Lightman PHD)

So one more piece of final advice and from an ICON to boot!

TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT!!

(For those of you under 35...it's a reference to a LIFE cereal commercial!  Come on already!!)

iBeacons - What in the World?

Have you ever experienced the joys of chilling out to an iPod? How about the instant gratification of having an ipad or an iphone right at your fingertips?   These are all items brought to you by Apple.  Are you wondering what Apple is going to roll out next?  Well – I can tell you right here!  The iBeacon.

Have you heard of it?  No?  Don't worry, as evidenced by my recent research trip to the nearest APPLE store, neither have their own employees.  If you google it you will only find a handful of sites that have only the barest of information available, on the consumer side.  BUT YET it's out there, it's being used in stores like American Eagle, Starbucks, Macy's and even some local grocery stores.

WHAT IS IT?  Introduced in the summer of 2013 as a feature of iOS 7, Apple's new mobile notifications system iBeacon is being hailed by big brands as the next great opportunity in advertising. Using tiny Bluetooth wireless transmitters affixed to buildings, iBeacon lets companies send iPhone owners specific pop-up notifications based on their location and proximity to stores and products.

Disclaimer - That paragraph above I swiped from some Wikipedia Source–

My take on what it is:

A store has an iBeacon (it fits in the palm of your hand) and it places this iBeacon on a shelf, near a product, just inside it’s door (basically wherever they want). If you have purchased the corresponding app, set the permissions and have wifi/Bluetooth enabled when you walk by the iBeacon will say to your App – HEY OVER HERE…SOMETHING COOL YOU WANT TO SEE, BUY OR TRY!! And in an age of Instant gratification I can’t imagine that this isn't going to explode in 2014!!

Here are some of the highlights around the specs that I have been reading about this week:

What devices will allow me to utilize these ibeacons?

• iOS devices with Bluetooth 4.0 (iPhone 4S and later, iPad 3 and later, iPod touch 5, iPad mini and later)
• Android devices with Bluetooth 4.0 and Android 4.3 and later (Samsung Galaxy S3/S4/S4 Mini, Samsung Galaxy Note II/III, HTC One, Nexus 7 2013 edition, Nexus 4, Nexus 5,^[13] HTC Butterfly,  Droid DNA)^[14]
• Macintosh computers with OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) and Bluetooth 4.0 using the MacBeacon application from Radius Networks.^[15]

How is it different from NFC?  (I had to look this up)

NFC - Near Field Communication - basically you've seen those TV commercials where people are going around pressing their phones up against other phones and sharing data?  Well THAT is NFC.  

Although the NFC environment is very different and has many non-overlapping applications, it is still compared with iBeacons.

• NFC range is up to 20 cm (7.87 inches) but the optimal range is < 4 cm (1.57 inches). iBeacons have up to 50 m range
• Not all phones have NFC chips (no iOS devices) but most phones have Bluetooth capability (most new ones come with 4.0).
• With the zero battery energy harvesting technology used from devices made by Passif, there is less battery used than NFC.

So in a nutshell with iBeacons you don't have to go around touching your phone to things to get data updates! Additionally you don't have to have a special chip in your phone and iBeacon batteries can last 12-24 months.  

So as always when it comes to new technology I always want someone to break it down for me.  Basically give me the real world application – Give me something my non- technical brain can compute.

So this is what I know – Happy Reading –

You’re in the mall – heading to the department store on the other end; your phone vibrates and you see a small advertisement pop up on the screen.  It says, “Starbucks Coffee buy one get one free”.  You look up and notice you are just now walking by a STARBUCKS.  You and your friend rush in to buy a coffee.

You have just been subjected to one of the benefits of an iBeacon. – Retail information and flash sales at a glance.

You have just used your car’s GPS system to navigate to the Civic Center where you are heading for an all day conference.  Once inside you realize you have no idea where you are going – Oh wait – Your phone vibrates and you see that the room you wanted is just to the right.

You have just been subjected to one of the benefits of an iBeacon – A GPS location to help you navigate the indoors.

These things are pretty cool.  GPS Stalking might be catching on.  As with all new technology one of the key things to remember is that it’s almost less about what iBeacons can do now, but more for the possibility of what they will be doing in the future.  

The MLB is experimenting right now with how to best utilize this technology…no more searching for seats, for your favorite hot dog stand, or even having to stand and search your pockets for that wayward ticket.

There are healthcare applications – A doctor who walks in your room and can see your chart, your diagnosis, your medication etc.. This is information intended for a physician and is wiped from the device as he/she walks out of your room.

