Better Communication

COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS

2010-11-10T05:59:00.000+07:00

COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS

By M.Srinivasa Rao

The ability or the skill to transfer one’s thoughts, ideas and information from the sender to the receiver with the latter being understood the same effectively and efficiently is known as communication skills. It is one of the greatest skills of the soft skills and its importance is growing rapidly due to the rising complexities as a result of technological inventions.

In corporate terminology, communication is the process of exchange of information from the sender to the receiver and vice versa. There are different types of communication such as downward communication, upward communication, horizontal communication, crosswise communication, verbal communication; written communication etc., In downward communication, the flow of information is from the people at the superior level to the people at the subordinate level. On the other hand, in upward communication, the flow of information is from the subordinate level to the superior level. In horizontal information, the flow of information is from the people of same level to that of their counterparts at the same level. In crosswise communication, the flow of information is from one level to any other level which is either diagonal or crosswise without any reporting relationship. In verbal communication, the flow of communication, which is transferred orally to any level, and it is the most effective one as one can communicate effectively with one’s body language so as to have profound impact on the receiver. Whenever, there is a need to record the information in black and white, and then people go for written communication in which the communication is through mass mailing in written form.

Any communication has seven elements, apart from the noise, which is known as the barrier in communication and also can be treated as the eight element of communication. The first element being the thought or an idea, the second is encoding the same, third is the transmission of the message or the channel, fourth being the reception of the message and the decoding the same is the fifth element, understanding of the decoded idea or thought is the sixth element and the last and final element i.e. seventh element is the feedback of the receiver to the sender as a sign of confirmation of the communication. Any effective communication must possess the seven elements and the communication is complete with the combination of these seven elements. In case, if there is any gap between the sender and receiver or vice versa then there is communication gap or miscommunication or which is technically called as noise. The so called eighth element is the culprit of communication and all efforts must be made to eliminate it.

Every leader or manager must have great command over communication skills as communication takes major portion of time in any organization. It is aptly said, ‘Communication is the life blood of an organization’. It is through communication all the people are connected in the organization and all the activities are coordinated to achieve their goals and objectives.

The media of communication is divided into verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Both the oral and written communication falls in the fold of verbal communication. The non-verbal communication is divided into body language and sign language and the latter is further divided into visual signs and audio signs. As it is quite obvious, oral communication is the exchange of ideas, thoughts and information in oral form and if it is in written mode, it is known as written communication. A person must be strong at both oral and written forms. When an individual work in the capacity of a manager he will be required to give presentations frequently and he must be in a position to deliver the same effectively. Similarly, he may be asked to write reports on various projects or tasks and possession of written communication is sine quo non.

It is said that 93 per cent of our communication belongs to body language and the systematic study of body language is known as kinesics. It shows the impact of our body language. It is the combination of facial expressions, eye movements, gestures, posture, tone control and our over all physical features. The oral language is always supported by body language and there has to be consistency in both oral and body language, otherwise, it will give rise to credibility crisis. For instance, when an autocratic manager of an industry talks about the application of participative type of management hereafter by thumping his desk physically with force is an indication of inconsistency in his body language with that of his oral language. In a nutshell, our body language conveys our true intentions unconsciously although we may consciously speak orally different. Body movements and gestures contain 55 per cent, voice tone and inflection contains 38 per cent and the combination of the both is 93 per cent, which conveys our body language. While the rest 7 per cent belongs to verbal communication. The combination all the percentages becomes 100 per cent which becomes the media of communication.

Characteristics of an effective communicator:

He must be very clear in his mind what he wants to convey so as to reach the audience effectively.
The language must be simple, straight and should hit the bull’s eye. It is the quality not the quantity of the message that counts.
He must demonstrate his confidence by way of his body language and must radiate energy and enthusiasm so as to create positive impact in the minds of the receivers.
He must assess the maturity level of the audience and must communicate accordingly.
He must not use loaded language with phrases or complicated terminology or jargon to avoid confusion.
Must organize his mind properly with thorough preparation and enough home work to make it reachable and everlasting.
All out sincere efforts are to be made to prevent barriers in communication.
Must be total consistency in his verbal and body language
Should adjust his tone level as per the message of his speech, with pauses and emphasis whereever it is essential.
Must have ability to raise the curiosity level of the audience.

All efforts must be made to enhance the quality of communication from time to time with innovative methods and approaches. For instance, Swami Vivekananda referred the audience at the Chicago conference as the brothers and sisters of the world, which is still memorable even today. He was a great communicator and speaker.

When Stephen had beaten Abraham Lincoln. A. Douglas in the race for the US Senate, he admonished his followers," not to give up after one or one hundred defeats”. He was also a great communicator and motivator.

Communication skill is one of the top ten soft skills without which soft skills are irrelevant. Those who are qualified in their academics and try for placement, the interviewing officer lays more emphasis on this ability. A weak communicator creates problems for himself and for others. The interviewing officer can not afford to take a risk by accommodating a poor communicator. Good communication is a feature of effective personality development. Those who want to succeed in their careers; it is imperative to possess good communication skills.

T H E N D

Workplace Communication - How To Make The Best Use of It

2010-11-09T08:30:00.002+07:00

In its simplest form, communication is a system for sending and receiving messages. And when we do any of that within the workplace, as we do every day, we have "workplace communication". How do we make the best use of it?

To understand what workplace communication is, one needs to first understand what communication itself is. Communication is a giving or exchanging of information, signals, or messages by talk, gestures, writing, etc., to give information and messages.

Communication is a process we use to have and keep a meaningful relationship. It is a system for sending and receiving messages as by telephone, telegraph, radio, etc... It is a system of routing for moving things from one place to another. It is the art of expressing ideas, especially in speech and writing. It is the science of transmitting information in symbol. It is all of these things and more.

Like all other basic communication, it needs to be developed, practiced and improved on a continuing basis. In the workplace, because we spend a large part of our daily lives at work, we first need the ability to communicate with others.

Within workplace communication we need to manage ourselves, our co-workers, our bosses, our suppliers and customers. We need to establish, cultivate and nurture business and personal relationships effectively and successfully.

How do we do that? For many, it does not come naturally. We get irritated by things and by people around us. We get frustrated if we cannot express ourselves properly. Many folks find it very hard to have any kind of relationship, let alone one at work. We often hear of conflicts, sometimes ending with tragic results.

One thing we all have in common: we all have to work at workplace communication. Some of us come into the workplace more equipped than others, some less. We decide what we need and initiate ourselves in the learning process. We may have to learn to communicate with diplomacy for example.

We may need to learn to become more persuasive communicators. We may need to learn to become better leaders in our own lives and in our own departments. We may need to learn to reduce stress in difficult situations, or in our overloaded responsibilities.

Whether we deal with our co-workers or our employees, we can improve workplace communication by learning to give and get constructive feedback. But first, we need to learn to be assertive. We need to be able to make contact with others and open up a conversation. We need to be interesting by reading interesting things that we can talk about, relating to our business. We need to smile more.

Workplace communication should flow from one person to another, from one department to another, from top management to bottom management.

Workplace communication takes many forms. It is verbal, nonverbal, written. It uses many means such as telephone, letters, memos, computers, Internet. Email has become the most common forms of workplace communication.

All of the above have one thing in common. It can all be learned. Whatever we are missing in workplace communication we can learn. We only need to be aware of it, be mindful of it and take the initiative to learn it and make the best use of it to our successful advantage. /dmh

Diane M. Hoffmann is the founder of Hoffmann-Rondeau Communications and the web site http://communication-verbal-nonverbal.com which is the home of her e-books "Improve Communication, Verbal and Nonverbal" and "Improve Communication, Organization and Training" as well as her 296-page printed book "Contextual Communication, Organization and Training". You may reprint this article making sure to include this bio with no changes.

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Resolving Work Place Conflicts

2010-11-08T08:30:00.000+07:00

Resolving Work Place Conflicts is very important to have a stress free work environment and also to pull off your work smoothly.

One can be the best in behavior, attitude and personality, but you never know how and when you rub off on the wrong side, and without your knowledge you end up have conflicts, disagreements and dispute with fellow employees.

There are different ways of dealing with differences; most are in favor of ignoring any such differences and minding your own business. But, the question is, is it possible to work hassle free with an intense environment around you. Sometimes it is OK, but most times, it builds up into a very toxic environment and could cause immense pressure.

So it is best to deal with it in the initial stages. The simplest way of dealing with it is by opening an honest discussion with the perceived counterpart. Remember there are always 2 sides to a coin. You are familiar with yours, now is the time to familiarize with the flip side. That throws a lot of insight to what could be the core issue for the tension.

You could start a discussion by stating what you think is the problem, beware not to set a blaming tone. State your point of view and why you believe so in a blunt and straightforward fashion. Now this give the other employee a cushioning ground to open up.

Facilitate by asking questions.

Let them talk, don't interrupt or argue. Try to understand where they are coming from.

Give them feedback as you what your understanding of the situation is.

Actually speaking if you go far, you are close to the solution.

It is possible that there is no actual problem at all, most of the time it is all perceived based on one's personal views. So it becomes very important that you set aside your emotional views, your personal judgment of the person based on his behavior etc. Just stick to work related aspects.

Gain the person faith by acknowledging his point of view and getting an agreement on the problem.

You have reached a stage where both understand each other better and so you start discussing the possible solutions to settle a dispute

At the end of this discussion you will understand that each of you were right in your own ways and was simply trying to do your jobs better. Once you have clear and logical understanding of your roles and how it affects each other, come to a solution that is acceptable for both and is the best way to carry out a task.

Ask for commitment. Maintain and practice a professional and harmonious work culture!

Nithya Mehta

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3 Suggestions for Effective Communication

2010-11-07T08:31:00.000+07:00

In an office, one morning, Mr. Smith talks with 2 of his coworkers. Mr. Smith, the general manager, asked them why sales of a new product is not growing as expected. One of his coworkers, Bill, answered back "Mr. Smith, the growth can not be expected in a short period. It was just a month since we launched the product. The growth expectation was too big from the beginning." Mr. Smith asked Bill if he has some idea to increase sales. Bill answered that sales would not grow without spending more money for promotion than they did. Mr. Smith did not say anything.

Instead, he turned to the other coworker, Tom to check his opinion. Tom answered "I agree that the sales growth was not as expected." He continued, "We all may need to accept that sales expectation might not be realistic." He concluded that additional promotion would help to improve the situation. Mr. Smith liked Tom's opinion and asked Tom to give him planning for the promotion. One month later, Mr. Smith transferred Bill to another division.

Were not Bill and Tom saying essentially same thing? What was the difference between 2 coworkers talking with their boss? The difference of two is their response style. The style Bill used can be called "disagreement style". He disagreed several points of Mr. Smith. He disagreed that sales are not good. He disagreed that the growth cannot be judged in a short period. He disagreed that growth expectation was not right. At least, Mr. Smith heard his statement as the manner above described.

Let us examine the response from Tom, next. His style can be "agreement style". He agreed that sales are beyond expectation. He agreed that they both made a mistake planning the sales expectation. He agreed that sales promotion would increase the sales. Tom did not have to deny any of Mr. Smith point suggesting his own opinion.

There was a discussion about effective talking in a SNS. One of the participants, who is business consultation presenter, raised his problem that his statements build a wall to the listeners. He uses disagreement style, because he hopes to be constructive to the listeners. He thinks being denial to his listeners can give them new impact and constructive suggestions. The question here is if one needs to be denial or disagreeable to give listeners constructive suggestion. It is more effective to agree and admire some points and open the mind of listeners and give them suggestions. If they were denied, rejected, and disagreed, they feel offended and close their mind. As a result, all one could get from his listeners would be rejections to presenter's points.

3 Suggestions for Effective Communication:

1. Agreement tends to open minds of listeners. Presenter should be prepared for agreeable points of listeners and start from pointing them out.

2. Remember rejection will invite rejection. Presenter should not start from rejections. They should not repeat rejections. They should not stick to rejections.

3. If you need to point negative issue, you may hope to get yourself to be a part of it. Remember Tom said, "We all need to agree that sales expectation was not right."

Remember that even saying the same thing, if one's way of presenting is not right, he will develop opposite reaction from the people.

Shaw Funami is an owner of "zhen international, inc.", known as a mentor for cross cultural relationship called "Fill the Missing Link". You can learn about his profile in Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/shaw.funami. Please feel free to contact him at "hisashi.funami@zhenintl.ws" or visit his business website.http://shawfunami.com/shawfunami00/

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Business Associate Gifts

2010-11-06T08:35:00.003+07:00

Starting a career in gifts business is a special task for very few people who understand the task of picking the right gift for the people, particularly in the business sector. This type of business requires passion and dedication since it will be your job to help people find the right gift for a particular person.

Business associate gifts are not that common to the market and have a huge room for growth in the coming years, especially with the business and corporate community looking for expansion plans.

For these expansion plans to push through, many people in the corporate world will have to find something to give to their business associates as token of appreciation. And gifts connected to the business are just one of them.

One thing you need to know before starting a business gift store is the market that you will operation in. In choosing your products, you will have to consider the people who will buy them and the current market trend.

The qualities of "The Perfect Gift" will not depend on your taste but rather on the specification of the people who will give it. Your products must be timely and should coincide different occasions like birthday, anniversaries, and seminars.

You should also consider giving your clients special gift ideas like corporate baskets and other goodie bags, which is one of the most commonly used gifts in the business world today.

You should also keep a good detailed record of each client so that every time they come in to your store, you can always be ready with a very good selection. This can also increase your chances to expand your clientele.

On the other hand, when you are just starting your business gift stores, you have to remember that it is like any other business but only requires more personal touch in each product, meaning that you have to react quickly on last minute changes of the clients.

You should also have a good delivery service or a welcoming store front to attract customers into your doorsteps. This includes business cards and other advertising promotions that will help you catch the eyes of your clients.

Also, know your clients' birthday and other celebratory dates so that you can send them a gift of your own to them. This will give you a closer bond between you and your clients.

If you own a small business then this is the time to think about christmas gifts for office.

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Adapting To a New Workplace Culture

2010-11-05T08:37:00.001+07:00

Adapting to any new social environment is a challenge. Whether it is a new job, a new school or a new city or town there will be a period of adjustment or culture shock so to speak. In a way adapting to a new workplace is a form of culture shock just on a much smaller scale.

Nobody likes being the 'new guy' at work. However, the best part about being the new guy is everybody was in that position at one point in time or another. So everybody knows how it feels to be the new kid in town. If you're determined to 'fit in' to a new working environment, your natural instinct may be to get to know people and establish some good relationships as quickly as possible. However, if you're overzealous and go overboard it could backfire on you and people may think you're trying to get attention.

The best thing you can do, at least for the first couple of days, is to casually observe what's going on around you. By doing so, you'll be able to get a feel for your surroundings, and the people you will be spending the majority of your time with, without coming across like you're obnoxious. Practicing this technique when you first start a job will also help alleviate some of the "culture shock" you'll be experiencing.

While you are quietly adjusting to your new work environment be sure to observe what is expected of you. In addition, make note of what is acceptable and/or not acceptable ways of conducting yourself as an employee. That's not to say you shouldn't be friendly. It just means that you shouldn't go 'overboard' and try to stand out in the first few days. Try to find one or two people that you really click with and allow them to mentor you. Take the opportunity to ask them questions, get feedback on your performance and listen objectively and find out if there are any unspoken rules that weren't covered in orientation.

The last thing you want to do is give your employer or co-workers a reason to complain about you. Start each day with your best foot forward. Be on time, offer assistance, share ideas, own up to your mistakes if you make them, don't make excuses and if it is at all possible do not call out of work. Adjusting to a new job doesn't happen overnight. However, if you follow these basic guidelines you will find that adapting to a new workplace culture wasn't really hard at all.

Jerry Haney is a well-known Keynote Speaker and the author of the renowned book on Organizational Culture Change called Making Culture Pay.

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Problems With Your Boss? - Here Are Some Solutions

2010-11-04T08:41:00.003+07:00

Every work environment should encourage teamwork, productivity, and the meeting of objectives. Unfortunately there are times when conflict may arise and make it a tough place to work. One of the most difficult conflicts to manage is one involving your boss. The unwanted tension can have a negative affect on your job performance and even your home life.

Conflict with your boss may be difficult but manageable. You can tackle this problem by utilizing conflict resolution methods that will create a more peaceful work environment.

One step is to schedule a personal meeting with your boss. Emails and phone calls may seem easier but they are not as effective in resolving conflict. Be sure you speak honestly and openly with your boss. Remember that it's acceptable to disagree but do it respectfully.

Think about what you want to say to your boss before you have your meeting. Find a friend who will play the role of your employer and you can practice emulating the event. During your practice session pay close attention to their reactions. This will help you take notes on what to say and the best way to say it.

Try to keep your conversation with your boss positive. Before you address your concerns, tell your manager what you feel are some of the positives with your job and their management ideas. This will help show them that you are someone who wants to work out a solution as opposed to being their enemy.

When you have your conversation with your boss, try to put yourself in the manager's position. By putting yourself in their shoes it will give you a better perspective on what they will lose or gain with certain outcomes. This will help you work towards a resolution that will work for both of you.

Discuss and brainstorm with your boss possible solutions to your conflict. Talk about each one individually and show your desire to compromise. If you work together as a team you can achieve the best possible outcome for everyone involved.

Finally, ask your boss if they would be willing to put in writing the resolutions you agreed upon. This will help cement and reinforce the ideas you discussed. Follow these simple steps and you will be on your way to a more enjoyable work environment!

