Work Babble

Enriching Your Communications

By Tony Deblauwe

We all know that communication is key in any endeavor between people. The ability to influence the right outcomes means the difference between success or failure. Interpersonal communication requires not only being clear about what you want but how you present or pitch your side of the story. That’s the tricky part.

Whether you’re an employee, job seeker, or parent, your capability to connect to another party to persuade the person to your point of view requires the right approach.  Everything from your tone to the language you use impacts the heart and mind of the recipient to either agree with you or not. So how do you enrich your communication and be more compelling?

Individuals respond faster to similarity. That is, if you speak with someone and adapt to their conversational style, you build a climate of trust and understanding. As you match pace with someone your message will be more easily absorbed.

Create engaging conversation through the senses. Language can be flat and neutral which draws little reaction. Insert sensory-stimulating language that engages a person’s positive memory experiences to feel pleasant. The recipient will associate your message with a good emotion.

The way you speak is an extension of how you think. For example, a visual thinker will say “I see what you mean” and an auditory thinker will say “That sounds good.” Simple examples like these can help you quickly gauge what kind of person you are communicating with. You can adjust your message in big picture terms or to talk things through in detail.

Here are two examples to compare and contrast a sensory compelling statement versus a neutral statement.

“Please stop and read the yellow memo near the shop floor entrance. It defines your role in keeping everyone safe.”

“Please read the new safety procedures.”

Which statement resonates more with you? Now you can argue that short and sweet is better but the second statement is bland and offers no call to action. The other statement provides a sensory experience and a clear direction that reading the memo also has an accountability that comes with it – safety of others.

Inspirational leaders understand the power of enriched communication. They connect with their audience and they are able to weave a story that appeals to the eyes, ears, and feelings of listeners. You can achieve the thing and measure your success by how your recipient stays engaged with you, asks questions, and connects with you on a personal level.

Sticking Your Neck Out: Discover the Top 7 Ways to Reach Your Peak Performance

By Nikki Stone
Author of When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out

As a motivational speaker for Fortune 500 companies and an Olympic gold medalist, I have seen what makes an individual most successful in the boardroom and on the slopes. Over the last five years, I have researched the similarities of forty different highly-successful individuals -- including the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Prince Albert of Monaco, Dr. Stephen Covey, Shaun White and many more. And no matter the field or endeavor, I have found The Turtle Effect philosophy at the core of everyone's success. 

This philosophy was taught to me by my mother, who told me that I could achieve anything I wanted. I always held it close and adapted it to every situation I encountered. I'd like to help people breathe in this confidence and share the secrets that are common to those at the top of their given field. 

1. Have a Soft Inside -- let your heart drive your actions

Find Your Passion: Do the things you hate first so you can truly get pleasure from the parts of your job and day that you are most passionate about.  First thing in the morning write down five things you don't like to do. Do each before 11:00 a.m., and check off that you've done them. Doing the thing you hate most will allow you to spend the rest of the day or week focusing on the things you enjoy the most.

2. Develop Your Hard Shell -- stay strong against life's challenges

Enhance Your Focus: Try to complete a task or project today as well as you can -- without looking at others for approval. Can you bring something to fruition without worrying about the outcome?  If you do feel you have to see your "results", compare them to your own past efforts rather than to what someone else has achieved.

Be Committed: Either give yourself a challenge or challenge a colleague, teammate or friend to decide on a certain goal with you. Write the challenge down on an index card and tape it to the wall to remind yourself of your goal. This commitment will make you accountable to your goals and responsible for your actions.

Overcoming Adversities: Ask yourself, "If I knew I couldn't fail, what would I try?" After you answer this question, ask yourself why it would be so awful to fail at the task or activity. We learn much more from our failures than we learn from our accomplishments.

3. Be Willing to Stick Your Neck Out -- put yourself out there and find the support to make sure you follow through

Build Your Confidence: We all have our strong points and we need to remind ourselves of these attributes. Create a list today of all the personal traits that give you confidence. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and knowing your strengths will help you compensate for your shortcomings.

Start Taking Risks: We can't be afraid of failure. If you don't try, you have already failed. Why not give yourself the chance to succeed? Pick something that scares you a bit, and decide you are going to take the risk to follow through with it today.

Find Your Teamwork: A support system is crucial in helping you develop a strong character. Go out today and ask a few close friends how they would describe you. If they define you only in terms of your accomplishments, take the time to show them who you are in terms of your relationships. Think about the things you may be doing to project a title rather than a personality, and correct that.

I find that the same factors work to put someone at the top of their game, whether you are a triumphant athlete, Fortune 500 CEO, an accomplished politician, successful educator, or even an effective parent. 

I hope these tips help you find your Turtle Effect and encourage you to strive for levels once thought impossible.

©2010 Nikki Stone, author of When Turtles Fly: Secrets of Successful People Who Know How To Stick Their Necks Out

About Nikki
At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Nikki Stone became America's first-ever Olympic champion in the sport of aerial skiing. What made this performance so unbelievable was the fact that, less than two years earlier, a chronic spinal injury prevented her from standing, much less walking or skiing off a twelve-foot-tall snow jump that launches aerialists fifty feet into the air. She overcame the injury and went on to earn 35 World Cup medals, 11 World Cup titles, 4 national titles, 3 World Cup titles, a World Championship title, and membership in the Ski Hall of Fame.

