Communication Skills

9 strategies for Communicating with Difficult People

2010-06-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

But, I Just Don't Like You.... Do you have a difficult person in your life at work or at home? If so, you are not alone. And, they can be anywhere! You may have one in your neighborhood, your family, at work, as a customer, or maybe even your own household (if you have a teenager, you know what I mean). That's right - I'm talking about someone that, at the moment anyway, you just don't like.

Yes We Can Say No

2010-05-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

There is nothing I ever need to have. There is nothing I ever need to do. I say no to the demands of the world. I say yes to the longings of my own heart. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Why is saying no so darn hard? Okay, admit it. You are over committed. You have said yes when you should have said no and now you are spending time on things you wonder how you ever got involved in, leaving you

6 Awesome Listening Tips

2010-05-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Man's inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively. — Carl Rogers It Takes Two to Listen If I could sum up all this listening advice in one short sentence it would be: Listen more and talk less. There. Now do that. It's not quite that simple, is it? Listening is a skill that not very many people have mastered. When was the last time you felt really listened to?

An Amazing Communication Skill

2010-05-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. - Voltaire The Amazing Power of Appreciation You may not think of practicing appreciation as an obvious communication skill but it's been studied and proven that adding purposeful appreciation and gratitude towards others on a regular basis can be one of the most powerful communication tools you

Communication Promises to Yourself

2010-05-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

You Can Only Change You Change your thoughts and you change your world. - Norman Vincent Peale I've been married for over 30 years and, believe me, I have tried to change my husband to be more like me, or at least to get him to do what I want him to do. Guess what I've learned? It's not going to happen! But, I can work on me. I can learn to communicate better and I can practice what I already

Communicate to Connect: 5 Tools to Build Rapport

2010-05-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

Communicate to Connect: 5 Tools to Build Rapport Rapport -- a personal connection, that is harmonious or sympathetic. Do you think of yourself as a good rapport builder? Do you always get along with people the instant you meet them? If so, congratulations - you have a true gift! But, the reality is, for most of us, we find that an instant connection only happens on occasion. And, even if

10 Easy Apprecation Exercises that will Change Your Life

2010-04-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ten Easy Appreciation Exercises that will Change Your Life. It may sound overly simple, but adding purposeful appreciation towards others can be one of the most powerful communication tools you can hone. People want and need to feel appreciated. People will respond better, and perform better when they are genuinely valued. Try any of the following exercises and watch what happens.

Your Secret Communication Weapon: The Power of a Positive Attitude

2010-04-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

A good attitude is a terrible thing to waste Today I am grateful for all those things that go missing because their absence reminds me of how blessed I am to have had them at all.– Kate Nowak One of the most powerful tools you can use to develop and improve relationships is your attitude. First some facts: People with positive attitudes are healthier, happier, and live longer than those

Win-win Conflict Skills: Should I Have this Conversation?

2010-04-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

This week I facilitated a seminar for community members on how to handle potential conflict by practicing having a difficult but necessary conversation with someone. So what's the best gem to pass along when it comes to building good conflict management skills? It may very well that you should ask yourself this: Should I even have this conversation? Many times we jump to resolve a conflict

How to Deal with Conflict: the Art of Nice

2010-04-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

No act of kindness is ever wasted. - Aesop You can't go anywhere anymore without someone being rude and invoking potential conflict. That probably won't change anytime soon. But, how we choose to deal with it may well influence the outcome, for better or worse. We live in a culture where most of us are conflict adverse. We never quite learned from our parents and teachers how to do conflict

5 Tips for Communicating with "Other" Generations

2010-04-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Patience is also a form of action. - Auguste Rodin This week I have done two workshops on communicating with different generations. Generational communication - I call it From Boomers to Bloggers - is always a great workshop with great stories. We've all experienced the generation gap at some point, and some of us quite often, at work and at home. Effective communication can get pretty

Did you really say that?

2010-03-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

I didn't really say everything I said. - Yogi Berra What you hear isn't what is always said. Last week I flew to Cincinnati for a marketing meeting in Columbus, Ohio. I was picked up at the airport in Cincinnati by my colleague, Chris, who lives in Kentucky. I had never been to the mid-west before so Chris spent some time pointing out the highlights of the skyline. He noted the new "Bingo"

5 Ways You Can Create a Culture of Good Communication

2010-03-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

The problem with communication... is the illusion that it has been accomplished. - George Bernard Shaw Have you ever worked for a terrible boss? Or been in a horrible work environment? Most of us can tell at least one story about a "boss from hell" or about the most depressing place we've ever worked. Now, think about your best boss and favorite place to work. What made it that way? When

Small Communication Steps: It's all in a name

2010-03-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

Raise your hand if you have ever met someone and within 30 seconds you can't remember their name. Or, if you have ever been placed in a group of people for introductions and you are so focused on what you are going to say about yourself, that you don't remember one single name that has been shared? If bad name remembering is a problem for you, you aren't alone. In fact, most of us will admit

Conflict Strategies: Dealing Directly with Difficult Conversations

2010-03-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

What courageous conversation are you not having right now? David Whyte Should I have this conversation? This morning, I had a "moment" with my husband. I am not a morning person; he is. Enough said. Morning conflicts are something we have learned to expect. This morning it was about the usual: puppies and poo piles and how quickly each should be dealt with. It reminded me to go through my

Communication Tales from the Road: Lessons Learned

2010-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln I just finished a week-long road trip - a media tour of Eastern Washington to promote the Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program. It was a week of interesting communication observations -- and was quite entertaining. Here are some highlights: The very first morning, in Yakima, one of the first interviews of the day was with "Blaze", the DJ

Good communication = good quality of life!