This author enjoys writing about a variety of topics including antiques, sports, fitness, and more. Check out his latest websites Dinosaur T Shirt and Dolphin Decor

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Now More Focus is Needed on Skills of Communicating!

2010-02-25T06:00:00.000+07:00

The manner of our communication in business as well in day to day life plays a major role in our success or failure. Better communicators find it easy to get ahead in life. They know how to put themselves across to others. Ability to express views and ideas clearly and convincingly is a skill. Your will communicate better when you think right, express what you think right, behave right and show that you understand. The skill of communicating is an asset and more you develop and sharpen it higher will be the benefits that you will get.

You can communicate by words, by gestures, symbolic expressions and various other methods of communication. For example the way you walk, your posture, the clothes you wear can communicate about you to others.

The eyes that flash anger, the yawn of boredom, the thumbed nose of derision, the stamping feet of impatience, the applause of approval, the raised eye brow of excitement, the laughter of joy, the smile of friendliness and the wink of affection too are types of impersonal communication. These are more effective and clear than verbal communication because a closed mouth catches no flies

When one think of the subject of communication one feels that the whole World is a Stage and every one of us is an actor or actress. Each one of us in it has to assume a different role to fit the occasion.

For example a person will assume different roles to fit different situations like a) when talking to a business associate, b) when talking to an intimate friend, c) when talking to a subordinate, d) when talking to wife and e) when talking to a pet dog. Therefore, as actors and actresses of this wonderful stage the world we use gestured to give emphasis to the meaning of a word or group of words that is how we verbally communicate. In written communication too we use fitting language and our choice of words and the way of using sentences gives effectiveness to what we try to communicate. A musician, a singer, a sculptor, an artist are using their skills to communicate something to others. Also in communication it is not what one says or writes but it is how one says or writes is what express the real meaning.

The business communication is not much different from the above described general communication. Because in business too words fitly spoken and the clarity of expression and attention grabbing presentation receive better response and communication skills in these aspects is very important in business. Best businesses employ better communicators to handle their businesses. A business has to build its image and maintain and for that effective communication about the business to the public is a must. The products and services need to be marketed in a competitive environment and it is the communication that does the main part in winning customer loyalty. For business communication in addition to the directly approaching of the customers and convincing them to buy the products there are other ways of reaching the customers via advertising and other forms communications. Communication what ever the form used is used to create a need in the customers mind to buy the particular product over the other competing products. Appropriate communication can make a buyer who does not want to buy a particular product to change the mind in to buying it.

We are in the age of communication. It is revealed in a recent survey that 20 % of the entire world population is using the internet as at end 2007. That means a population of 1,320,000,000 people. Therefore, internet as a means of communication can reach a world wide diversified segment of potential buyers. Therefore, greater skills and internet oriented methods of communication will be most important for market based business

operations.

How Customer Communications Creates New Factors in a Marketing Communications Plan

2010-02-22T06:04:00.000+07:00

In delivering a customer communications management system, there are extra considerations in respect of the development of a marketing communications plan.

The marketing communications plan can provide a clear guideline as to how to execute, the expected costs and the expected return. Customer communications management will increase the ease with which a multi-channel marketing communications strategy can be executed. It will also increase the sophistication with which a company can communicate in a relevant manner with its customers.

In the context of discussing the plan I will use Philip Kotler ‘P’s framework as this is the standard study for virtually all marketers.

First off, lets establish the Four P’s of product marketing in context with customer communications management:

Product - Which products are you looking to promote? Today’s customer communications management platforms mean that you can market more than one product in an individual campaign based upon an individual users profile. Therefore Product Range Selection is an additional component in the customer communications management driven marketing communications plan.

Place - Customer communications management processes give the marketing communications plan complete freedom to choose from a wide range of communications methods. These include voice, Direct Mail, Transactional Mail, Email, Social Media oriented email, social media direct, SMS, mobile and web. Therefore channel flexibility is a key advantage for the marketing communications plan.

Promotion - Specifically what is your promotion and what are the promotion objectives? To garner new customers? To market more to your existing customers? To raise awareness of a product launch? To build brand appeal through a news advisory about your company’s efforts in the community? To raise funds for a charity that your company sponsors? The options are wide and varied. The key thing to note again here is that with an integrated customer communications platform, you will have promotion flexibility.

I’ve highlighted four key phrases here that I feel should now be implemented within the marketing communications plan. Lets review these individually.

Product Range

A good customer communications infrastructure will provide significant data analysis and extraction capabilities. A good propensity to purchase analysis model will allow not just a single product to be promoted to an individual customer but, a range of relevant products that will appeal.

Remember that each customer can be communicated with on a genuine one - one basis. Therefore the scope of products that you wish to promote should be considered - They may not be in the same category but you may desire to push certain products in certain categories harder.

Price Elasticity

Not all customers are born the same. The data analysis process within customer communications management will allow you to build price elasticity into your marketing communications plan. You may know for example that keener customers may only buy when a promotional offer is in place. Other customers may buy only when the product is the newest item available. The marketing communications plan may need to consider price elasticity and the targeting of offers on a one to one or customer segment basis.

Channel Flexibility

The ability to deliver a standard but relevant message, in a synchronised way to virtually any customer communication channel has always been a holy grail. My list reveals 9 communication channels here. Each has its merits and with the ability to systematically deliver consistent messages across each, the power of these systems is as yet unexploited by marketers.

Certain channels bring the capability to target the consumer 24 hours a day. Others such as mail have the benefit of longevity and time in front of the customers eyes. The scope for ever increasing sophistication in marketing is increasing all the time.

Whilst this level of flexibility is new in the market, I can see that the next few years will reveal much interesting data about the use of these channels and their performance in different customer and product segments. The ability to analyse the performance of campaigns using data from a single system is a new feature that works in support of the marketing communications plan.

Never before have companies had such a choice of communications channels combined with the ability to manage them effectively. The next decade is going to offer some very interesting insights in communications channels and their relevance in different market segments.

Please visit the Document Projects website for more information relating to this topic.

Total Cost of Ownership for Marketing and Customer Communications Management

2010-02-21T06:05:00.000+07:00

In developing a business case for Customer and Marketing Communications Management, there are some significant consideration in developing the overall Total Cost of Ownership elements of the business case. There are many aspect to a customer communications solution that will need measuring in different ways.

A full implementation of Customer Communications Management will demand hardware, software and human resource. The differential in costs could be significant between the various vendors.

There is no single vendor that can deliver every aspect of your Customer Communications Management infrastructure although there are one or two that get fairly close. In designing you implementation strategy you will need to think about whether a best of breed approach with integration is better or, a minimal vendor approach is desirable.

Lets take a look at some of the key focal points for you customer communications management infrastructure:

Customer Communications Management Support & Maintenance for Software, Printers and Inserters.

Support and maintenance contracts with vendors will apply across the full spectrum of products. Within the software arena, It is likely that vendors will offer similar contracts terms and terms of service. But do check the terms of service. If the business is a 24hr operation, you are going to need 24hr support. Also examine the level of support offered in the regions in which you may install the software systems. If you are based in France and all support operations are based out of the US, how quickly can people be on site to support you if matters go critical?

The software elements of the Customer Communications Management infrastructure should also be examined. Will major upgrades come free of charge, or will there be an expectation that more money is spent to stay on the upgrade path?

Also, the upgrade policy should be examined in context with the development plans of the vendor. Does the vendor guarantee backward compatibility between point releases of the software or will the document applications have to be re-written to cope with the upgrade? This could be a very significant cost if you run a number of document applications. If your company is not able to swallow this, are you comfortable being left with a technology that will ultimately stagnate over a period of a few years?

There are at least two significant hardware components within a customer communications management infrastructure. These are high volume printers and the mail finishing devices or inserters. Both of these items will have significant capital outlay and will require regular servicing. You will need to ensure that engineers are available locally and quickly.

1. Hardware vendor service contracts. Look carefully at service contracts between vendors, as they can vary significantly.

2. Printer and Inserter Replacement Component Costs. Also look at the cost of components if they need to be replaced. How do they compare between vendors?

3. Print and Inserter Servicing. Are their charges for out of normal hours servicing?

4. Print and Inserter Component Inventory. To guarantee normal operations, it may be valuable to hold an inventory of hardware components at your own document production facility. What does the manufacturer recommend that you hold, and what are the costs of holding and maintaining this inventory?

5. Printer and Inserter Power Consumption. High speed colour printers and inserters are power hungry devices. What is that power likely to cost the company?

6. Building Environment Costs -A few printers require specialised working environments. They may require climate controlled environments. What are the costs of the space to provide this environment. What are the costs of adapting a building to deliver this climate managed environment. What are the acquisition and running costs of the climate control equipment.

7. Headcount Requirements - Realistically, how many people are going to be required to operate the inserters and the printers? Take along experienced document production managers when assessing the hardware equipment required and be pragmatic in this assessment.

8. Growth in document output volumes. Carefully consider current and future ouput volumes. If you anticipate a growth in output volumes, then plan this. Will the equipment that you buy today be able to meet those volumes? Will you need to invest in extra printers or inserters in the foreseeable future? Will the space you have be able to accomadate any growth in capital equipments.

9.Printer and Inserter Replacement costs. Unlike software, machines will eventually become ineffective and unproductive to maintain and operate. How long does the hardware vendor anticipate the equipment will last under your production loads? What is the anticipated replacement costs in the future? Take these figures, build in some contingency and plan for this.

10. Leveraging legacy equipment. You may already have printers and inserters that may be suitable for much of the output that you plan to undertake. What are the costs of getting this equipment suitable for participation in the process and how old is the equipment? Is it worth upgrading?

Speed of Customer Communications Management Software Installation, Configuration and Development

Not all software products are borne equal. Whether we are looking at data, authoring, composition, channel distribution, print management or print stream engineering the products differ. Some products are built upon ageing platforms whilst others utilise the latest technologies focused upon speed of deployment and overall cost of ownership. The differences can affect Total Cost of Ownership in a number of ways.

11. Devlopement Costs. Development and / or configuration of some kind will need to take place across all of the software components being installed. Document Composition comes with its own development environment and data products will require detailed configuration and embedding into the environment. Applications will also need to be developed if you plan on using print stream engineering technology.

12. Skill Levels. Depending upon the vendor, some applications may still require heavy IT skill to develop within whereas others will offer a strong GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment that take much of the rough work out of developing applications and linking systems together. Look carefully at this as long term cost of ownership could rise significantly if the software requires.

Customer Communications Management Application Component Re-Usability

13. Service Oriented Architecture. One of the key features of advanced service oriented architecture based platforms is the ability to re-use components across multiple applications in potentially widely different environments. The ability for software to integrate effectively into a Service Oriented Architcture model and leverage exisitng organisational components whilst contributing valuable new components will have a significant bearing on overall lifetime cost of ownership.

14. Marketing Communications Vendor Technology Trial. You may want to consider a 'bake-off' scenario once you have a vendor shortlist. Establish a set of tasks that test the speed at which an application environment can be brought live - make it challenging but not over complicated. The vendor will likely put their best resources on this and it will not only be a test of the software but, a test of the vendors ability to deliver skilled human resource when required. Give each vendor a level playing field.

Cost of Customer Communications Management Integration

For Customer Communications Management to serve the Marketing function effectively, ease of integration is a key factory. Look at the vendors experience here.

15. Data Integration. Can the data ETL and analysis tool-set integrate easily with your existing systems. Look at the breadth of systems that you are likely to want to integrate with in the future. How easily can the system talk to systems across multiple platforms that may range from z/os to SAP to Siebel to a wide variety of other applications.

It is not just the vendors components that are important, how open are systems containing vital data? Can you get this data out of them easily?

16. Marketing and Customer Communications Design and Authoring Integration. How does you company do this today? What tools are used and, will they integrate easily with the Customer Communications Infrastructure that you have or, will a change to a proprietary vendor design and authoring environment become necessary?. Will the vendors design environment meet the needs, goals and objectives of your design and authoring teams and what will the cost of change be?

Perhaps fundamentally will it be possible to push design and authoring out to the business community? This is a fundamental tenet of customer communications management but some vendors still won't be able to do this very well. Pushing the responsibility back to IT will significantly raise costs and will reduce business and marketing agility massively.

Also look at work-flows, many companies have deployed standardised work-flow environments. Will your vendors solution be able to integrate here? All these factors have a bearing on cost.

Customer Communications Management Vendor Licencing policy

17. Customer Communications Management Software Environments.

This is a big one and there are differentials between vendors. As a minimum, you will need development and test environment and a production environment. What are the vendors policies for development licences.

18. Multi Site Licence. The other key factor that may affect you is multi site licencing. If you operate in different places around the world, what are the costs of rolling out mirror environments to new sites? Examine carefully the vendors policy here.

19. Cost per seat. What is the cost per seat for the elements of the customer communications management infrastructure? Does the vendor of bulk purchase discounts. Are the number of seats likely to grow over time?

20. Operating System. Some vendors charge different prices depending upon the operating system in use. How do vendors compare?

21. Additional non-vendor components - Here we might be looking at factors such as obtaining mail compliance databases, Websphere components or other factors. What additional software components may you need to source to deliver the application that your business needs?

Management of Legacy Applications

22. Leveraging new and old. Some document applications may not justify redevelopment. However, what is the cost of integrating the legacy into the environment to obtain say production integrity benefits? Can this be done easily or are you going to be running some applications out of scope of the customer communications environment?

Customer Communications Management Server and Desktop Hardware costs -

23. Server Requirements. Don't forget your going to need servers to run this all on. Consult with the vendor carefully in respect of the required hardware configuration and get costs from your hardware vendor early. There will be a difference depending upon the operating system you are running. Is the desktop configuration suitable? Will you need upgrade licences for the desktop?

Business and Technical Training Costs

24. Training Considerations in Customer Communications Management - At the very least, you will require administrators, some level of application development capability and training for end users.

What are the vendor training costs and, do they offer 'train the trainer' courses to help you reduce overall education costs? What are machine operator training requirements going to be? What level of skills are you going to need across the infrastructure, and what is this going to cost?

Production Mail Health and Safety

25. You will need to ensure health and safety compliant environments for the physical print and mail elements of the Customer Communications Management infrastructure. What are the costs and training implications. Will you need to adapt the building to meet health and safety guidelines?

As can be seen, there are many factors to be considered in developing the Total Cost of Ownership equation for Customer Communications Management. The multi-point nature of Customer Communications Management means that there is much to be considered and deriving truly accurate figures is likely to be a near unachievable goal. However ball park understanding is achievable.

What should be clear from this is that in developing the business case arguments for the implementation of a Marketing and Customer Communications Management infrastructure Total Cost of Ownership should not be ignored as it is a significant element of the overall budget and perhaps over a period of a few years, far more significant than the initial capital outlay.

For more information and articles related to marketing and customer communications management please visit Customer Communications Community.

Different Kinds of Communication

2010-02-18T06:06:00.000+07:00

Each communication type can be classified on the basis of the various methods, processes, channel and style used for it.

On The Basis of Communication Channel

The process of communication involves encoding and sending of a message by the sender and transmission of the same via a communication channel for being received by the receiver who is responsible for decoding and processing of the transmitted information and replying back via a communication channel.

Verbal Communication: This can be further differentiated into oral and written communication. Oral communication lays emphasis on speaking words which are utilized for face-to-face, on-the-phone, voice chat or Internet communication. The effectiveness of these words depends upon pitch, speed, voice modulation, clarity and volume of speaking.

Written communication includes communication by email or snail mail. The writing style, grammar, language precision, grammar and vocabulary used are important facets of written communication. Pictorial representations, paintings, photographs, signboards, sketch and symbolic communication also falls under this category. Humans have used this for recording history through cave writing dating back to more than a million years.

Body Language: This includes communication through a person's body language through the body movements, postures and hand gestures. Facial expressions play an important part in conveying the intensity of the communication. Emotions can be independently conveyed through a hug, a smile or hand gestures such as a handshake. Accurate reading of a person’s body language helps in indicating whether they are angry, upset, stressed out, nervous, relaxed, happy, tired or sad.

On The Basis Of Purpose Served

Restrained Communication: This kind of communication occurs in a predefined formal format with a straightforward, precise and stringent tone attached to it, for communicating in a corporate environment. The communication style is very official in these cases involving meetings, corporate letters, written memos and official conferences.

Unrestrained Communication: This includes cases of free communication being employed by people for creating an informal rapport with one another. This communication type is not bounded by the limits of time, subjects or place and is devoid of any rigid guidelines and rules to be followed while communicating. The foremost requirement in this kind of communication is that the involved parties must properly understand each other.

On The Basis Of Technology

Electronic or Digital Communication: This includes communication through modern technological tools like computers, faxes, satellite television, telephone, radio, cellular phone and e-mail. These technologies have helped mankind in fulfilling its quest for efficient communication.

Communication is an integral part of the lives of every human being. The technological advances in the field of communication have provided us with wonderful resources and tools leading to the enhancement of our lives aided by convenient communication. Amongst all the above communication forms, face-to-face communication is probably the best communication type. It helps in keeping the emotions, thoughts and feelings intact between two human beings and make accurate perceptions about each other which is a rather difficult task in modern technological methods because of the absence of humanness in them.

Effective communication is not just about speaking correctly, but its also about respecting others’ opinions. Learn how did people communicate in the past and what are the top communication strategies to improve your presence in this present World.