Nikki is also a magna cum laude graduate of Union College and a summa cum laude masters graduate of the University of Utah. Her aerial retirement is less than restful as she trains Olympic athletes and business professionals in speaking/media skills, coaches personal and professional development courses, hosts group skiing adventures, sits on five different charitable committees, and writes articles and columns for many magazines, newspapers, and websites.

Nikki's career focus is now on traveling around the world working as a sought-after motivational speaker, sharing her secrets to success by inspiring her business audiences to "Stick their necks out." Every spare moment is spent with husband, Michael Spencer, and daughter, Zali, in Park City, Utah. 

For more information, please visit www.WhenTurtlesFly.com

Laughter Yoga

I recently attended a seminar sponsored by a local organization development professional group (SBODN) called Laughter Yoga (LY). In the spirit of covering concepts related to workplace wellness I attended the seminar to satisfy my curiosity. The instructor was Mary Pat O-Rourke, a former student of LY’s founder, Dr. Madan Kataria (as seen in the CNN video).  

The seminar opened with simple clapping exercise and quickly moved into the forced laughing portion. Cutting to the chase, it was a wild, roaring good time – corniness and all- amongst the group. I was surprised to see how the techniques helped me to feel looser and relaxed despite how ridiculous I felt doing it.

Benefits

Like regular yoga, laughter yoga has a concentration and breathing element to it. Its not just about uncontrolled laughing and clapping. There is a rhythm and despite the outward part of it, can provide the immune boosting chemicals in the body that help fend of disease, but more importantly, improves one’s state of mind.  After all, when you spend 45 minutes laughing at others you’re bound to start laughing for real, and that creates positive energy.

Workplace Application

While Dr. Kataria’s website www.laughteryoga.org has a video and explanation of how the technique could work with teams; I am a bit skeptical on this part. I think a modified version of the approach could work in some settings but I’m not convinced this is as broad an application as stress reduction courses that focus on the breathing and small simple movements to promote calm and concentration. Still, like any well structured wellness program, the client and the practitioner need to determine how best to utilize the tools that drive successful implementation.

Bottom line, I think LY is worth checking out – even as an individual. While silly, the premise is based on solid health research. It’s certainly a different way to achieve focus, and if nothing else, forces you to really let go and not take yourself so seriously

Finding Your Success Recipe

Guest post by Ray Bertani

If you are like most people, you tend to judge your success by comparing yourself and your situation to other people, usually within your inner circle of friends and acquaintances.  You have more than this person, but less than that person, and so on.   This “keeping up with the Jones’s” mentality leads to nothing but more stress and less contentment.   More importantly, it does not increase your chance at attaining true success.

Success is not about having more than someone else or being better than someone else, true success comes from having more than YOU had and being better than YOU were.  If you measure your success on whether or not you have a better situation (according to you) than other people that you know then sooner or later you will have a rude awakening.  The most accurate measure of success is not in relation to someone else but in relation to you.  Are you in better shape this year than last?  Is your financial situation better this year than last?  Are you spending more time with your loved ones, or less?  Are you becoming a better father, son, sister, brother, friend or employee?  Are you giving more of yourself than you used to?  As long as you are constantly improving based on your own definitions and values, then you are a success. 

There are those self help guru’s that preach the message of freeing oneself from all material things.  That the pursuit of money and luxuries will lead to our ultimate demise and that we should only be concerned with our spirit and inner peace.  I’m not one of them.  I do however believe that it is misguided to base success solely on material things.  The same goes if you measure your success based on any one factor.  True success is based on balance. Balance is the key to success.  If you have a billion dollars but no one to share your life with, are you successful?    If you have loving relationships, but can’t clothe your children, are you successful?  If you have a great career, but no time to enjoy the benefits of your hard work, are you successful?  If you have money, a great career, close relationships, but are in poor health are you successful?   True success is having a life of balance based on what you define as being most important to you.  Look at all aspects of your life and find the balance that works for you.  Balance doesn’t mean that you must have equal amounts of each of the factors.  You may put a greater importance on your health and personal relationships than on finances and leisure time or you may put a greater importance on giving back to your community than on making a buck, or you may put a greater importance on financial abundance because you feel that you will be able to give more if you have more.  That’s for you to decide. 

Having said that I believe there are six areas that we need to balance in order to feel truly successful.  These are (in no particular order).

1. Finances/Career
2. Relationships
3. Health & Fitness
4. Leisure time
5. Personal growth
6. Giving back

Each of these six areas needs to be accounted for in our experience of life.  Take each of these areas and decide what your success formula looks like based on your values and desires.  Give each area a weight, a percentage of importance.   The percentages should add up to a hundred when you’re finished.  This is your balance, your success formula; this is what a successful life means to you.   Look at it as your recipe for success.