What about education applications?  When a teacher enters his classroom with a beacon in his pocket – all ipads are forced to only access the textbook and informational websites only!  It’s happening people!

So long story….longer; It’s a work in progress but APPLE is leading the way. 

As with any technology there are pro’s and con’s and to be fair I don’t think you can have a conversation like this without bringing up the obvious elephant in the room:  Security?  Hacking?  Hippa (Healthcare)?  Are we just asking for it?  Well that’s another subject for another day, but in the meantime keep your eyes peeled for what’s just around the corner.

                          

                          

Five Reasons Why We All Need Laughter in the Workplace!

Another great article - on how important laughter is in the workplace!  For those of you who know me and have worked with me you can understand why I support this sort of thinking.  I am a firm believer in the power of laughter.  My favorite points in the article below go hand in hand with my personal beliefs on the importance of culture, innovation and learning.  Please take a moment to read and remember... If you want to see change in your workplace you have to be willing to BE THE CHANGE!!

Much Love,
Sarah

Why do many people get so serious at work? I remember getting into trouble at school for laughing – for teachers in my day it was a sign that someone had lost their focus or worse had committed the taboo of causing others to laugh.

This carried through to the workplace, where everyone was most likely to put on a serious persona. Not anymore! It is slowly being eroded and with good reason!

1. Leaders use laughter to create a fun culture
   Great leaders know that humor is an excellent way to connect with people. If you want to communicate and build trust, Humor is an excellent tool for breaking down the barriers that are assumed between people of different rank in an organization. The skill is the ability to walk into a room, particularly one that has an element of tension within it, and present a humorous anecdote or quip to change the mood.
   A good sense of humor shows that you have a clear understanding of what others are expecting. It is amazing how people warm to those that show understanding, whether it is explicit (e.g. I appreciate how you feel...) or implicit (an ice-breaking joke that makes everyone relax).
   Taking that level of seriousness out of the air is a great tool for then delivering a message that you want people to absorb. Humour can really send a sense of confidence throughout the organization, and it should be encouraged.
2. Laughter is healthy for you – and it's contagious
   Have a good laugh, the kind that makes your stomach hurt and your cheeks ache, floods your body with a range of endorphins that boost your mood and your health. In the current climate of rising stress level and competing timetables, a good laugh can really ward off the demons that come with being at high level intensity for extended periods of time.
   The contagious nature of humour is similar (but not as powerful) as that of yawning. If there are two people laughing hysterically you will see people getting out of their chairs to come and find out what the big joke is. People want to be laughing and enjoying themselves, and hearing laughter in the distance can bring a smile to our face even when we have no idea what's caused it all.
   Laughter is known to reduce stress levels, lower blood pressure and boost your immune system. Exactly what we need at work!
3. Laughter goes hand in hand with innovation
   The most essential ingredient to innovation is idea sharing. Without ideas you don't have innovation, and if you have staff that are up to their eyeballs in stress, who are too scared to throw an idea up then you don't have any ideas coming through. A culture that is fun and embraces laughter breaks down so many barriers that it also removes the block that prevents contribution.
   Laughter creates that relaxed state in which people are not only more confident to share ideas but also more receptive to hearing them. Innovation is less likely when people are angry or stressed – these people tend to feel irritated by new ideas because it has the potential of providing a distraction, or worse still a change in circumstances that they are already struggling to cope with.
4. Laughter is optimal for learning
   Laughter makes the mind more open to new ideas, so it optimises learning. Psychologists and neurologists have known for years that anything that has an emotional component is more likely to be remembered than a pure list of facts without context.
   This is why we learn better when we find material exciting – the emotional element (excitement) really enhances the shift of new material from short-term memory into long-term memory.
   Interweaving humour with learning material works on two levels – firstly it breaks the learner out of learning malaise (which is that feeling you get after hearing someone boring speak for more than two minutes) by providing something unexpected, but it also increases the uptake of the information that accompanies it due to the neurological benefits of experiencing an emotion at the same time.
5. Error-based examples make us laugh
   Nobody wants to be the person at work that makes the mistake that everyone else learns from – but if we hear a tale of how someone else managed to embarrass themselves with a calamitous mistake we all have a chuckle and take the moral lesson on board.
   Someone running a "HUGE T-SHIRT PROMOTION" accidentally sent out a flyer without the letter R in the word SHIRT. Luckily, he had a good sense of humour the customers took great joy in calling him up throughout the week and having a few laughs at his expense. Needless to say that proofreading headings became an essential part of the workflow, not only for him but for anyone else who was part of the promotion.
   Anything that enhances self-awareness is a great tool for improving the performance of the team. Unfortunately, most do this through the use of fear, which limits mistakes but also robs people of confidence and self-directed action.
   The good news is that we are allowed to laugh at work. It isn't (always) a sign of slacking off, but it is actually healthy and beneficial for everyone in the office. Jokes, laughter and excitement should be encouraged, provided they are respectful of diversity and not taunting.
   