Get to learn about different types of communication and how to improve your communication skills at http://www.communication-type.com/

Nonverbal Communication: What’s it All About?

2010-02-17T06:07:00.000+07:00

Communication is critical to continued human development throughout our life span. It is what allows us to share thoughts, feelings, wonderings, and knowledge with others. Whether you are a verbal or nonverbal communicator, the vast majority of communication we do is through nonverbal channels.

So if nonverbal communication makes up a substantial portion of our communicative experience, what does it involve? Many of us associate facial expression and gestures with nonverbal communication, but these are not the only two types involved. There are, in fact, eight different types of nonverbal communication:

Facial Expression This makes up the largest proportion of nonverbal communication. Large amounts of information can be conveyed through a smile or frown. The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, and fear are similar across cultures throughout the world.
Gestures Common gestures include pointing, waving, and using fingers to indicate number amounts.
Paralinguistics This includes factors such as tone of voice, loudness, inflection, and pitch. Tone of voice can be powerful. The same sentence said in different tones can convey different messages. A strong tone of voice may indicate approval or enthusiasm, whereas the same sentence said with a hesitant tone of voice may convey disapproval or lack of interest.
Body Language and Posture A person’s posture and movement can also convey a great deal of information. Arm crossing or leg-crossing conveys different meanings depending on the context and the person interpreting them. Body language is very subtle, and may not be very definitive.
Proxemics This refers to personal space. The amount of space a person requires depends on each individual’s preference, but also depends on the situation and other people involved in the situation.
Eye Gaze Looking, staring, and blinking are all considered types of eye gaze. Looking at another person can indicate a range of emotions including hostility, interest, or attraction.
Haptics This refers to communicating through touch. Haptics is especially important in infancy and early childhood.
Appearance Our choice of color, clothing, hairstyles, and other factors affecting our appearance are considered a means of nonverbal communication.

By the time most children are one year old, they are experts in nonverbal communication. They have spent the whole first year of their lives making their wants and needs known, as well as sharing their experiences through nonverbal channels. Around the time of their first birthday, they add the next layer to their dynamic communication repertoire with the verbal piece. Even with the addition of verbal communication, nonverbal expression continues to be the main mode of communication for children as they add more and more words to their vocabulary. Even after children are talking in sentences, nonverbal communication continues to add meaning and structure to the messages being sent and received.

This use and understanding of nonverbal communication becomes automatic for ‘neuro-typical’ children. It is so automatic that many of us are completely unaware that we employ facial expressions and gestures, or that we are using this information to enhance the words we are hearing from our communication partner. We continue to use this mode of communication throughout life.

Think about the word “no,” which can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the nonverbal communication that is being conveyed along with the word. If we say “noooo” with a wrinkled nose and a questioning tone or funny voice, this could convey that we are unsure or don’t really believe what we are hearing. If we hear someone say “NO!” with a loud, or harsh voice, we can interpret that they person is angry or wants an action to be terminated. If someone asks you if you would like a drink, you may answer with “no”; but your tone of voice will most likely be even with little inflection, and your face may just be neutral. In each of these examples the person was saying “no,” but there were three different meanings being conveyed. Without nonverbal communication, it would be difficult to know how to interpret the word.

Many children with autism spectrum disorders have difficulty interpreting multiple modes of communication, and because of this they often miss the nonverbal communication piece that allows accurate interpretation of what is said. In the examples provided above, most children with autism spectrum disorders would only hear the word “no” but miss the nonverbal pieces which help to interpret which “no” is being communicated. This misinterpretation can lead to frustration on the part of both the communicator and the child who is struggling to understand what is happening. At other times, the child may interpret a facial expression, tone of voice, or gesture but not hear the words that went with the nonverbal, which again results in miscommunication. These breakdowns make it difficult for the child to make sense of his/her world.

Working to improve the use and understanding of nonverbal communication is essential for a person with an autism spectrum or neurological disorder. In most cases, working to improve nonverbal communication is the best place to begin improving communication abilities. Expanding the ability to use and understand nonverbal communication provides the necessary foundation for building meaningful dynamic communication. Just as a neuro-typical infant begins by communicating nonverbally, going back and teaching this mode of communication for children who may have missed this step is the foundation for productive communication throughout life.

Communication

is critical to continued human development throughout our life span. It is what allows us to share thoughts, feelings, wonderings, and knowledge with others. Whether you are a verbal or nonverbal communicator, the vast majority of communication we do is through nonverbal channels.Teaching nonverbal communication should be done in a natural way that makes sense for each individual child. Telling a child, “look at my face,” or showing a child several pictures of people’s faces and having him/her identify the emotions he sees is not a natural way to work on nonverbal communication. Spending time doing activities with the child where the adult uses very little verbal communication, but is communicating through nonverbal channels, is an effective way to begin introducing nonverbal communication. Playing games where you have changed the rules slightly so as to use only nonverbal communication can also be a fun and more natural way of working on nonverbal communication. For example, you might play Simon Says, using a made up signal for when Simon says to do something. Playing charades can also be a fun way to work on nonverbal communication in a natural context. Take a walk with your child; but instead of saying, “hey look at that dog,” you might pause, point and vocalize, “oh” with a rising inflection to draw attention. There are many ways to work on nonverbal communication that can be explored and used to build this critical foundational piece of communication.

Communications Articles

2010-02-16T06:08:00.000+07:00

Internet is a big source of communications

, world is a global village and it is all based on communications. The communication articles include all those subjects that are helpful to communicate from one person to other, related to different places of world. Letters, opinions, business dealings, advertisements, sales and promotions of a particular product or service in different countries from a particular country is all done through the communication articles. Communication is a demanded subject in almost every country, thus all countries of the world produce the communication articles. Communication articles include knowledge related to all communication sources; the hard sources or the software types are all covered in the communication articles.

Communication technology and sciences are best explained in the communication articles. People who are close to communication fields believe communications are best held through Internet. The growth of new technology and software on Internet has made it easier to communicate people of the world outside. The communication articles also contain related topics of communication like the use of cell phones and mobiles, ipods and mp4 thus all those sophisticated sources that are used for the communications. The study of communications and its related topics are best available on Internet. The history of this subject, its usage in today’s fast life and the future of communication is evaluated and thoughts for it are covered in these articles. The communication articles for teaching purpose are best used. The dealers and the retailers need to know well for it where as the businesses those who deal with the communications projects and sources compete on behalf of these articles. Researches made on technology are overviewed on articles so one can get collective knowledge of a particular thing by reading these articles.

Many websites are based on the communication sources and earn on its grounds. Communications done internationally are also dealt with communication articles. Like those advertising, the communicating articles also prove to be a good source of acknowledging of a product or service to the interested clients. Those who are working in media and broadcasting, tend to get a lot of knowledge by communication articles, articles being also a part of newspapers are published on internet giving full fledge information to the reader audiences. The sales and advertisement is also done through the communication articles, thus the communication articles on Internet and other sources like radio, and TV and newspapers make a connection web. People get knowledge and awareness of their interested fields and the awareness of their surroundings through these sources where Internet now plays a great role via the communication articles.

Do You Know How to Communicate Change to Your Employees?

2010-02-15T06:12:00.000+07:00

Do you ever find yourself confused on how to best communicate changes to your employees? Here is where you need to do some serious brainstorming. Why? Because it takes a lot of communication to make a change successful.

As soon as you know that you will be creating change in your department, you must communicate to your employees so they know what is happening. You are probably thinking...why get them anxious about the change when you don't know all the details yet. They sense it already...as if the walls in the conference rooms have ears. It's much better to hear from you and not from someone outside the department or company.

Your communication plan needs to start right alongside the strategic planning. Aligned your communication plan along with all the steps of the project. Even if the change is relatively small, communicate throughout the whole process.

You will make changes as your receive feedback from employees and others, but if you have a solid communication plan in place already, making minor changes is easier. You and your employees have to feel as much in control as possible...so no surprises if possible. This plan will not guarantee there are no surprises but will reduce the possibility.

What you need to do is create a communication template and use it diligently in all of your significant changes. Here are some ideas to creating your communication plan

==>Communication Plan

-What is the goal of the change?

-Who are the stakeholders? (who is driving the change and/or benefiting from it?)

-Who is the project leader for your communication plan?

-What changes will need to occur in the department in order for you to meet your objective(s)?

-How long will it take to implement the change?

-What are the tangible results you would like to see from the communication plan?

-Who will need to change in order to insure the results will occur? Critical to know who will be most impacted as they are the individuals who you will need to insure fully understands the change.

When planning your communication events you need a solid foundation for all messages to your employees. Your communication must include clarity, consistency of messaging, continuous communications, and a forum for feedback. You want to insure that the information is received correctly and you are providing the necessary details for the employees to understand and accept the change.

Note: Before you send out your messages, test the message with a few people to get their feedback. You probably have worked on the message numerous times and can't see the more obvious missing points. You need to provide information in a language that people will understand. A fresh pair of eyes will be helpful.

Build a master list of communication activities that make up your plan. Here are some sample headings.

-Create a list of communication events organizing them in the order that you will distribute. Include date and how you will communicate the message. These communication events will be aligned with milestones of the project.

-For each communication event, create a list of details. For example, who will write it, what is the topic, how will it be distributed, and how will you follow up.

-Create a Calendar with Planned Events - you can visually see all of your communication events and plan accordingly.

-How will you communicate the message? (verbal and written)

-Who is responsible to communicate the message

-Pretest message

-Actual Delivered Date

Note: Communication Calendar - have one on the wall or close by so you can see visually all of your planned communication events.

==>Verbal communication

Make sure you mix verbal as well as written communication so that the employee gets an opportunity to ask you questions and come away with more clarity around the change. Create a script for your verbal messaging so you are consistent with the written message.

==>Receiving Feedback

Create several ways to receive feedback and let the employees know how they can share their thoughts, concerns or suggestions. People handle their concerns differently, some more outspoken, others more reluctant to speak in a large group. If you have several venues for them to give you feedback, you will have more information and fewer surprises. Here are some ideas to use for gathering feedback:

-Focus groups

-1:1 meetings with managers

-Create a separate website for employees to ask their questions.

Note: A separate website can also hold past communications and FAQs for repetitive questions.

Employees feel more comfortable when a manager informs them throughout the process. They may still feel anxious about the upcoming change, and yet if you are open, you build a lot of trust with them. When an employee trusts their manager, they are more open to the change.

Why People Live in Gated Communities

2010-02-14T06:14:00.000+07:00

What do you think of when you hear the words "gated community"? According to the US Census Bureau:

- There are approximately 7 million households living in gated communities in the U.S. That's about 6% of the total households in the country.
- About 4 million households in the U.S. are in communities where access is controlled by entry codes, key cards, gates or security guards.
- Gated developments are growing in popularity in places like Atlanta and suburbs of Washington D.C.
- Nearly 40% of new home construction in California is in gated communities. The percentage of new construction within the walls of gated communities is rising nationwide.
- The top gated communities in Cherokee County are among the most sought-after neighborhoods in the metro-Atlanta area.

What is it that makes homes in gated communities like Laurel Canyon, The Orchards and Lake Arrowhead such popular choices with new home buyers? Homeowners in the top gated communities in Cherokee County cite the same reasons that their fellow homeowners from around the country give when asked "Why buy a home in one of the top gated communities in Cherokee County?"

The reasons cited most often include:

Leisure and Recreational Opportunities
Gated communities offer many opportunities for leisure and recreation, especially those built on a master plan that emphasizes leisure time activities. Community centers offer recreational and fitness facilities available to residents, as well as classes and social activities on a regular basis. The top gated communities in Cherokee County include facilities for tennis, swimming, boating, hiking, biking, fishing and water activities and more.

Community
Master planned gated communities like Lake Arrowhead are specifically planned to be offer easy access to amenities and needs like dining, recreation, community involvement and shopping. While critics of gated communities in general bemoan a lack of community involvement among those who live in gated communities, actual experience tells a far different story.

In Lake Arrowhead, for instance, the community turned out en masse last spring to help rebuild the home of a local family that was destroyed by fire. "Everyone seemed to want to be a part of this project," said the director of ABC' s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, who put together the project. Faith Tipton-Smith, the homeowner, said "It just goes to show how much love there is in the community."

The Amenities
Many choose to live in gated communities for the amenities that they offer. Depending on the community, those amenities might include public docks for lake access, mountain hiking trails, water parks, a security guard at the gate, fine dining at local restaurants and a membership to the community clubhouse. Among the amenities that will be offered at the top gated communities in Cherokee County are a world class golf course, junior Olympic sized swimming pool, family access water park and a full service marina.

"Nice Neighborhood"
Most residents in gated communities cite "living in a nice neighborhood" as a major reason for choosing a gated community for their new home. Having an active homeowner association contributes to the upkeep and maintenance of the community. Roads, walkways and paths are well-maintained and homes are kept up in accordance with the standards of the community. "I know that the neighborhood is always going to be a nice neighborhood," said one long-time resident of a local gated community.

Safety
Many residents choose to live in a gated community for the safety it provides. That safety is far less about protecting the community from crime than it is about more general concerns. The gates keep pass-through traffic out of the community, offering the children and pedestrians safer streets and keeping speeders at bay. Security gates, guards and cameras deter thieves and other criminals from entering the community as well, reducing the risk of crime.

Property Values
Homes in gated communities tend to maintain their property values. The attention of the neighborhood association to maintenance and repair keeps the surrounding neighborhood beautiful, and maintains the property values of all community residences.

Natural Beauty
In Cherokee County, the top gated communities are situated on some of the most beautiful land that the country has to offer. Many home lots offer stunning views of the mountains and lakes, and make the natural beauty of the environment a key factor in home selection. Because development companies make preserving that beauty a priority, residents in communities like Lake Arrowhead and Laurel Canyon can choose homes and home sites that make the most of the stunning natural beauty of the North Georgia countryside.

Communication: Mechanical and Social Principles

2010-02-12T06:15:00.001+07:00

Communication is one of the fundamental necessities of our relationships with other people, whether it is a stranger, work colleague, family member, child or life partner. While our interpersonal relationships can be rewarding, many of us find ourselves in situations of mis-communication and communication breakdown, often leading to interpersonal conflict.
Do you find that people often misinterpret what you are saying or your intentions? Have you ever felt that you have totally missed the meaning of what someone else was communicating to you? Do you have difficulty expressing what you would like to say? Rest assured, many of us are confronted with situations like this in our relationships with others! We are left feeling like we are not being heard and our relationships suffer. In the end, our most developed societal tool is also one of the most productive conflict factories in the history of mankind.

In order to tackle two problems with a single solution, we've devised a comprehensive article on communication - and how improving it can not only improve your personal relationships, but also ensure that your professional life is on the right lane.

What is communication?

Body language, sign language, verbal language, writing, gestures, broadcasting - you name it, it is part of the process of communication. Communication is a broad concept and its history can be traced from a wide variety of pathways. Gesture and body language are the most primitive forms of communication, being practiced even before humans were able to produce 'sound' verbal language. Verbal language is possibly the most prominent human form of communication (albeit not the most used - it is perceived to be only 7% to 11% of communication). Some philosophers affirm that our capacity to verbally communicate with each other is the link which separates humans from other animals in the evolutionary scale.

Written language, another particularly prominent and advanced form of human communication, was initiated not so long ago - around 3,000 B.C. when the Egyptian civilisation created their first set of hieroglyphics. The complexity of human communication evolved analogously with the human capacity of learning, invoking major evolutionary changes in the brain structure and resulting in our capacity to improve (or arguably complicate) the way in which we communicate to each other. For the purpose of this article, we'll focus on verbal communication and body language.

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication can be defined as the transactional process of creating meaning through mutually responsive entities - or less formally, transmitting and receiving messages to and from other individuals. When people are communicating, they're being bombarded with information which, in most cases, they vastly fail to perceive. Why? Because people are not aware of the manner in which others perceive the world and themselves. They may have a rough idea, and even share some commonalities, but being able to predict interpretation of meaning to its full extent is impossible. However, it is possible to recognise some general trends.

Interpersonal communication has a core structure: sender, receiver, message and context. When the first 'message' is produced, a receiver will interpret that message according to his personal background (values, culture, experiences, knowledge and more) and according to the context in which the message was produced (situation, relevance, sender characteristics and more). To effectively communicate, people need to be able to align each individual's background information to the verbal or cultural significance of the message being transmitted. Relationships are based on that common level of understanding, and the more people fail to communicate to each other, the more they develop personal assumptions that could lead to conflict.

Barriers to communication

Considering its complexity, understanding the core challenges to interpersonal communication can vastly improve the process of interpreting people's messages, and helping them understand how to interpret yours. According to Bolton (1993) there are twelve major communication spoilers, listed in three different categories:

Judging

1. Criticising - making a negative evaluation of the other person.

2. Name-calling - stereotyping the other person.

3. Diagnosing - analysing the other person's behaviour.

4. Praising evaluatively - making excessive positive judgments to the other person.

Sending Solutions

5. Ordering - commanding the other person to do something you would like.

6. Threatening - controlling the other person's actions by warning about consequences.

7. Moralising - telling what the other person should do in a given situation.

8. Inappropriate or excessive questioning - using close-ended questions in excess.

9. Advising - giving the other person a solution to a problem.

Avoiding the Other's Concerns

10. Diverting - "pushing" a solution to the other person's problems.

11. Logical argument - attempting to convince the other with an appeal to logic and facts.

12. Reassuring - trying to stop the other person from feeling negative emotions.

Improving Communication

There are many effective strategies to help improve interpersonal communication. Effective communication does not only involve the transmission of a message, but also ensuring that the other person is devoting enough attention and that the environment is appropriate to transmit the message (controlling the 'noise' and 'interruption' levels).