2010-02-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field or endeavor. - Vince Lombard I love this quote. I love it because it is so true. I would go further to say that a person's commitment to good, maybe even excellent, communication is the one area in our lives that we can make small changes that make a huge differences in our

8 Tips for Improving Body Language

2010-02-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

I didn’t really say everything I said. – Yogi Berra Successful communication is a package deal. It's in the words you speak, the tone of your voice and in the language of your body. One study conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles indicated that up to 93 percent of communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal cues. Another study indicated that the impact of

Listening is the Key to Good Communication

2010-02-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Mic Hunter, Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and author. God gave us two ears and one mouth because we are designed to listen twice as much as we talk. Rachel Naomi Remen was right when she wrote in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom about the importance of listening: “Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing. It is often through the

The Secret to Truly Effective Face to Face Communication

2010-01-31T21:56:00.000-08:00

You've probably read, watched, heard and learned intuitively all sorts of good stuff about face to face communication. I don't want to challenge that. But I do want to remind you about one essential element. It's often lost in all the talk about what to say and how to say it. The Secret. Successful face to face communication is all about meaning. That's it. And that's especially so at work.

10 Ways to Improve your Communication Skills

2010-01-30T22:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of facilitating a workshop to staff of non-profit and state programs in an all-day training titled "Communication Skills for Success". What a great group of participants! The group included staff from the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling, the Washington State Employment Security Department, the Department of Commerce, Western State Hospital, and the North

Awareness Test

2010-01-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

This short video on UTube is just one more example of The Shiny Object Principle. Watch the video, follow the instructions and you'll see what I mean.

More on Shiny Objects

2010-01-19T01:27:00.000-08:00

The New York Times ran an article this weekend on walking and texting. Turns out what I've been saying about distractions (Shiny Objects) has been once again validated.According to the article, written by Matt Richtel, a new problem caused by multitasking is distracted walking. This combines a pedestrian, an electronic device (better known as a cell phone), and an unseen crack in the sidewalk,

Listening Skills Quiz

2010-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

I've been talking a lot about listening skills lately. It's probably the #1 communication area that we can all work on. When I came across the following quiz - I had to share!A Quick Self-Rating QuizThe following quiz is designed to show you what skills are necessary to be a good listener.Answer these questions by grading your Listening Behaviors. Read the question and think about whether the

10 Ways You Can Be a More Positive Communicator

2010-01-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

You never know when one kind act, or one word of encouragement, can change a life forever. Zig Ziglar One of the most powerful ways to improve relationships is to simply be a more positive communicator. Positive communication is contagious and brings out the best in those around you. When you set the example of positive communication, people are more likely to listen to you, the conversation

5 Strategies to Improve Your Listening Skills

2010-01-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Eighty-two percent of people prefer to talk to great listeners, not great speakers. - Ten3 Global Internet Poll 5 Strategies to Improve Your Active Listening Skills 1. Slow your listening down. Take a minute to breathe and think about listening and to be aware and present. Listen from your head to your toes. Listen as if what you are hearing could change your life. Factoid: We speak an average

Improving Your Listening Skills

2010-01-11T21:27:00.000-08:00

If there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put yourself in the other person’s place and to see things from his point of view—as well as your own.- Henry FordOne incredibly important communication skill that we can all improve on is our listening skills. This excerpt from "Dancing with Strangers" tackles this issue head on, so you can work on your listening skills

Raise Your Communication IQ

2010-01-10T17:42:00.001-08:00

The following is an excerpt from an article in Fortune Small Business. It offers some good tips.Raise your communication IQBy Alexander SteinDecember 30, 2009: 5:46 AM ET(Fortune Small Business) -- How would you rate your skill at communicating? Excellent? Average? You prefer that someone else do the talking? Everybody knows that effective communication is essential to entrepreneurial

Real Life Dilbert Quotes

2010-01-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

I ran across an article that asked for quotes from workers about "Dilbert Boss Behavior". The following quotes are some of the responses. The magazine picked the final quote as the winner, though my personal favorite is the one about teamwork. I think the reason these are so funny, is that we can all relate to them. We know that this kind of communication is rampant in our workplaces. So, how

Why are you staring at me like that?

2010-01-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

Non-verbal communication, or body language, is what you say with your body and facial expressions. It's responsible for more than half of what you communicate. Body language includes facial expression, gestures, and posture. It can even include how much distance you put between yourself and the other person and whether or not you are touching. Pay attention to what body language cues you give.

Gestures Improve Verbal Communication

2010-01-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

Here's an interesting article about how we can enhance understanding by using gestures. It suggests that the best way for speakers to get their message across is to “coordinate what they say with their words with what they do with their hands.”In other words, the authors conclude, “If you really want to make your point clear and readily understood, let your words and hands do the talking.”http://

Beware of Shiny Objects

2010-01-07T12:44:00.000-08:00