For example,  

Finances/Career          15%

Relationships               20%

Health & Fitness          25%

Leisure time                 15%

Personal growth           15%

Giving back                 10%

                                     ____

                                     100%

In the above example, which is hypothetical and for illustration purposes only, 100% success is achieved by the realization of each and all of these factors and in accordance with this balance or weighing of each factor.   The maximum success level which can be achieved without strong relationships is 80%.  The maximum success level which can be achieved without personal growth is 85%, and so on.  If this hypothetical person was putting all their success eggs in the finance basket, even if they achieved financial abundance, at the end of the day would still only be 15% successful. These are the people who are sitting in their beautiful homes, driving their fancy cars and wondering why they feel empty and unfulfilled.   The reason is that they don’t have enough ingredients in their success recipe…they don’t have balance.

About Ray
Ray Bertani is the Managing Director and Founder of Cura Solutions, a professional and personal development firm dedicated to assisting great organizations and great people achieve their potential.  Ray’s first book entitled, “Breaking The DEAL” is due for completion in the spring of 2010.  For more information on Cura Solutions or to book Ray to speak at your next corporate or association event visit their website at www.curasolutions.ca or email Ray at ray@curasolutions.ca. 

Working at Home – How to Prevent Interruptions

Guest post by Work Babble Sponsor, Debbie Ruston

The holidays can reek havoc on the stay-at-home entrepreneur. Debbie Ruston of Abundant Lifestyle provides us a few tips…

Organizing yourself and your workload in a way that prevents interruptions is a pivotal entrepreneurial skill that must be developed. However, during the holidays, that can be easier said than done, especially for new entrepreneurs starting up, when you are responsible for many of the day to day functions of your business, and you are working out of a home office. Many day-to-day distractions can get in the way: unexpected drop ins, family/friends calling, demands of children or spouse, dogs needing to go out, laundry, outside chores.....the list is endless.

 

When we work from a home office, we tend to "see" all the other things that need to be done in our home and it is so easy to get distracted or interrupted. I read a study recently that people are interrupted an average of 15 times in their 8 hr work day, and the challenge with these interruptions is even if they are only 5 min, when we lose our train of thought, it takes an average of 20 minutes to get back in the swing of things again, and if you were on a roll with something important, it takes time to get the ball rolling again.

 

So how do you get yourself organized, get important things done and maintain balance in your life? Well it actually starts with the word "organized"(as silly as that sounds). If you are not organized then everything and anything will get in your way.

 

Here are some key strategies to keeping yourself organized so that interruptions do not get in the way of your success:

 

1. Focus. Be very clear on the fact that when you have work to do, you must be COMMITTED to yourself. Do what you say you are going to do and give yourself more loyalty and commitment than you gave to your previous employer. You deserve that!

 

2. Use a daytimer. Slot in all the important tasks you need to personally look after and put time frames on them. I recommend doing this a week in advance. Each Friday I look at the following week and slot in all my commitments, starting with my fitness classes....these are not flexible so I put them in first to keep that commitment I have made to myself to go to the gym 5-6 times per week. Then I slot in everything else including my down time to be with family and friends.

 

3. Have a voicemail system. If you are busy with another task, let the calls go to voicemail. You will get far more done if you stay focused on what you were doing and then return calls, than if you allow an interruption in the middle of something. This applies to all other technological interruptions - email, skype, social media, etc.

 

When you have calls to return, sit down and return the calls and do not get sidetracked with getting a coffee, throwing in some laundry or any other household task you see on your walk to the kitchen. Do not allow yourself to move from that phone until you have returned all the calls you have.

 

4. Set appointments. Book meetings with friends or family that want to drop in rather than having people drop in "whenever". You are self employed - if you want to spend time with someone that is coming over you can time slot as much time as you want - but if it is a surprise drop in, your time spent with them will not be of the same quality because you will be thinking about all the things you should be doing.

 

5. Professional work environment. Make sure you have a private work space, preferably with a door! When your door is closed it is a sign to anyone else in the home that you are "working" and can't be disturbed unless it is an emergency. Some successful home business entrepreneurs even have an unwritten rule in their home - if the door is shut, unless someone is bleeding, do not open that door.

 

Really this all is just common sense. Decide what you want to achieve and remember that nothing will interrupt you unless you allow it. When you are an entrepreneur working from home, YOU call the shots, YOU have the control....be at cause, not the effect of things going on around you, and remember during this time of year - ENJOY the holidays - you CAN have your Christmas cake and it too!

 

About Debbie

Debbie Ruston has been a successful entrepreneur since 1987, specializing for the past 5 years in positive media, human interest documentaries, and personal development - helping people worldwide get better results in their lives.  Visit her blog at http://www.debbieruston.com to learn more about improving your life, and getting the results you are looking for. Those of you looking for a career change, you can reach Debbie directly at 1-800-576-2917 or 1-519-342-4050 to learn how to start your own business and take control of your future.

 

-Thanks for the great insight Debbie. I appreciate your sponsorship and I encourage all Work Babblers looking for options to build their dream and start a business to contact Debbie.