Attention is the major skill that needs to be 'practised' during the communication process. The more attention devoted to a dialogue, for example, the better a communicator can recognise body language and voice trends. Furthermore, understanding the context of each message and aligning that to the other person's cultural and emotional background plays a key role in creating reliability in the interpretation.

Basic Communication Skills

Such rules are beneficial for any communication process, but particularly important during a formal relationship.

1. Listening well - valuing the client and demonstrating interest for the conversation.
2. Observing - observing body language, voice tone and emotive expressions.
3. Acknowledgement - the recognition for the client's initiative to state his/her issues.
4. Awareness - ensuring that the counsellor's body language is appropriate for the context.
5. Thinking - reasoning about what is and what is not appropriate input to the process.
6. Verbal expression - ensuring the use of the appropriate tone, rhythm and volume of voice.
7. Reflecting - clarifying and verifying what the client has expressed to the counsellor.

How to write Marketing Communications Plans?

2010-02-11T06:18:00.000+07:00

Marketing Communications are "all strategies, tactics, and activities involved in getting the desired marketing messages to intended target markets, regardless of the media used" (MarcommWise, 2006). Tony Yeshin (1999) defines marketing communications as "the process by which a marketer develops and presents stimuli to a defined target audience with a purpose of eliciting a desired set of responses" (Yeshin, 1999). Marketing communications are: adverting, sales promotions, personal selling, PR and direct and interactive marketing (Fill, 1999).
Consequently Marketing Communications Plan is the marketing plan which promotional plan incorporates two or more integrated marketing communications mediums aiming to reiterate the same goals and objectives. Marketing Communications Plans are considered by many professionals as an excellent way to effectively communicate with target audience.
Marketing Communications Plans are generally based on two different frameworks: Marketing Communications Planning Framework and SOSTAC (Fill, 1999).
Marketing Communications Plans consist of the following vital elements:
"Context analysis
Promotional objectives
Marketing communications strategy
Promotional mix (methods and tools)
Budget schedule
Evaluation and control" (Fill, 1999).

When writing marketing communications plan it is important to:
1. Set corporate, marketing and marketing communications objectives, which would support and integrate with each other.
2. Develop segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies
3. Develop creative message with which Marketing Communications Plan with communicate with target audience
4. Select and justify one or combination of marketing strategies (push, pull or profile)
5. Develop well-rounded and creative set of promotional mediums and allocate appropriate budget for each medium.
6. Create contingency planning strategy (in case something goes wrong)
7. Set strict set of evaluation and control mediums which would include milestones and continuous evaluation

Communication Skills Training - Effective Communication

2010-02-10T06:20:00.000+07:00

Good Communication

Skills are essential

Being an effective communicator takes real skill. Communication skills have to be developed, honed and added to on an on-going basis. They are the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.

To be effective in business, you have to communicate well. To be a good manager

, you have to communicate exceptionally well.

Here we look at basic communication dynamics, learning skills to improve your communication, using effective communication to improve and promote interpersonal relationships, creating an effective communication strategy.

We could write a book about the importance of communication key skills, but for now you can content yourself with some essentials for becoming a more effective communicator.

Communication Core Skills - The Essentials

Communication is Individual

We're Not All The Same

When you look at communication, presentation skills are not all there is to it. Far from it. Everyone communicates differently and sees the world differently. The greatest skill you can have in order to instantly and significantly improve you communications skills is to understand the other person's point view and how they see the world. Then you can adjust your own communication to take that into account.

Change Yourself to Change Others

Alongside this has to be the knowledge that the only person you can be sure of changing in any communication is you. Therefore, the most effective way to be in charge of what happens in any communication dynamic is changing what you do. When you can do this you are well on the way to promoting better relationships.

You are the Only One of You

There's never one right way to communicate. Authentic effective communication always happens when we reply on those things we know to be true about or for ourselves. Remember your personal style probably says more for you that all the words you use can.

What's Already Working?

Most people tend to look at what's wrong with themselves and other people rather than focusing on what already works. Remember, something (more than one thing, of course) has to be working well for you to have got this far already!

How Communication Happens

Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

Interpersonal skills. Everything communicates. Remember! If you aren't clear about what you mean and what your intention is, the other person (or people) could easily (and sometimes deliberately), misinterpret what you mean.

What you do matters as much as what you say. It's now accepted that the words account for only 7-11% of a communication. Your behaviour will 'read' unconsciously to other people and you can certainly be more in charge of the reading matter!

Language is one of the most powerful reflections of how we think and feel about ourselves and others. You need to be aware of the padding, justifications and excuses you use and whether they are appropriate. You can make a big impact simply by changing some of your language and developing your verbal skills, This way you can significantly improve your communication skills.

Communication Cycle

There is a neat communication cycle we've come across that can help you understand how to make communication work better. It means that you can take responsibility for every stage on the Communication Cycle:

Spoken - Heard - Understood - Agreed To - Acted On - Implemented.

Be aware of where you or others tend to fall off the cycle.

What can get in the way of Effective Communication

Here are some Common Barriers to Effective Communication.

We all make Too Many Assumptions

Be aware of the assumptions you make, especially making something up and then acting as though what you made up was true. Notice if you alter your behaviour with certain people because of the assumptions you make about them. Also be aware of the assumptions you think other people make about you.

Assumptions aren't necessarily 'bad'. Sometimes it's important to let people keep their assumptions (or some of them at least!) about you.

One effective way to deal with assumptions is to say to the other person, 'I've assumed such and such. 'Is that true?' or 'I'm making an assumption here about... Do you agree?'

Good communication in the workplace is often sabotaged by too many unconfirmed assumptions.

Patterns/Reverting to Type

We are pattern-making beings, which is good. However, sometimes we get so used to behaving and responding in certain ways that it's hard to see that there's any other way of doing things. When the pressure is on or we are under stress, even our best intentions may go out the window as we revert to type.

Habits, patterns, routine ways of thinking and behaving are difficult to change. Noticing your patterns at least gets you aware of them! One way to practise this is to see how many communication habits and patterns have crept into your workplace. Try not to judge them. You can always decide if you want to change them or not.

Needing to Be Right

This is one area we all know about - the need to be right and in turn for the other person to be wrong. One skill that does need practise is to let go of needing to be right. Think of it as presenting information or a point of view rather than having to bludgeon someone else with your arguments.

If you want to promote effective relationships, this is one of the greatest communication key skills you can have is to be able to change what you want from a communication. You may have started out wanting the other person to agree with you, but by giving that up you can change your want to letting them know you understand their point of view.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict

One of the purposes of conflict is to arrive at a resolution, so if you avoid conflict, the problem usually (though not always) gets worse. The earlier you can identify that there is a problem and intervene, the better it will be. Good communication skills require you to be able to resolve conflict.

Agreement

Find something (anything will do) in the other person's argument which you can genuinely agree with. This is a great way to take the wind out of someone's sails and ensure you don't get drawn into an insoluble argument. People usually won't listen until they feel heard.

Bridge Building

Really listen to what the other person is saying - they usually give a lot of information without realising it. Building bridges by making an offer can help enormously, as can changing what you want.

'I' not 'You'

Use 'I' statements, not 'You' statements to avoid blaming. This also means that you take responsibility for how you feel, rather than making the other person responsible for making things all right for you.

Improving Communication Skills

Be a Good Influence

Attitude

You can change the direction of a communication if you change your attitude. There is no one attitude that's the 'right' one to have, though being direct and clear certainly helps.

Effective Listening and Responding

You can have tremendous influence on a communication as the listener and the responder. When we get little or no response from the listener, we often project our assumptions onto them about what they are thinking (and usually we assume they aren't thinking good things about us!).

Be Positive

Use affirmation and encouragement to get the best out of people. Notice when others do things well (even if it's part of their daily routine). This shows you're being attentive; most people respond well when they know that others are aware of what they do.

Quite simply, the workplace can be a far better place to be if you consciously sprinkle your communication with positive feedback.

The Importance of Basic Communication Skills

What's most important is that you don't leave the business of communication to chance. Raise your awareness, develop your skills and you'll be a role model for effective communication.

Types of Communication and its characteristics

2010-02-09T06:20:00.000+07:00

Communication is the meaningful interaction with people in such a manner that the ideal that the ideal thought is same and getting the feedback also. Communication is commonly defined as “the exchange of thoughts, ideas, feelings, information,opinions, and knowledge”. It also involves mutuality of understanding.

Definitions of Communication:

Communication is meaningful interaction.
Communication is information sharing.
Communication is a link force.
Communication is understanding.
Communication is fundamental requisite of life.

Important Characteristics of Communication:

It is a 2-way process.
Communication process happens between or among two or more parties. (Sender and Receiver)
Communication involves exchange of ideas, feelings, information, thoughts, and knowledge.
Communication involves mutuality of understanding between Sender and Receiver.
There are two types of Communication i.e., Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication.

Forms/ Types of Communication:

Verbal Communication:

Oral Communication: Oral communication is information spoken by mouth; the use of speech. Some of the examples of Oral Communication are: Face to face communication,Telephonic Communication, Public Address System (Speech), Informal rumor mill (Grape Wine), Audio & Visual Media(Radio, TV), Lectures, Conference-Interchange of views, Meetings, Cultural Affairs.
Written Communication: Communication by means of written symbols (either printed or handwritten). Some of the examples are: Orders, Instructions, Letters, Memos, Reports, Policy manuals, Information Bulletin, Complaint System, Suggestion System, etc

Nonverbal Communication:

Body Language includes facial expression, eye contact, postures, gestures, touch.
Para Language is the way we say something rather than what we say, is another nonverbal code.
Space and Time Language:

Space Language includes surroundings (Design & Language). It communicates social status also.
Sign Language: A sign language is a language which, instead of conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns.

Time to build your community

2010-02-07T06:25:00.000+07:00

Back in the age of war the word "community" stood a lot prouder than it does today. Our nation were once, proud community and family driven individuals, these days we are all too afraid to help thy neighbour. If you could do something no matter how small to help put our country back on track financially would you do it?
Support the Community is trying to put a footprint (all be it a small one) into the finances of charities, churches, board of education and other community driven organisations.

Support the community offer community groups and organisation a chance to expand their fund raising methods. Using our free auction, community groups will be able to sell, buy, place wanted adverts and even receive their own webpage for no fee. The webpage community group account holders have will have the facility to exchange instant donations directly to the community group account holder. All support the community ask in return is for the community groups who participate to spread the word throughout any means deemed fit.

Support the community is a community orientated fund raising auction website, aimed at building small local communities to rebuild our country. We believe that all small changes will be building blocks to a better country, what do you believe?

Anyone can help. We need you "Joe Public" to help.
You can help by telling five friends about us, or you can call your local school or church and tell them to check the site out. Or you can make the first steps to expanding your fund raising methods by taking advantage of our free services.

Support the community has been live for 2 days and things so far are looking good.

We already have a small, every growing facebook group.
We already have over 56 users registered and this is estimated to rise.
We are in the development stage for building community group webpage’s.
We are already receiving calls from the public asking what it’s all about.

I guess the point I was getting at is that our success in rebuilding communities through the country lies with readers like you, and that little word of mouth making our dreams happen, that of strong standing communities through the United Kingdom

If you are a community group and would like to find out more you can visit the website and follow the links to our “community groups" page, here you will find out step by step registration guide.

If you are the general public you can help by registering for our stand free account or simply spread the word about.

The Need Of Intercultural Communication

2010-02-06T06:29:00.000+07:00

As you can see in today’s modern World, Globalization is the main factor considered in every walks of life. Starting from small businesses to International trade organizations, Globalization plays an important role in the growth of the firm. As a result of Globalization, these organizations are in need of effective communication with the clients, suppliers and employees worldwide. This is where the intercultural communication comes into play. The need of intercultural communication is indispensable in the Globalized world. Just keep reading on to know more about the need of Intercultural communication.

What is Intercultural communication?

Intercultural communication can be defined in many ways. Basically Intercultural communication refers to the effective communication between people/ workers/ clients of different cultural background. People have a misconception that intercultural communication is all about dealing with different languages. Though Intercultural communication deals with handling different languages, it also includes managing thought patterns and non verbal communication too.

What is the Need of Intercultural communication?

It is a well known fact that the success of any International business depends upon the effectiveness in Intercultural communication. Though communicating with people of different cultures and languages will be very much interesting, the intercultural communication skills are hard to come by. Thankfully, with the advancements in technology, there are many kinds of translation services available today. These translation services help people to decode the message given in a different language. You can also opt for cross cultural training if you wish to develop intercultural skills and don’t wish to depend on anyone else for effective Intercultural communication. In the highly completive business world, Intercultural communication is also becoming competitive. As the success in International business depends on the Intercultural communication, the International businesses work hard in making their communication right. Delivering a presentation or negotiating with a supplier or providing assistance to a client, Intercultural communication has to be done right.

Developing Intercultural Communication skills

Starting from books to e-learning, the sources to develop Intercultural communication skills are unlimited. If you don’t wish to learn Intercultural Communication but still want to effectively communicate with people world-wide, the electronic translators are made for you. As the name indicates, these electronic translators decode the message into your native language for better understanding. With the help of these electronic translators, you will also be able to pass messages to the people around the planet in their language itself. You should remember that you’ve got only one shot to effectively communicate with the International clients/ suppliers for making a fair deal. Hence you shouldn’t take any risk in Intercultural communication for business. For accurate Intercultural communication you should always go with the professional translation services available out there.

Bottom Line

The success in Intercultural Communication depends on how people negotiate, meet, greet and build relationships worldwide. With the advancements in translation services and cultural awareness, International borders are not even speed bumps today.

A Longing For Community

2010-02-05T06:34:00.000+07:00

There seems to be a longing, a need that most people can’t put their finger on. They may be incredibly successful by all the ways we define success like money, position and power but they don’t feel satisfied. People don’t know why they are unhappy because by most definitions they think they should be happy. Some of my religious friends will say these people need to find God but even some of my highly religious friends are feeling angst. 30,000,000 people today are taking the prescription drug Prozac. This drug is for people that are depressed. With all of the upheaval of the financial markets, job loss, and insecurity, it is no wonder that people are questioning the very premises of the foundation of our culture. Even wealthy people who are not in dire straights are questioning why our society is experiencing these financial seizures. And when it was stable they were wondering why they were not happy. I think the two conditions are related to one cause. Perhaps if this one cause could be satisfied, then other conditions would cure themselves or at least be improved.

By some religious traditions the world is only 6,000 years old. What archeologists tell us is that 6,000 years ago, agriculture started to make surpluses, cities started to be built, and armies started to conquer. You could say that the world is gradually becoming one big city, with everyone a specialist, and everyone managed. Did we start building cities when we were thrown out of the Garden of Eden? As people moved off the farm to the city, it seems they were also moving away from community with neighbors to a martin house of strangers. They live close to one another but don’t know one another. Increasingly few know their neighbors and even fewer have community. Let me tell you what I mean by community.

Man needs to work with others for a common tangible goal. In fact, there are many cases of people who have been put into solitary confinement with no contact from others who have become insane. We desperately need other people and we need to work with them on worthwhile projects. There is just something about our well being that requires contact with others. You could say it is in our DNA. Man used to very easily work with others. We needed to work with others to get in the crops, to hunt, and to build. This was very common. Today we can point to rare instances of working together. When the Amish do a barn raising, they become closer with each other through work. They build community. When a church group gets together and builds a house for Habitat for Humanity, they feel a similar special feeling of community that warms theirs souls and builds friendships. I am convinced that is why Habitat for Humanity has done so well and captured people’s imagination. It is one of the few charities where one’s time and effort (not just a checkbook) is allowed to be joined with others to build community through a project that is significant. I think my wife’s grandmother’s favorite part of church was when she would join with other ladies in the church basement and spend many hours making quilts. These quilts would be auctioned off for charity. It was the community with the other ladies and the work toward a common goal that mattered. Maybe that is one reason group sports are popular. People miss being a part of a team, a community to work together to get a job done. And like a lot of things we miss, we get a vicarious thrill watching a child, a friend, or our favorite teams accomplish that win---that community accomplishment. If we can’t live in community, then we admire others living community through a sports team. Yelling and cheering for our team can give us a pseudo feeling of community. I suppose a sports fan is a member of a community but only as much as junk food is a member of a food group. True community goes much deeper.

There are rare instances when businesses and governments understand about the power of community. It is almost as if we hearken back to an ancient forgotten wisdom when it really matters and we must be successful quickly. During WWII, Lockheed Martin set up a special program to build aircraft to win the war. It was called the Skunk Works. Because their work was top secret, Lockheed created a special group, a team of individuals that could work in any way they liked with complete autonomy, no red tape or bureaucracy, and total freedom to get the job done. This group ended up designing planes in record time (Some thought in miraculous time) and ultimately helped win the war.

Many software companies use the Skunk Works business model with fantastic results. In the eighties I used to visit some of my clients at Microsoft. As I would walk into the lobby, I could feel the energy. I would hear excited software developers with their energized discussions about solving problems as they walked through the lobby on their way to lunch. This was truly a place where things were happening, where people’s souls were lit up, where community was in full swing. Just as Lockheed Martin got new airplane designs in record time, Microsoft’s software became the dominant software of the 20 th and perhaps the 21 st century.