   

THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED ON SMARTCOMPANY

How Do You Communicate?

Too often we think of communicating as someone telling someone something...when in fact that is just talking!  If there isn't someone on the other end of that talking who is listening and responding we are just sending our words into the black hole of nothingness.

We've heard it said that two-way communication is paramount to success and nothing is more true than that statement when it comes to succeeding in business.  We laugh at the cartoon above but how often has someone asked us to do something and then when it doesn't get done we say..."well... I did ask you about...".   Too often we are quick to blame someone else for a dropped ball.

Good communication is both giving and receiving until the cycle is complete and the end goal has been either accomplished or changed.  In addition to exchanging information it's also about understanding that information.  I can sit and listen to a man speak German to me for an hour and I can respond in English and he can then respond in German and we can go back and forth but unless both of us are bi-lingual there will be no understanding and therefore no real communication.

In today's society there is no greater opportunity for miscommunication than right now.  We email, we text, we instant message, we do everything but walk down the hall or across the room to communicate with our co-workers.  But one of the greatest tools we have and what separates us from the rest of the crazy animals in the zoo is the ability to speak and to be understood.  

Effective communication is vital to the success of a business. It helps build trust and creates an environment where creative ideas and problem-solving are welcomed and encouraged. When there is no open communication, miscommunication or misunderstanding is often the result, causing conflict and frustration among team members. Heads of organizations need to understand that good communication and leadership is tied closely together. In this age of real-time data, we process a lot of information on a daily basis. The messages that are being sent through text messaging, emails, instant messaging and even social media platforms cannot be the only form of communication that we have in our teams.

Effective Communication Starts with Listening

Listening is an important skill to master. It's not just hearing the words that are being said but also understanding and connecting with what the person is saying. If you want to create an atmosphere where your co-workers feel valued and inspired to freely share ideas, then you will need to hone your listening skills in order to fully connect.

·         When conducting meetings, you must create an environment in which your team feels safe to freely express their ideas and opinions whether they agree or disagree with you. Make it a forum where each person can resolve issues in a creative way.

·         Do not interrupt team members when they are speaking. When team members are airing their ideas and you don't agree with what is being said, instead of thinking about your response, really listen to what is being said.

·         Focus fully on who is speaking. In this age where it is so easy to be looking down at our smartphones or checking emails during online meetings, we tend to miss out on important details of what is being said.

Sharpen Email Skills

Let’s face it.  Email is the most used form of communication when it comes to running a business.  As a leader in your organization, you will need to be able to manage your inbox in an efficient manner and train those around you to answer emails promptly especially regarding any customer related issues.

·         Train everyone to reply to emails in a clear and concise manner. Make sure to address the important key points in your reply to avoid unnecessary back and forth.

·         If you cannot act on a message or a request by a team member right away, send a quick note letting them know you will get back to them soon. Don't leave them hanging.

·         If there are documents that need revisions and team collaboration, use tools that can be accessed by the team instead of sending it as an attachment.

·         If a communication issue cannot be resolved by email, pick up the phone to make sure the message is clear and nothing is left to chance.

Manage Stress for Effective Communication

Being overly stressed can lead to poor communication especially when most of your communication is accomplished over email. Poorly written messages can easily be misinterpreted and tend to send misleading signals which can disrupt your capacity to think clearly and communicate creatively and effectively. Postpone communication or sending emails when you are stressed. Take time to calm down before engaging with your clients and team.

Remove Barriers In Communication

Effective communication can only become easier when team members get to know each other better.  Touch base once a week to discuss where you are, how you’re doing and what’s about to take place.  Share your ups and downs and share your challenges so that others around you can have the opportunity to listen and to advise (if needed).   For those employees that can’t always be on site hold meetings via SKYPE or FACETIME. 

Meetings don't have to be lengthy. Make it a priority to discuss goals achieved for the week and team objectives for next week. Encourage your team to call you directly when urgent matters needs to be discussed so that workflow is not unnecessarily disrupted. This practice is something that I found quite useful. It allows for fast turnaround in problem solving and creative discussion in real time.

Great communication won’t solve ALL of your team problems, but it does go a loooong way in helping to bridge the gap.  Ask yourself how you can improve your own communication style and then hop to it!!

Best of Luck,

Sarah