People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are. They want to work with others creating something that matters. They don’t want to be isolated in a cubicle with no access to other people. They want community.

That is why I say community might be the solution to many of our current problems. We need to build a "Skunk Works" to help us out of our current crisis.

Note: Build a business, charity, or family that builds community and helps people work together for something big and you will have amazing success. Most are starved for community and the lack of community is the source of many of our problems.

Improve Your Communication Skills Now

2010-02-04T06:38:00.001+07:00

Need a job? Want to get promoted? Like to have a date? You're going to have to communicate! Introverts of the world - arise! Here are some tips to get you started: 1.) Decide you want to communicate. It all starts here. If you don't truly want to communicate with others, your efforts will be doomed. People are very perceptive and pick up on the smallest clues that you really don't want to be talking with them. (Well, most people that is.) So it starts with truly believing that communication skills are important and you want to acquire them. 2.) Let go of perfection. Not that any of us are perfectionists......but just in case, you'll have to let go of it with communication. It gets tricky - what worked well with one person may be a disaster with someone else. You're going to make mistakes, maybe even big mistakes. That's how you're going to learn. All you can do is the best you can in each situation. 3.) Pay attention. This is what matters most in communication. Pay attention to the other person or to the audience. If you are looking at a spreadsheet, you will miss the confusion on the client's face. If you're watching television you will miss your child's hurt look. I believe that most communication mistakes are made because we do not pay attention to the other person. Up to 93% of face-to-face communication is nonverbal. That means you really have to pay attention to tone and body language as well as words to get the whole message. Quit looking at your Blackberry! 4.) Realize what you're saying in addition to the words. You are always communicating. If you are speaking with clients and you don't smile, look only at your paperwork, and use jargon they don't understand, don't be surprised if you lose their account. If you present to a group and stare only at the Power Point slides and exude the energy of a mortician, don't expect them to be compelled by your words. No leader ever fired up his or her people by reading Power Point slides to them. Good eye contact, gesture and facial expressions are vital for your success. 5.) Create opportunities to communicate. The great thing about practicing communication is you get instant feedback. (But you have to be paying attention to get it!) If the waitress gets your order wrong, there was a communication error somewhere. If you are in a fight with someone you love, there was a communication error somewhere. If you told a joke and no one laughed, ditto. Pay close attention to these errors and work to understand what went wrong. Communicate more, pay attention to the results and adjust accordingly. Over time you can only improve. 6.) Learn as much as you can about this important skill. To improve your skills, read a book or listen to an audiotape, sign up for a class or seminar. Communication skills do not come naturally. This is a false belief many people hold. You're either growing or you're dying - I recommend growing. 7.) Ask for feedback - WARNING - this is only for the non-thin skinned. Ask your family how well you listen. Ask your co-workers or supervisor how well you communicate in meetings or during presentations. Ask for specifics - "was I interesting? Clear? Did I make good eye contact? Do I have any weird gestures? Do I have ANY gestures? Could you tell I was alive?" Tell them you are trying to improve your communication skills and need their input - make it safe for them to respond. Remember - this is only for the non-thin skinned - it's hard to take constructive feedback. And the truth is, if you're paying attention, you get constant feedback about your communication skills. Sadly, most of us aren't paying attention. 8.) Overcome your fear of communicating. Here's the real deal - most people are more intimidated by YOU than you realize. If you're an introvert you may seem quiet and withdrawn which some people may mistake for arrogance. I know it seems ridiculous, but the more you smile, the less scary you are! Break one out - I swear it doesn't hurt. You shouldn't be afraid of communicating - the biggest thing you should focus on is putting others at ease. Communication is vital to your success. Improving your communication skills will improve your relationships and make you richer. Treat it like any other professional skill - learn about it, practice it, get better at it. You can't run from it, you can't hide from it, you can't avoid it.

2 Types Of Basic Communication Skills Explained

2010-02-03T06:41:00.000+07:00

According to certain studies, it is stated that the communication need arises naturally in all human beings. On the other hand, the same research papers assert that communication abilities are in fact developed by the environment in which a person lives.
When people come across the term "communication", it signifies words to them. They are of the opinion that the word "communication" primarily denotes language utilization. When they are faced with the information that communication is of two types, they inevitably imagine that they are written and oral communication. This article tends to make clear to you that communication abilities include so much more than mere words.
1. Verbal
The verbal communication abilities cover the usage of all words. This denotes that both written and oral words fall into this group. People tend to employ and cultivate this kind of communication skill vigorously, even though it can be claimed that there are a few people, who do not avail of it to the extent that the others do.
While employing verbal communication skills, it is noticed that people are right on the mark when conveying their message. It is for this reason that verbal communication is availed of as the education channel. By means of verbal communication abilities, people can gain knowledge in the manner in which it is to be received.
Verbal communication abilities can be enhanced in a number of ways. One method is to hold a conversation with other people regularly. Involving yourself in a dialogue can enable you to come across new terms to improve your verbal communication abilities. Listening carefully to the mass media is a fine idea since you will pay heed to the exact pronunciation of words.
When it comes to writing, the best possible way to improve this verbal communication ability is to do plenty of perusing. By reading, you tend to pick up the right way to spell words and their precise usage in communication.
2. Non-verbal
Now, this kind of communication ability employs symbols rather than words to carry meaning. Usually, this kind of communication ability is based on the construal of the message by the receiver. This signifies that there is a possibility of the message being conveyed perfectly or it being misinterpreted, as determined by the discernment of the receiver.
We can employ non-verbal communication abilities in a number of ways. Yet, we never really pay heed to them. We utilize non-verbal communication abilities by means of our expressions. Every time we chuckle or sob, we are in fact employing non-verbal communication abilities.
Apparently, you may claim that when we make these actions, we are not conscious of them. Nonetheless, a few ways in which we utilize non-verbal communication abilities usually occur involuntarily. The eyebrow tic, the rhythmic beating of feet, and such other small things, which we do not deliberately control, convey messages to others.
This kind of communication abilities also encompasses other ways by which we transmit our message to the world. The way in which people dress also sends across a message. An artist communicates his thoughts and feelings through his paintings. These and other situations provide you an impression about the multiplicity of communication.
How well we are able to convey messages by means of these communication skills many a times establishes our standing in society. Therefore, get going and sharpen your communication abilities. Give expression to the way you feel.

Get the Best Out of Your Email Marketing Campaign

2009-12-20T07:06:00.000+07:00

New subscribers to email marketing often ask us how they can ensure that their email marketing campaign will be a success. Over the years our experience has taught us a few simple rules which we advise our clients to apply:

• Keep it simple
Whether it's a monthly newsletter or your first product based email marketing campaign keep your email focused on the message you are sending. Remember your recipient has a limited amount of time to read your message so get straight to the point.

• Target your audience
Sometimes the most obvious marketing rules are forgotten first. Check your list to ensure that the recipients have expressed an interest in your products or services.

• Timing
Think about when you intend to send out your campaign. Are you emails going to be opened if they are sent out first thing on Monday morning or are you more likely to get a good response if you send your campaign out on Friday afternoon?

• Check your email
There's something about email messages that stops people from checking them before they are sent out. We've all experienced that sinking feeling when the send button has been pressed in haste! Check and re-check that all the information on your message is correct. If you are addressing the recipients individually make sure you have got your Mr / Mrs correct, there's nothing worse then a sloppy message full of typos. A good trick used by proof readers is to read your document back wards. You are more likely to spot mistakes this way.

email iQ is an easy to use, cost effective and feature rich email marketing solution with free HTML email templates. email iQ has been designed and built by Kinexus a leading UK email marketing provider. For more information visit - http://www.emailiq.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M._Zed

Business Writing, Presentation Skills Training Brings Out the Effective Communication Thinker in Us

2009-12-18T14:46:00.000+07:00

Writing: An Opportunity, Not A Chore

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means." Joan Didion, author

The lady's right on the money. I drive the point home in all my business communication (writing skills and presentation skills) training: Writing is thinking. Don't view it as a frustrating technical exercise in grammar, a series of hurdles to trip over as you dump your jumbled thoughts on a blank legal pad or screen, hoping that they'll eventually come together in some loose confederation.

Writing allows you to think -- really think over time -- about what you know and what you might need to find out before you put your thoughts in some logical order. Please indulge me as I offer an example close to home:

I have a 19-year-old son named Will. He's a promising sophomore baseball pitcher at a fine public liberal arts college in Maine. (Fortunately, he's adopted. Had be been our biological child, he'd probably be third-string Chess Club.) Will is a decent student -- nothing exceptional, but shrewd enough to use the English language in ways that satisfy his professors.

When he was in high school, we used to talk back and forth about his pitching tactics, which I found riveting because baseball is far and away my favorite sport. But talk is usually spontaneous and anecdotal, and doesn't always frame itself into a context that takes in precedents and projects future behavior.

Now our contact is mostly by email, which turns Will into a practical (non-academic) writer who knows that the usual abbreviated electronic lingo young people pass back and forth won't work for someone of my generation. So now when I ask him how baseball practice is going, he has to think, which led last spring to the best "conversation" we've ever had about pitching. Here's what he wrote after I inquired about a practice session:

"I was receiving a lot of advice and help from older guys, so I needed to filter the stuff that was going to help me and the stuff I could fix another time...I just kept the fastball knee-high, outside corner, which has got me here. I have also gained enough confidence to throw inside...I messed around with some grips, so now I have a tailing fastball and a running fastball, sort of like a cutter/forkball...My changeup sucked yesterday...I need to work on the grip and [get] more practice spotting it.

"So to answer your question, the last guys I started with curves or outside or inside fastballs. Then worked a harder fastball up in the zone or maybe another curve outside. Then I would just blow one by or maybe throw a deuce [curve] that would fall in for a strike. They were all strike three-looking, so they watched the fastball or then watched the curve."

Never before in the six or seven years he's been pitching competitively has Will put so much thought into any discussion we've had on mound tactics -- itself a form of on-the-spot analysis matched in sports only by golf when it comes to creative judgments. (Again, the crucial element is having the time.) The writing challenge allowed him to put it all together and think about where he is and where he wants to be.

Email does the same for all of us. It turns us into writers, an unmatched opportunity to show just how smart we really are.

Stop Yelling At Me

That's right. I'm not looking to buy a used car at unbelievable rock-bottom prices or send in $19.95 for an amazing gadget that'll suck food residue out of the bottom of the dishwasher and double as a self-administered dental hygiene device. Shouting may work (it must work; else why would they keep doing it?) for car pitch men or guys with British accents hawking the latest techno-mop on cable TV, but that doesn't mean you have to yell.

No, when it comes to presentation or public speaking skills, what I teach in seminars is straightforward: Be yourself.

I recently sat through a breakfast meeting presentation by a renowned local motivational speaker who irritated the stuffing out of me. So excited was he about his secrets of small business success that his voice quickly turned into a hoarse rant well beyond the acoustical limits of a medium-size church hall.

It didn't stop there. As he turned to and from a flip chart in a frenzied rush, he couldn't keep his hands from jerking up in tandem with every point he made. Inside 10 minutes, he was reaching for a handkerchief to wipe perspiration from his face on what was a cool late-summer morning.

As you may have guessed, I was distracted and lost track of his message. The gestures, the pace, the visible results of exertion, they all kept me from listening closely to what were probably valuable lessons about management.

(By the way, I do give him credit for using the flip chart. Had he throttled back on his tone and gestures and kept eye contact around the room, we would have followed him with eyes and ears as he turned to the flip chart to make key points. That's a far cry from PowerPoint, where the lights go down, eye contact fades into the gloom and the speaker stands there, transfixed by the need to keep turning away from us and reading from the huge, domineering screen.)

The key, again, is to be yourself. Not too long ago, I guided a VA hospital CEO in the Midwest through a videotaped "60 Minutes"-type interview, with a few "gotcha" questions thrown in for good measure. Being a quiet, almost bashful professional, she found that she could relax and speak in a normal tone of voice that projected self-assurance and competence. The result pleased her and she came to accept and control her natural nervousness.

Please visit my website at http://www.davegriffithscommunications.com, where you'll find that I've worked with a variety of government, nonprofit and private-sector clients on business communication skills -- from effective writing to presentation skills to media relations.
I travel widely to do writing and media and presentation skills training for clients ranging from the U.S. Coast Guard to the Red Cross to the Department of Homeland Security to the Veterans Administration to the National Nuclear Security Administration to Navy SEALs to senior executives at a variety of federal agencies to businesses that need help with technical writing and written sales proposals.
My professional background is journalism, having reported for the Kansas City Star and covered national security for several publications, including Business Week magazine. After leaving Washington, I was a member of the Penn State journalism faculty for six years. I have a degree in English from the University of Virginia and a masters in journalism from the University of Missouri, and served as a U.S. Army field artillery officer in Germany and Vietnam.
I live with my wife and two sons in a small town in Maine, where I publish a municipal newsletter and chair a school board.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Griffiths

Simple Business Communication Tips For Wedding Services

2009-12-16T14:48:00.000+07:00

Many businesses compete to captivate customer's attention everyday, making it hard for you to communicate your messages effectively. Like all other businesses, your wedding services need to reach out to as many people as possible. This can be done by promoting your services through various communication channels like television, radio, and print. The key to achieving effective communication is by keeping all things simplified, straightforward, and concise.

• Answer questions. Aside from promoting your services, your marketing medium should also provide answers to make it beneficial and valuable for customers. Instead of keeping clients guessing, provide answers to their questions. Whether you are inviting clients to attend your bridal fair or to try your wedding services, you must supply all essential information so as not to mislead them.

• Engage your readers. Engaging your clients to read your marketing copy is as important as attracting their attention. Once you captivate their attention, you must motivate them to continue reading on. Make your message friendly and conversational instead of trying to sound like a serious and boring business professional. Photos work wonders to any marketing medium, so use wedding photos that sell. Give your clients a clear picture of what your wedding services can offer them to pique their interest.

• Create distinction for your business. In this crowded business industry, you must learn how to differentiate yourself. Come up with an innovative marketing campaign and send your message in a unique and memorable way. Focus on the features of your business that other wedding services do not offer. For instance, you can put emphasis on your out-of-the-box wedding invitation designs. Provide clients with samples of your unique work as proof of the quality service you offer. Opt for online printers that provide quality wedding envelope printing and postcard invitations. Professional printers print wedding envelopes and postcard invitations perfect for presenting your sample designs to clients.

Communicating with your clients comes easy if you are armed with the appropriate marketing tools and are able to send your message to the right people. Remember that simplified communication works better than long and complicated marketing message. Always think of yourself as a client so you'll know what communication strategy works for them.

More topics on Wedding Envelope Printing can be found at Print Wedding Envelopes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gina_Nuqui

Can Business VoIP Handle Corporate Communications?

2009-12-14T14:49:00.000+07:00

Voice over Internet Protocol is making a rapid entry into society. Vonage, well known the world over, is at the forefront pushing VoIP as an alternative to traditional home telephone services offered by companies like AT&T and Verizon. There are even devices on the market that will connect your phone to your computer, allowing you to make phone calls via your high-speed Internet connection. With VoIP being touted as the future of communications, can it really make the transition into the corporate environment?

A business communications system is a much larger and more complex entity than a home phone network. Businesses require separate extensions, dial-by-name directories, the ability to transfer calls to other users and numerous other features not needed in a home environment. Up until now, companies needed to purchase their own pricy PBX unit from a telephone hardware vendor and contract with expensive phone system specialists to deploy it and keep it running. Can VoIP providers handle the complexity of all of these extra features?

Business VoIP providers have tailored their product to work just as well as the PBXes offered by the established telephone giants. These VoIP providers offer separate extensions, voicemail features and call transferability, among other things. They even provide for advanced features such as an auto-attendant to answer incoming calls, ACD queues to manage multiple calls at the same time and conference bridges that allow multiple people to talk with each other on the same call. Most providers even have or are developing E911 abilities.

And what's more, companies that use a hosted business VoIP product for their telephone system enjoy the added advantage of not having to take care of bulky, complicated telecom equipment! The hosted PBX provider handles that- and reputable providers have dedicated and knowledgeable staff members to look after the equipment on a daily basis. By not having a PBX in your office, you can avoid all of the hassle of making sure the system is working, and all of the stress when something goes wrong.

Furthermore, your business can save bundles of money by not having to purchase a PBX, which can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. By subscribing to a hosted business voip provider, you will only have to pay a low monthly charge (per user or per features enabled, depending on the VoIP provider) to use the service. And there are also savings to be had from the low price per minute for phone calls, averaging 2 to 3 cents per minute. VoIP is incredibly cheaper than traditional telephone calls, essentially due to the fact that VoIP calls 'piggyback' on your company's Internet connection.

VoIP is well-situated to handle business communications. From the features offered, to the savings incurred, a hosted PBX solution is very appealing for any small to medium-sized company. You trust your high-speed data connection to handle your Internet needs, why not trust it to handle your voice communications as well? The only thing you have to lose is the extra telephone equipment!

OnSIP Hosted PBX is a complete business VoIP service delivered over the Internet. In use by thousands of businesses today, you can sign up and receive a 30 Day FREE trial of the hosted voip service!

Joseph DeBari
Junction Networks

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_DeBari

Business Communication - The Latest 5 Big Secrets to Energize Your Workplace Communication

2009-12-12T16:17:00.000+07:00

Would you like your business communications to become more attention-grabbing and to sound more impacting? Here's what you need to do:

1. Set your goals. Before you even start tapping on your key board, determine your goals for writing a specific business communication first. Would you like to inform? Would you like to urge people to act? Would you like to remind everyone about an existing business policy? Would you like to motivate your employees? Knowing what you would like to achieve beforehand is very important as your goal can help you determine the information you need to include and the elements that you are going to use to achieve desired results.

2. Create a draft. Create a bullet list of all the things that you would like to communicate. It's not really important to pay attention to your grammar and spelling at this point. The idea here is to capture everything that you want to say. You can edit later.

3. Use simple terms. Take into consideration the level of comprehension of your intended audience and the words that they can easily relate with. Use these words and their language when writing your business communications to promote easy understanding.

4. Proofread. Aside from running your business communications on your grammar and spell checkers, I recommend that you also manually proofread them to make sure that they are free from grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling errors.

5. Solicit feedback. Before you make your business communication available to your intended audience, show it first to a couple of third party who can give you unbiased feedback. Ask these people if your messages are easy to understand.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed a brand new free guide. Download it free here: Internet Marketing

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Sean Mize teaches coaches, consultants, and small business owners how to package their knowledge and sell it in high priced coaching, consulting, and online class packages, and is an expert at using articles like this to drive traffic to his website, and has taught hundreds of clients his secrets. Sean says "If you have an existing marketable service or skill that you can teach others, I can teach you to package it into a high-priced class or coaching program, guaranteed"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

Effective Communication in Relation to Business Management

2009-09-23T16:16:00.000+07:00

Effective leadership is where one efficiently relates to the people he/she is leading. Dealing with people calls for good communication skills. Relaying of information is therefore vital in ensuring sound management especially in a business setting.

An organization can be more efficient depending on the systems it uses to inform its members of what is expected of them. Communication will assist reinforce cohesiveness and create a momentum towards business goal attainment.

From the managerial perspective, communication is important because it's a means by which managers in an organization collect and disseminates information. It is also a way of achieving co-ordination and co-operation.

Relaying of information is the foundation of ensuring a successful business organization. It is vital for the working of an organization just as the way blood is in the human body. The success of any managerial function depends on effective modes of relaying or transmitting information. Communication aids in unifying and managing activities. This way behavior is modified, change is effected and goals are accomplished. Therefore, proper transmission of information, ideas and decisions is a basic necessity for management.

It is advisable to have cost effectiveness when it comes to communication. Any management seeking to succeed should also have different approaches to relaying information. Installing of systems like the intranet will greatly assist in relaying information within an organization.

In order for a manager to perform the functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling, he will require perfect communication systems to be put in place. Even when it comes to handling suppliers and customers an excellent manager must find ways to guarantee effective communication.

Belsheba is a business management expert. She researches and studies on big and small business strategies. Website: Business Management Solutions for efficient business operation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Belsheba_Nyabwa

Effective Communication Skills in the Business World

2009-09-21T16:17:00.000+07:00

Communication is the key that unlocks the potential of all people undertaking businesses. Two can never walk together unless they agree. Communication is the sure way of keeping in touch in the business world.

At the work place, bosses can give instruction to their juniors even when they are out of the office. But it is important to know how to clearly communicate to your juniors to ensure duties are performed effectively.

Lack of clear protocol at times leads to mismanagement. Sometime junior staffs fail to understand their tasks due to lack of clear guidelines of how to perform their duties. Big companies have a way of assembling their workers to brief them over daily or weekly duties to be undertaken. Failures to offer good leadership through communication, businesses tend to bend on either side of making profits or losing. All this can be blamed to lack of clear communication skills.

Some juniors especially, lack motivation to perform their duties because of being mishandled by their equal colleagues as they take up their respective responsibilities.

Business people should make every effort to embrace sound communication skills in their business. For example, advertise your products or services through affordable means like using small brochures, radios and banners. Talk constantly about the products you are offering, keep advertising over and over again until when people think of any product close to what you are offering, they will run to you. Efficient marketing strategy calls for an entrepreneur to relay relevant information clearly to the target audience.

All in all, communicating to your staffs, suppliers and customers will ensure a smooth flow of business operations. Successful businesses worldwide have embraced effective communication skills that have ensured that they stay afloat in the current competitive market.

Stephen is a Business expert. He researches and studies on small business strategies . Website: Business Management Tips for sound business operations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephen_Kavita

Business Communication - 3 Ways to Do It

2009-09-20T16:20:00.000+07:00

What if you discovered how easy it is to communicate with your clients and boost your trust, relationship and expertise in their eyes?

Here are 3 simple steps to get you started...

Step 1 - Communicate via email using autoresponder.

Step 2 - Use the massive power of telephone through teleseminars.

Step 3 - Setup a highly powerful webinar and provide them an audio visual presentation.

Here are step by step details that you can apply quickly and easily...

Step 1 - Communicate via email using autoresponder.

Auto responder is the most powerful marketing tool to help you to setup your e-mail marketing campaign. It is also a very powerful tool that will help you to communicate with your subscribers on a regular basis and helps them provide quality information through e-mail. This will help you to build solid relationship with them.

You can also use the power of telephone to communicate with your clients and boost your relationship with them...

Step 2 - Use the massive power of telephone through teleseminars.

There are many services that will help you to conduct a simple seminar where you can present powerful content and information to your clients using telephone and interact with all of them using a simple centralized conference system.

This will easily help you to boost your trust factor with your clients and boost your relationship with them as well as provide them quality content and help them out to solve their problems.

You can also conduct an audiovisual presentation to explain your clients some complicated concepts...

Step 3 - Setup a highly powerful webinar and provide them an audio visual presentation.

Webinar is a powerful online presentation where your clients can watch your computer screen as well as hear your voice. They can actually see live as to what you are doing on your computer and this can help you to easily explain them some technical topics very easily.

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Sean Mize teaches coaches, consultants, and small business owners how to package their knowledge and sell it in high priced coaching, consulting, and online class packages. Sean says "If you have an existing marketable service or skill that you can teach others, I can teach you to package it into a high-priced class or coaching program, guaranteed"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

Top 5 Trends in Business Computing

2009-09-19T16:22:00.000+07:00

Technology moves fast, but it changes faster. You use technology to keep up with your co-workers, and ultimately to keep up with your competitors. All this speed can make a person dizzy if you are not out ahead of the curve. Understanding trends in technology can mean the difference between increasing revenue on the one hand and a failed business model on the other. In this article, I will help put you out in front of the curve by showing you what is on the horizon in business computing. Some of the trends I discuss are already here, but they are in the beginning stages of implementation. Either way, in understanding these trends, you will be light years ahead of your competitors who don't.

Trend #1: Cloud Computing is the wave of the future

Centralizing your data and applications on the internet, or cloud computing, is probably the single most important paradigm shift going on today. Instead of operating a LAN (local area network), with all of its connected workstations and security concerns, you do everything on a hosted internet solution. Gone are the old security problems of connecting a network to the internet, since your whole operation is already on the internet. Users interface with the data using what is called thin-client technology, or what are essentially dummy machines. These new age workstations don't store anything on the hard drive, they just interact with the data and applications which are already online.

Trend #2: Mobile Computing is here to stay

If you can't answer emails on your smartphone, you need to catch up with today's technology. The trend of computing using portable smart devices like BlackBerry and iPhone is here. In the future, there will be greater and greater functionality offered in these mobile devices as the number of available applications explodes. Your business will be done on the go, in real time, without the need for later synchronization. Business communication has gone portable and it's time you join the trend!

Trend #3: Social Networking is the new paradigm of business communication

Does your business have marketing tools which utilize sites like Facebook and Twitter? Open sharing and transparency of data are the new trend in communication. A number of companies including Best Buy have ad campaigns which utilize Twitter. At the heart of this trend is the inherent power of a set of socially networked individuals, whatever the platform. Businesses will be creating environments like this on their intranets for their employees, to share ideas and solve problems like never before.

Trend #4: Trendy new products include the Netbook

You may have seen them around. A small (10 inches!) laptop computer designed for wireless communication and internet access. A number of manufacturers are hot on this trend trying to produce the perfect mobile internet device. This product has synergy with the cloud, as it is well suited for remotely accessing web based applications. This type of product will be developed further as the future in the cloud looms.

Trend #5: It's a virtual new world

Virtualization of servers, sort of like one server impersonating 5 servers, and pulling it off, is the new world of network computing. It's virtual reality for business. Which would you rather do, spend $100,000 on 4 new servers, or install software that creates 5 servers in 1? This cost effective way of handling the deluge of data in business today is just another trend with which you must contend.

Do you need someone to help you manage these trends in your business? Contact us at, http://www.multipointnetwork.com. We can help you understand and profit at the speed of technology.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Geoff_Johnson

Assertive Communication - 6 Tips For Effective Use

2009-09-18T16:25:00.000+07:00

What IS assertive communication?

Assertive communication is the ability to express positive and negative ideas and feelings in an open, honest and direct way. It recognises our rights whilst still respecting the rights of others. It allows us to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions without judging or blaming other people. And it allows us to constructively confront and find a mutually satisfying solution where conflict exists.

So why use assertive communication?

All of us use assertive behaviour at times... quite often when we feel vulnerable or unsure of ourselves we may resort to submissive, manipulative or aggressive behaviour.

Yet being trained in assertive communication actually increases the appropriate use of this sort of behaviour. It enables us to swap old behaviour patterns for a more positive approach to life. I've found that changing my response to others (be they work colleagues, clients or even my own family) can be exciting and stimulating.

The advantages of assertive communication

There are many advantages of assertive communication, most notably these:

It helps us feel good about ourselves and others
It leads to the development of mutual respect with others
It increases our self-esteem
It helps us achieve our goals
It minimises hurting and alienating other people
It reduces anxiety
It protects us from being taken advantage of by others
It enables us to make decisions and free choices in life
It enables us to express, both verbally and non-verbally, a wide range of feelings and thoughts, both positive and negative

There are, of course, disadvantages...

Disadvantages of assertive communication

Others may not approve of this style of communication, or may not approve of the views you express. Also, having a healthy regard for another person's rights means that you won't always get what YOU want. You may also find out that you were wrong about a viewpoint that you held. But most importantly, as mentioned earlier, it involves the risk that others may not understand and therefore not accept this style of communication.

What assertive communication is not...

Assertive communication is definately NOT a lifestyle! It's NOT a guarantee that you will get what you want. It's definately NOT an acceptable style of communication with everyone, but at least it's NOT being aggressive.

But it IS about choice

Four behavioural choices

There are, as I see it, four choices you can make about which style of communication you can employ. These types are:

direct aggression: bossy, arrogant, bulldozing, intolerant, opinionated, and overbearing
indirect aggression: sarcastic, deceiving, ambiguous, insinuating, manipulative, and guilt-inducing
submissive: wailing, moaning, helpless, passive, indecisive, and apologetic
assertive: direct, honest, accepting, responsible, and spontaneous

Characteristics of assertive communication

There are six main characteristics of assertive communication. These are:

eye contact: demonstrates interest, shows sincerity
body posture: congruent body language will improve the significance of the message
gestures: appropriate gestures help to add emphasis
voice: a level, well modulated tone is more convincing and acceptable, and is not intimidating
timing: use your judgement to maximise receptivity and impact
content: how, where and when you choose to comment is probably more important than WHAT you say

The importance of "I" statements

Part of being assertive involves the ability to appropriately express your needs and feelings. You can accomplish this by using "I" statements. These indicate ownership, do not attribute blame, focuses on behaviour, identifies the effect of behaviour, is direcdt and honest, and contributes to the growth of your relationship with each other.

Strong "I" statements have three specific elements:

Behaviour
Feeling
Tangible effect (consequence to you)

Example: "I feel frustrated when you are late for meetings. I don't like having to repeat information."

Six techniques for assertive communication

There are six assertive techniques - let's look at each of them in turn.

1. Behaviour Rehearsal: which is literally practising how you want to look and sound. It is a very useful technique when you first want to use "I" statements, as it helps dissipate any emotion associated with an experience and allows you to accurately identify the behaviour you wish to confront.

2. Repeated Assertion (the 'broken record'): this technique allows you to feel comfortable by ignoring manipulative verbal side traps, argumentative baiting and irrelevant logic while sticking to your point. To most effectively use this technique use calm repetition, and say what you want and stay focused on the issue. You'll find that there is no need to rehearse this technique, and no need to 'hype yourself up' to deal with others.

Example:
"I would like to show you some of our products"
"No thank you, I'm not interested"
"I really have a great range to offer you"
"That may be true, but I'm not interested at the moment"
"Is there someone else here who would be interested?"
"I don't want any of these products"
"Okay, would you take this brochure and think about it?"
"Yes, I will take a brochure"
"Thank you"
"You're welcome"

3. Fogging: this technique allows you to receive criticism comfortably, without getting anxious or defensive, and without rewarding manipulative criticism. To do this you need to acknowledge the criticism, agree that there may be some truth to what they say, but remain the judge of your choice of action. An example of this could be, "I agree that there are probably times when I don't give you answers to your questions.

4. Negative enquiry: this technique seeks out criticism about yourself in close relationships by prompting the expression of honest, negative feelings to improve communication. To use if effectively you need to listen for critical comments, clarify your understanding of those criticisms, use the information if it will be helpful or ignore the information if it is manipulative. An example of this technique would be, "So you think/believe that I am not interested?"

5. Negative assertion: this technique lets you look more comfortably at negatives in your own behaviour or personality without feeling defensive or anxious, this also reduces your critics' hostility. You should accept your errors or faults, but not apologise. Instead, tentatively and sympathetically agree with hostile criticism of your negative qualities. An example would be, "Yes, you're right. I don't always listen closely to what you have to say."

6. Workable compromise: when you feel that your self-respect is not in question, consider a workable compromise with the other person. You can always bargain for your material goals unless the compromise affects your personal feelings of self-respect. However, if the end goal involves a matter of your self-worth and self-respect, THERE CAN BE NO COMPROMISE. An example of this technique would be, "I understand that you have a need to talk and I need to finish what I'm doing. So what about meeting in half an hour?"

Conclusion

Assertiveness is a useful communication tool. It's application is contextual and it's not appropriate to be assertive in all situations. Remember, your sudden use of assertiveness may be perceived as an act of aggression by others.

There's also no guarantee of success, even when you use assertive communication styles appropriately.

"Nothing on earth can stop the individual with the right mental attitude from achieving their goal; nothing on earth can help the individual with the wrong mental attitude" W.W. Ziege

When you match consumer psychology with effective communication styles you get a powerful combination. Lee Hopkins can show you how to communicate better for better business results. At Hopkins-Business-Communication-Training.com you can find the secrets to communication success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Hopkins

6 Tips on Dealing With Conflict at Work

2009-09-18T07:03:00.000+07:00

Every organization has a staff with a diverse set of personalities, backgrounds and experiences. Conflict is inevitable in organizational settings when people who are extremely different work together on a daily basis. Whether it is a clash of personalities, a misunderstanding, or disagreement in the work itself, there are constructive ways to approach these situations. Conflict is often seen as a negative occurrence, which is not necessarily true. It can be an opportunity to open the door for communication, to learn something new about another individual, or find a more effective way of working. Here are some tips that may help you in the next confrontation.

#1 Do not use verbal aggression
If someone were to physically assault you, your first instinct is to defend yourself. It is no different when being verbally assaulted. If a co-worker accuses or blames you, you instinctively guard yourself from the attack. Retaliation or responding with a verbal attack is common. If you believe you are not at fault, be sure to communicate that without the use of personal attacks or defensiveness. This may be difficult in the moment, especially if you are being accused of something you know is not true, or if you are blatantly insulted. However you are more likely to get the point across if the other person does not feel threatened. Maintain your maturity and professionalism, no matter the outcome, instigation will not help the situation.

#2 Be open
Misunderstandings are often the cause of these conflicts. If a message involves a line of communication involving many people, information can be lost, or messages can be misinterpreted. Be open to the fact that there may be something you do not know, or that the other person may have a point although you may be right. Be open to creating a discussion about fixing the problem, instead of pointing the finger. This is when conflict can be useful. By listening, understanding, and if possible, sympathizing with the other person, the argument can become a discussion. This is an opportunity to create a flow of new ideas, which can not only solve the problem at hand, but prevent future disagreements, and strengthen your work relationship.

#3 Focus on the problem
It is very easy to point the finger or play the blame game when trouble arises. As easy as it is, it is not useful or productive. The main concern is to find a solution to the problem, not to determine who was wrong. If it pertains to the issue it hand, stating who did what may clarify the problem as a whole. If the problem is related to the work itself, keep the conversation focused on exactly what is wrong, and what can be done to fix it. If conversation leans towards accusations, lead it back to a safe space where both parties are focused on ideas. If the problem is regarding the work relationship, do not focus on the person's faults. Talk about what can be done to effectively work together. If you must tell someone you think they are at fault, do not use insults, and explain how it is affecting the work.

#4 Stay cool
In heated situations, we have a tendency to speak first and think after. This results in aggression which aggravate the conflict. Instead, pause before you speak, think about what the person has said to you, and respond appropriately. By giving yourself this time to think, you cool down, and you are less likely to speak with anger. A lot of the time, the other person wants to argue for the sake of arguing. When you stay calm, they will see their tactics are not useful, and will either give up or choose to talk as calmly as you are. You will also be able to come up with a more insightful reply that can lead the argument into a discussion.

#5 Find a common ground
If people have a common ground, working together to reach it can be less troublesome. Determine what you really want, and try to determine what the other person is looking for. Use this information to align your desired outcome with theirs. It is easier to open up to someone and share your true thoughts and ideas, if you know that they want what you want.

#6 Tell a supervisor
If all else fails, telling a manager or supervisor may be the best option. If this is the course you choose, be sure to explain how you tried to fix the problem before approaching them. They want to know you can work independently and at least made an effort. Be sure to show them how the resolution of this conflict will ultimately help them. They do not need to know who was at fault in the situation, but if the work is being affected, and you can prove this, they are going to step in and help change it. Explain the problem clearly, and the benefits for the manager or the company as a whole if the problem is worked out.

Most of the time, when conflict arises, there is no way to avoid it. The result is based on how we approach it. Once you accept that conflict is unavoidable, it no longer is a problem. Instead, it becomes chance to change an inefficiency or strengthen a relationship. By keeping communication open, being aware of the present situation, and not concentrating on winning, coming to a resolution that benefits both parties can be achieved.

Adam is a human resources professional who provides communication coaching and consulting services to individuals and organizations to help them achieve success by improving their interpersonal skills, increasing their confidence in social situations, and becoming highly effective communicators. With his experience and education in training, recruiting, and communication, he has acquired a great understanding of social interaction, and uses this knowledge to help others build their skills. Visit his weblog at http://www.coachadamyoung.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_W_Young

5 Reasons Why Your Boss Hates You

2009-09-17T07:01:00.000+07:00

I was with a group of recently appointed IT managers and we struck the conversation thread of our relationships with our boss. I just love it when people begin to talk about the subjects that matter to them.

The group shared their thoughts on how they have suffered from a bad relationships with their boss, and more to the point, how their relationships turned sour in the first place. It was such an interesting (and enlightening) conversation that I am sharing with you what I learned.

I distilled the conversations down to 5 reasons why your boss might hate you (although there maybe more, these are the biggies)

You are a Threat
If your boss believes you pose a threat to their job then they could turn nasty. If you walk around with a halo on your head (put there by your peers, or even your manager's peers or superiors) then this could be perceived as dangerous to your boss.

This goes beyond the belief of your boss that you are after their job. By building up a strong profile inside your organization, which I fully recommend, it is likely that you a pedestal is also being built underneath you. If your profile creates support and sponsorship by senior members of your organization, then the likelihood of being knocked off is reduced, but there always remains the potential of being sniped off by a jealous boss.

If you suspect that this is the case, then you have a choice - continue as you are and live with the glory and the threat, or share your halo with your boss by ensuring that they always get 10% of the credit. (Number is arbitrary!). You do this by always mentioning their support and guidance as you achieve greatness.

You are Too Political
Politics is a banner of many behaviors, but roughly I am suggesting that your manager may get pissed off with you if you don't consistently align with the truth and behave like 'all things to all people'. Politics has its place, but over-emphasis on truth-economies can create distrust between you and your manager. Think about it: if they see you as a skilful player with your peers, then what do they read into your relationship?

If you're in a politically charged environment (despite best will, this does happen) then it's always best to disclose your political game plan with your boss. Even if they don't play too, at least they know what you're trying to achieve. Create a version of the truth that you both align to and will work together to achieve. Personally, I prefer work without politics, but if you must engage in politics then it's important to have the support of your manager.

You are Not Political Enough
The flipside to the above, and probably a more likely situation. The higher you climb the pole, the greasier it gets.

Your manager may be playing many angles and operating in grey-areas to achieve an outcome... only for you to come along with an honest and transparent communication to destroy their game-plan.

My feelings towards this are clear - this is your manager's fault and if they don't involve you in the game (or at least tell you where the goal-posts are) then that is their problem. Nevertheless, your lack of awareness, or refusal to play, can build up bad feelings which are likely not to be expressed. Your boss's hatred of you will seem irrational and may be sensed but not directly manifested.

There isn't much you can do in these situations. Sometimes, a direct challenge might work but the same political behaviour will be applied in your manager's response.

Lack of Rapport
Rapport is the X-factor in a relationship. When two people have rapport, they get along very well and the relationship flourishes. This happens when you and your manager perceive situations, and people, in similar ways and you make similar decisions and judgments based on that perception. Communication is effective. There is cohesion. It's a foundation of trust.

What about the lack of rapport? The opposite of the above is true. Relationships die at the point of inception when two people can't communicate effectively or agree on anything. When two people have two parametrically opposite personality traits, then building rapport is almost impossible. If you are a positive person, but your boss is negative, then it will be tough. If you are introvert, but your manager is extrovert, then it will be tough. Get the picture?

I don't recommend trying to be a person you are not, in order to overcome this. You will come unstuck at some point, and to be frank, you will be miserable and stressed. The best way forward, when faced with this problem, is to just keep working at it. A lack of rapport will diminish over time providing that you and your manager are trying to achieve the same thing. It will be a bumpy road - so expect that - but eventually it will smooth out.

You Don't Do What Your Manager Expects You To Do
Have you become upset when a mechanic didn't fix the problem with your car? How about when your credit card company didn't switch off payment protection, even when you ticked the option? It's the same when you don't do what you said you would do. Your manager gets pissed.

In modern organizations, strategic goals are cascaded from the most senior executives to junior employees. Your manager's objectives are dependent on you achieving your objectives... and so on. If you don't achieve your goals, your manager doesn't too.

Worse still, your manager's reputation can be drawn through the mud. Your failure could be a direct hit on your boss's credibility. If this failure is caused by forgetfulness, or bad judgment, or incompetence then you can expect your manager to be upset with you. Persistent failure like this can lead to total hatred!

A more dangerous ground to tread on is when you're going hell for leather for a goal that is different to the one your manager expects. It's dangerous because the point of realization that your expectations are different is towards the end of the project or assignment. You might get into this situation if you and your boss haven't built rapport.

This situation may be a deliberate coup by your manager if they're playing political games or if they perceive you as a threat. Unless your objectives are clearly understood in the same way between you, your manager has a ticket to call foul at any point.

Truth is, managers rarely resort to these shenanigans, but much more common is a surprise moment a long way into an assignment when both of you realize your mistake of a difference in expectation. This is why it's vital that you and your manager agree specifics, with little (or no) room for different interpretation. Especially so if your performance management, and your bonus, depends upon it.

I believe that total alignment of expectations is the only way to avoid pissing off your boss, and indeed achieving what they expect from you. I recommend you take a look at your current assignments now and check with your manager that your intended output is what he or she expects.

The author of this article Simon Stapleton is a coach helping Information Technology professionals with their Career Development, Commercial Development and Personal Development. He has 15 years in the IT Industry and shares his knowledge and tips through his website http://www.simonstapleton.com You can sign up for his free newsletter to enjoy Development too.

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Creating Community Discourse - Moving From Debate to Dialogue

2009-09-16T06:54:00.000+07:00

Building a new bandstand that is handicapped accessible
Locating a new homeless shelter
Developing plans for rural land use
Widening a street to allow for more bicycle traffic
Creating a new governance charter for a municipality
Constructing a new school and/or renovating an existing one
Determining whether or not a proposed construction project fits within the architectural character of the neighborhood

What do all these community projects have in common? Each one is undertaken with the intent to create a better future and expanded opportunities for the given community, and each one will face challenges to moving forward successfully. Undoubtedly, there will be someone for each of these projects who will raise questions and concerns about the appropriateness and/or intent of the project. It is at this point that progress is typically stymied.

We often hear that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts, so why is it that we struggle so hard in our communities to move forward? Shouldn't we be able to reap the benefit of so many creative minds coming together to solve a problem? What is it that prevents us from moving forward constructively?

For starters, most of us are held hostage to a traditional, linear approach to problem solving - the idea that there is one right solution. Often a well-intentioned board or committee has toiled diligently to come up with such a solution. That "solution" is then presented to the public for feedback, and, more often than not, the public perceives it as a done deal. As a result, they fight back. The whole situation deteriorates into a win-lose debate or sometimes a lose-lose debate. As Meg Wheatley so succinctly put it in Leadership and the New Science, "People support what they create... No one is successful if they merely present a plan in finished form to others. It doesn't matter how brilliant or correct the plan is. It simply doesn't work to ask people to sign on when they haven't been involved in the planning process."

To be sure, involving community members in the planning process can be both frustrating and intimidating. Most of the people we want at the table often don't show up for a variety of reasons; those who do are often the same faces we see over and over again. I have heard many a board lament the fact that no one attends board meetings to provide public comment, and yet they continue to engage with the public is the same old way. What we need is to strike a balance between encouraging public participation and taking civic responsibility more seriously, and we need to do it more creatively.

Rather than using approaches that create debate, communities need to focus on fostering dialogue. Techniques such as Café Conversations, Study Circles, Open Space Technology, Future Search Conference, and Appreciative Inquiry are just a few of the methods designed to create space for dialogue in communities. The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation can provide a comprehensive list of these techniques. The technique, however, is less important than the environment. Each of these techniques has the following characteristics in common:

Using inquiry rather than advocacy: The most effective method for creating productive and constructive dialogue is to ask about another's perspective before explaining your own. Most of us are accustomed to entering into a discussion with our defenses securely in place. What this means is that we often do not hear what others are saying. By balancing advocacy with inquiry, we take as much time to understand the points of view of others as we do in explaining our own point of view.

Testing assumptions: Assumptions about people's intent or what is going on often create reinforcing patterns of behavior that can hinder us from reaching the most effective solutions. In fact, they can be downright destructive. When people engage in dialogue that puts a human face on the issue, it becomes easier to recognize our assumptions and challenge them. In doing so, we begin to shift our thinking. Even the slightest shift opens up new possibilities, avoiding the "one perfect solution" trap.

Looking for common ground: Many of the issues communities deal with are highly emotional, so finding areas of agreement are critical to keeping a sense of forward progress. At times when it seems like there is a giant chasm between perspectives, the common ground that can be established becomes a ray of hope and the foundation upon which to build a sustainable solution. As the thinking begins to shift, the size of the common ground grows. It is critical to focus on agreements rather than on disagreements.

Focusing on outcomes: Success in any community dialogue effort means committing the time and resources to developing a sustainable solution, not an easy task in today's climate. It is all too easy to jump to the quick fix without clearly defining long term outcomes. However, communities must resist that sense of urgency and place their emphasis on the integrity of the process.

Is this an easy task? No. Does it take a lot of time and effort? Yes. Is it worth it? The community will have to answer that question. It appears, however, that the current approaches are taking their toll, so why not try something new? A community's ability to focus on the long-term and to engage their citizens in a constructive, open, and respectful process will enable them to reap benefits for years to come. Now that's a balancing act worth achieving!

Marty Jacobs, president of Systems In Sync, has been teaching and consulting for almost twenty years, applying a systems thinking approach to organizations. She currently provides strategic planning and policy governance expertise for the Vermont School Boards Association and has worked with several school districts to engage them in community conversations. In the nonprofit sector, Marty provides strategic planning, board leadership training, Policy Governance implementation, community engagement facilitation, and staff development. Additionally, Marty has served on a variety of nonprofit, professional, and school boards over the past twenty years. Marty has also written articles for Vermont Business Magazine and the American School Board Journal on topics related to organizational learning, systems thinking, and community engagement. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Marty received her M.S. in Organization and Management from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH.

http://www.systemsinsync.com/

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Culture and Business Communication

2009-09-14T06:52:00.000+07:00

In business the most valuable thing would be information and for it to be transferred from one body to the other, communication is the vital element that drives such process. But when the communication comes to certain influenced by culture, it is a whole new chapter to be understood.

International businesses are facing a new dilemma whereby cross-cultural communication is introduced due to the major reforms brought about through internationalization, merging and joint ventures. This would make culture an important aspect when it comes to business communication.

Lack of understanding or investment in cross-cultural training would lead to major business problems. Such as loss of clients, poor staff motivation, lack of team building, internal conflicts, and poor productivity. These are all only the icing of the by-products of poor cross-cultural communication.

International companies with highly diverse workforce in terms of nationality and cultural background all face the same problem when conflict arises from the difference of culture, language, value, belief, business ethic, behavior, and cultural etiquettes.

Such conflict could prove to be a negative impact on the business mainly in team cohesion and staff productivity. Cross-cultural communication problems can manifest into the downfalls of big international companies when taken lightly. That is why more and more companies have realized such dilemma and are upgrading intercultural communication skills within its organization.

Cross-cultural consultants and intercultural team builders are summoned to deal with such dilemma as technology and science is improving by the second. Communication within companies is now more efficient and fast phones, fax and various other means of communication tools are invented closing in on the barriers of distance but introduces cross-cultural communication awareness.

Other than the differences of culture in the company, the company's working culture is also important as the company's culture projects the company's managerial abilities. Company's culture depends on how it views its staff and departments; does it see it as a close or open system? For example when one works in the engineering department and one works in the HR department, is there cross communications of synergy between the two departments?? If there isn't this means lack of communication is at present and team building is vital in improving such situations.

Such situations are usually endorsed by joint ventures and mergers of two separate cross-cultural companies whereby co-operation is required for their commitment to an open system. Without a doubt, most companies are form or merged in the expectations of better financial and strategic managements without realizing the consequences of intercultural communication mishaps.

As more and more companies realize that their business problems are not just mere financial flaws made by lack of education in their staff's but to the cross-cultural environment in which their staff's work in. The need for understanding communication between cultures and managing intercultural business management has rocketed ever since the discovery of such events during the globalization era.

The main reason for most failed ventures or cross-cultural business is mostly due to the underestimation of the effects of culture in a working environment especially in communication. Seeking expertise help on such situation would prove to be better investments once the differentiation is been straighten out.

Neil Payne is Managing Director at the London based consultancy Kwintessential. For more information on their services please visit Translation Services

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Minding Your PDA P's and Q's

2009-09-12T16:28:00.000+07:00

I'd venture to say that PDAs are more commonly carried than pens, or even combs, in the pockets and purses of most urbanites. Every week, I receive questions for BlackBerry etiquette or iPhone protocols. Social networking is a part of daily life and often provides a wake-up call with the first tweet of the day.

We have become a nation of archivists - meticulously recording even the smallest of details. Although the accent is on "social," some would say there's a dark side to all this documentation. And that's exactly what prompted a group of New York City's avant-garde writers to host twice monthly, off the record salons, or parties, where PDAs and photos are strictly verboten. Kind of a party hearty atmosphere - with no fear of recrimination. But an over the top, Bacchanalian fête is not the intent. Rather, the point is to cease and desist from chronicling every nanosecond. (One could argue that the hosts have, indeed, made a clever PR move.)

In complete contrast to this kind of affair is the upcoming book launch for The Won Thing by my close friend Peggy McColl. Peggy is a New York Times best selling author and an internationally recognized expert in the area of destiny achievement. I anticipate her invitation could read something like this:

You are cordially invited to attend the launch of The Won Thing
September 22nd, 2009
An
on the record,
tweeting, blogging, photos
Party

Admittedly, there's a big difference between a private party at home and a book launch. The whole point of the launch is publicity.

Another friend of mine, a TV show host who shall remain nameless, twittered: Tweet no.1: Making my way to the Hall where Clinton & Bush will be speaking. Tweet no. 2: Oh no! Security check: will we have to leave our PDAs with security? Tweet no. 3: Sitting row 30 or so - with PDA! Tweet no. 4: Clinton says... For over an hour, I followed some of the best twittering ever!

It's important to know when, where and what to twitter. Ever thought about asking guests to refrain from chronicling every moment at your next party? Please let us know your thoughts.

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Diane Craig
Image and Etiquette Expert

Diane Craig, President of Corporate Class Inc., is a leading image and etiquette consultant. For over 20 years she has provided corporate consultations, helping hundreds of men and women realize their professional and personal goals. She is a sought after speaker at national business meetings, regularly gives comprehensive workshops to corporate groups, and offers private consultations on business etiquette, dress and dining.

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Communication - Watch Weasel Words

2009-09-11T16:07:00.000+07:00

One of my heroes is Alexander Kuzmin. Never heard of him? Well, not surprising, since Mr. Kuzmin is the mayor of Megion, an oil town in Siberia. Yep. The mayor of a small town about 1,500 miles north of Moscow is one of my champions.

Here's why. A tiny little AP story tucked in the corner of my newspaper a couple years ago revealed that Mayor Kuzmin has ordered his bureaucrats to stop using expressions such as "I don't know" and "I can't." Or else they can look for another job. He was apparently tired of his staff making excuses and as good as admitting they were too lazy to do the work. According to a statement by the good mayor, "Town officials must figure out how to solve and remove problems, not to avoid them."

The Mayor put some meat behind the ban by stating that "the use of these expressions by city administration officials while speaking to the head of the city will speed their departure."

Wow. Can you imagine? According to some of the mayor's staff, they now come to meetings armed with several proposals on how to handle a problem. No excuses are allowed. The result is: solutions.

Here are some of his 25 banned expressions:

-I don't know.

-I can't.

-It's not my job.

-It's impossible.

-There's no money.

-I was away/sick/on vacation.

-What am I supposed to do?

-I'm not dealing with this.

-Somebody else has the documents.

I'd add a few more to my own "banned expressions" list, including: "I'll see what I can do," "I'll try," "Yes, but..." and "You don't understand."

Do you see what all of these have in common? I call them "weasel words" because using such phrases is a way of weaseling out of responsibility. When colleagues, or heaven forbid, customers, are looking for you to answer questions, solve problems, or resolve sticky issues, they don't expect or want you to duck responsibility and leave them adrift in helpless confusion, frustration, or anger.

Consider this. Suppose you asked a colleague to handle something for you, and he replied, "I'll see what I can do." Or "I'll try." How convinced are you that he'll really get it done? Suppose, instead, he said, "I'll take care of it." Doesn't that confident commitment instill your trust in him?

Here are some positive talk phrases:

-I'll find out.

-I'll take care of it.

-It's a challenge I'm up to.

-I'll be glad to...

-Let's brainstorm some ideas.

-What would you like me to do?

Roger Dawson, famous speaker and negotiator, once said, "There is a place in heaven for anyone who says, 'I'll take care of it.'" Amen.

Barbara Busey, president of the training firm Presentation Dynamics, has been a professional speaker, trainer and author since 1990. She does training and speaking on the "dynamics" of how people "present" themselves, is the author of the book, "Stand Out When You Stand Up," and is the creator of The Compelling Speaker, a unique presentation skills training program that combines advance audio CD instruction with a hands-on, ultra participative workshop. She now offers the Compelling Speaker Certification, a turnkey system -- complete with training content & technique, business strategies, and marketing guidelines -- that positions communicators to make a living training other business professionals to become more compelling speakers. Go to Compelling Speaker Certification to see her video, listen to her audio, and learn when the next Certification training is.

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A KISS To Remember

2009-09-10T16:24:00.000+07:00

For the past 3 days, I have been trying to pick out a paint color for the bedroom. So, once again I stopped by the paint store the other day, and picked a clor - the color looked light green, a color I would call "Seafoam." The paint supplier called it "Reef." My friend said it looked gray as we painted it, and in the bedroom lighting, I just stepped back and called it "Yuck." Still a work in progress...

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, it just pointed out to me once again that we all see and understand things differently... How many times do we describe something and know exactly what we mean, but the person we are attempting to communicate with takes what we said an entirely different way?

I like to think of myself as not that old, yet I remember letters to the editors of printed newspapers and magazines as how we used to express ourselves and we were lucky to get it printed. Now with the Internet there is an explosion of expressible communications between people, who never before would have been able to talk to each other, yet what is really being said... With just a few keystrokes we can read more information and opinions and contribute our own views just as easily, yet, we are so often misunderstood.

An important rule to always remember in communication is the KISS--Keep It Simple and Short. So many times, I find I can get caught up in my industry's jargon or slang, I know what I'm saying, so do coworkers, but when that glazed look comes over your client's eyes, I know it's time to stop, rewind, simplify and try again.

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." ~Anais Nin. Writer and diarist 1903-1977 ~

Join Communication Coach Sharon Sayler Tuesday's at 10am Pacific for "Beyond Lip Service" on Blog Talk Radio for useful strategies on relationships, communication and success within your "inner-game."

Sharon MBA, business consultant, writer and non-verbal presentation coach, she teaches you how to speak and present to be remembered by making your body language say the same message as your mouth. She is counsel and coach to authors, speakers and executives who want to be more than "just a competent presenter." http://www.sharonsayler.com

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Develop Your Communication and Interpersonal Skills

2009-09-09T16:04:00.000+07:00

The American Management Association offers three day seminars in cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and New York to aid those entering the labor market to develop their communication and interpersonal skills. The seminars are geared to IT or Information Technologies people and technical professionals. Actually what this means is that these seminars are geared for those individuals working professionals in computer and other technologies whose professional skills have been developed but whose relationship skills may lack in people skills or the mindset to interact with people who may not have similar IT or technological training.

The cost for these seminars depends on whether you are a member of The American Management Association. The seminar costs 2, 195 dollars for non-members and 1,995 dollars for members. One of the benefits is that you can use the seminar to get continuing education university credits.

The seminar focuses on developing skills identification with the other person, active rather than passive listening skills and skills necessary to get your own message across to the other person. These seminars are for the professional in technology who has needed to develop the art of understanding other people's needs and their perspective which may or may not be technology based. To debate with people of other disciplines and to come out the winner would be a key point focus for these seminars.

The seminar is also available online. These seminars are called virtual seminars and are available for on-site delivery to your organization.

We all need to develop our communication and interpersonal skills, but this is even more vital when coming out of an intensive training program in our respective discipline. This will lead to greater customer satisfaction in any line of work.

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Secrets of a Successful Corporate Party

2009-09-08T15:55:00.000+07:00

Tips on how to make everyone enjoy corporate parties:

Bellow, we offer you some valuable tips on how to turn a corporate party into an unforgettable event for everyone:

1. For Winter Holidays, organize everything, to the smallest details, in order to help everyone get into the Christmas spirit: have Santa hats for all the attendants and make sure that everything from decorations items like scene setters, garland, light to plates, cups, napkins has Christmas patterns. Steal a smile from everybody by having even toilet paper with Santas drawn on it. It will be something that all the guests will recall, for sure.

2. Choose a theme, if the occasion is any other besides Winter Holidays. It can be a Luau party, a Western one, Mardi Grass or any other.

3. Organize everything according to the chosen theme. Install appropriate Wall Murals. For a Luau theme corporate party you can go for a Tropical Wall Mural. Also customize banners in accordance with the chosen party theme.

4. Use items with colors related to corporate identity.

5. Add some glamour to the party regardless the chosen theme. Have your guests arrive in Hollywood style with a red carpet runner and use glow cups and light-up glasses.

6. Organize tombolas and offer prizes like: trinkets boxes, pocket or sports watches, cosmetic cases, and photo boxes customized with your brand's name.

7. Use small give aways to remind people of your event. It could be a custom alien clock or a mug beer (for a launching event for example) or a holiday greetings pen (for Xmas parties).

8. Use customized banners. If you are organizing a farewell or retirement party, it would be nice to have a customized banner wearing that person's name, with spaces where the attendants can write messages.

9. Give small presents to the guests. This is a good idea especially for a retirement/farewell party. The present could be a frame with his/her photo and a nice message.

10. Fun is the main ingredient of a successful corporate party. For a guaranteed wonderful time provide the attendants with a set of inflatable instruments. Or get a dance floor kit. It will rock their world.

Corporate parties' purpose goes beyond a simple celebration. They are ways of showing appreciation to the employees and reinforce the team spirit. That's why the success of such an event is measured in the quality of the time spent by employees together and the amount of good common memories the event generates.

Hope you have enjoyed these simple tips. Feel free to browse around and let hostMYparty.com help you.

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People Skills - True Or You, Amiss Or Me?

2009-09-07T15:54:00.000+07:00

Questions and comments from people are great and makes me think - helping people pleases me and offers many lessons too. Keep your questions and comments coming!

This came from someone who wanted advice on etiquette or maybe just to clarify her feelings: "We were all standing in a group chatting and feeling great. Then Julie from downstairs ambled up right in the middle of Corey's story. I intended to introduce Julie however before I could say anything, Heather went ahead and did it. I couldn't believe she just jumped right in like that, it made me mad and I felt foolish. I think Heather is rude and controlling don't you agree?"

The real question is: who is this person really mad at? Is it Heather for introducing Julie or herself for not doing the introduction? I suspect it would be more truthful to suggest she's mad at herself though it's easier to blame Heather.

Whenever you find yourself upset about a social interaction ask a deeper question: was there a seed of truth in what happened or is it you?

Another question I use a lot: Is something amiss or is it me? It pains me to note how often it's me - though the more aware I become the less that's true.

This has happened to all of us. We neglect to do something that should have been obvious. Like make an introduction, or toasting the guest, or commenting on how nice someone looks. Then someone else steps in and does it for us. This can leave us feeling perplexed and foolish which in turn makes us strike out at the other person.

"I can't believe they just jumped in like that and introduced themselves!" I've heard people say "I was just about ready to do it!" or "I don't know where his or her manners are" spoken to a friend at a wedding, "everyone knows the best man is the first to toast." Or even, "I intended to tell her how great the new look was and then Jennifer stole my chance."

I always wonder why people bother to put others down when they are obviously doing something nice. I think it's because the person who is criticizing may be upset they didn't do it first, or didn't react well. Either way it's not rude behavior on anyone's part but the critic.

My mother, and no doubt your mother, used to say, "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" and this is still good advice!

Criticism, especially in public and particularly in this instance - is less than gracious and usually makes the one doing the criticizing not only look bad, it puts any one that hears it in an uncomfortable position.

So here's the solution:
Be quick to comment, compliment, introduce and all those other social niceties that make the world work. If you do that you will have no one to blame but yourself for all the good will, great relationships and wonderful feelings that pour towards you.

If you get criticism for being such a quick to the point goodwill provider, simply smile - Because criticism, even if you think it's true, is a poor reflection on you!

If you want to attract more prospects, multiply loyal customers, and boost sales, this Schuh is a fit! Shawna Schuh is an extraordinary storyteller, who works with corporations and associations to develop environments that help people bring their best selves to the work they do. Shawna addresses any and all issues relating to people skills. Her presentations are humorous, overflowing with energy and packed with practical results driven information that will positively maximize profits. Take an action that will help you succeed and improve your people skills visit: http://shawnaschuh.com/DailySocialSignup2.php.

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Improving Employee Communication

2009-01-30T13:08:00.002+07:00

One of the best ways to initiate employee communication is to compose an employee communication survey that can be filled out anonymously. This way, each worker can express their honest opinions about things that are going on in the office without feeling as though they are 'telling' on other employees. It may be best to send the employee communication survey via email, so that employees can type their answers and send the survey directly the HR head. You should include questions about how employees feel about their current position - ask about whether they feel appreciated, and inquire about whether they feel overwhelmed by the assignments that are given to them. You should also ask employees about how they feel about working with the other men and women in their department, and include questions that will let you know whether or not employees feel discriminated against due to race, gender, age, or skill level.

A variety of cutting-edge corporate communications is also a great way to improve internal communications. Composing an employee newsletter for your company is a great way to make sure that each department gets the opportunity to make announcements or ask for assistance from other departments to complete company projects. You can include things in the newsletter like birthdays of employees, or make announcements that will let the company know about employees that may be getting married or welcoming a new baby. An employee newsletter is a great way to make your workplace feel more like a team environment. You can distribute it to employees via email, or print it out monthly to hand out at company meetings.

Speaking of meetings, this is another great way to facilitate effective employee communication strategies. Making sure that your company meetings are a place where workers feel comfortable is another great method for making employee communication an important forum. Set aside a time in the meeting after you've made announcements or explained new company policies for employees to ask questions. Do your workers need to know about changes in company benefits? Are certain departments in your company concerned about finishing a big project on time? Do you have interns or entry level employees that are not sure about their duties? No matter what position employees hold in your company, everyone should have their voices heard. Keeping up a great email system to have online meetings, or establishing programs that will allow employees to log in and make internal announcements is also a great way to make sure the employee communication is positive in your company.

Of course, you can always ask your employees which methods would be best in the future; this direct approach may work best for some, and you can use your meetings or a short email message to get everyone's opinion.

For more information on corporate communications and internal employee communication tools, please visit our website at CutThroughCommunications.com.

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Employee Communication Via Social Media - Overcoming Internal Resistance

2009-01-29T13:12:00.000+07:00

'Digital natives' and 'digital immigrants'

What differentiates the 'digital native' generation, who grew up with the Internet from those who didn't?

Typically, many older workers, or 'digital immigrants', talk about their comfort zone. They find comfort in a hierarchical, command and control management structure. They are good communicators, who like to think, plan and do - in that order. They favour a top-down approach and generally like to play safe. Many of our senior managers fit into the digital immigrant generation.

Digital natives, on the other hand, prefer a guiding and nurturing environment. They do not want instructions handed down from on-high. They are great communicators and great networkers. But they do it differently. Digital tools and social media are like extensions of themselves. This emerging generation thinks acts and communicates quickly. They like engagement and like to try things out. They harness their team's collective experience and skills in order to find solutions. It's all about communicating. Many of the people now joining the workforce are digital natives.

The old way and the new?

The old way uses intranets or websites as static sites. Staff can search and find, but have limited ability to contribute. The new way is interactive and collaborative and uses social media such as Social networks (e.g. Facebook), Blogs, Discussion Forums and Wikis.
Social media tools definitely add value to employee communications. They can help build relationships, increase collaboration, improve productivity, reduce silos, and build engagement. They also offer an excellent means to share ideas and gather qualitative feedback.
So why is social media sometimes so hard to implement as an internal communications tool?
Communicators understand the power of social media but their senior managers, who are often digital immigrants, remain wary and unconvinced. Are these the arguments that you are hearing?

'It's not a priority"

A CIO magazine's study,Top Technology Priorities found that even IT professionals don't consider Web 2.0 a priority. They're focused on network consolidation, outsourcing, CRM, and security. This would seem to back up management's assertion that Intranet 2.0 needs to take a back seat.

The response

Point out that Web 2.0 tools are already commonplace. Innovative companies are already leveraging the power of these tools. Many social media tools are easy and relatively cheap to implement. They don't need to compete with major IT plans.

Don't make sweeping claims when you are proposing social media tools. Managers don't want to hear about social media democratizing the organization. They want to know how business goals will be supported. So use language the CEO will understand and focus on concrete goals where possible.

Spot opportunities and start with small simple projects. Provide evidence of success before proposing a wider implementation.

Do your homework. Support your proposal for a wider implementation with case studies. IBM, Sun Microsystems and the hundreds of other Fortune 500 companies are already successfully wielding these tools.

Tips

Choose web 2.0 channels that have been specifically designed for employee communication. Use low cost communications channels that are quick and easy to implement and manage.
Use a platform that is easy for IT to implement and has little need for ongoing IT support.
Choose a platform that allows access rights to be targeted to specific staff groups.
Ensure centralised reporting allows you to easily quantify the value of the web 2.0 channels and demonstrate their strategic communications value to senior managers.

Try a free trial or low cost pilot to test concepts out prior to a more comprehensive commitment to social media as an internal communications channel.

"We don't have the time, money or resources"

Management quite rightly recognizes that communicators are already overworked. They might also voice concerns about the cost of the tools and the lack of support resources.

The response

Explain tools that assist internal communications assist you.
As for the tools being hungry on money and resources, explain that generally these tools are relatively inexpensive and require little time to set up. Rather then worrying about the return on investment in financial terms the focus should be on what can be gained from making them available.
To keep costs down, lease a Web 2.0 solution. This allows you to leverage developments based on learning from other organisations.
Study less and do more:

* Start the dialogue and keep listening to the comments
* Spot opportunities in the business where social media could provide a good fit
* Start small and simple and use an iterative process
* Predict concerns and solve problems early
* Create an army of evangelists

Tips

Choose web 2.0 channels that have been built only for employee communications purposes, they are not a 'one size fits all' solution with a confusing array of set-up options.

Use a solution that is authenticated back to employees computers which means it is very secure but staff also do not need to remember a user name and password. Just one click and staff are able to participate.

Select a user friendly, intuitive solution that allows staff to participate with little or no training.
Use a low cost solution that can fit within existing employee communications budgets.
Utilise free trials to test out small deployments and evolve the use of staff social media channels based on staff feedback and learning.
Increases in productivity facilitated by improved information flow can easily cost justify the use of social media for employee communications. For example, an interactive Helpdesk channel provides effective real time support channels for staff by allowing them to ask questions in interactive online helpdesks. This means that answers can be made available almost immediately and become part of an evolving searchable repository of knowledge.
It doesn't suit our culture

"These tools aren't a fit with our culture. It's not the way we do business..."

The response

Do you have a young, tech-savvy workforce in an organisation with a flat structure, or is the structure hierarchical with predominantly older workers who may feel uncomfortable with new technology.

It is important to recognise your culture, and to work out what will work and what won't. It is true social media fits better where the culture is democratic and open, rather than hierarchical and paternal. However, even conservative companies are finding increasing numbers of digital natives joining their ranks. Collaboration and team work are here to stay. Knowledge-sharing enables the whole company to benefit from an individual's expertise, and ensures that this knowledge doesn't exit the organisation when the individual leaves.

Explain that providing additional channels for sharing information does not equate to loss of control or a decline in standards. It should lead to increased productivity and innovation.
It may be helpful to encourage knowledge-sharing and collaboration by assisting executives to lead by example. You could also workout a system of rewards for champion bloggers and networkers.

Tips

Select a platform with a range of moderation options. Simply select the setting required for a specific employee blog, staff discussion forum or online helpdesk. Even the most risk adverse managers should feel comfortable with a communications channel that requires every post and comment moderated.

If possible set up moderators to receive desktop alerts notifying them of the need to approve content so that approval (or not) can be fast and seamless.

In time, as managers become more comfortable with the social media as an employee communications tool, it may be appropriate to reset the moderation level to only anonymous posts and comments or even to switch moderation off altogether.

For organizations that are really adverse to social media, why not consider an electronic magazine fomat that permits 'user generated' content.

This will enable you to distribute 'safe discussion' directly to the employee's computer screen.

"It will open a can of worms"

"Employees will say inappropriate things. People will complain, or insult management. Bad language will appear on comments..."

Management may express concerns that the 'rumour mill' will take over, or that staff will spend all day complaining. Management may also be concerned that knowledge-sharing via staff forums or blogs sets a dangerous precedent. This informant is 'unofficial' as no-one has authorised it.

The response

Gossip and staff complaints were around long before Web 2.0 came on the scene. If social media channels do throw up unpleasant surprises, you have at least identified that there are issues which you can address, rather than having a seething undercurrent. Where engagement is low and/or guidelines and policy are not stated, staff may not know how else to communicate worries or causes of dissatisfaction.

Define what social media tools can be used for as part of your strategy and communicate the policy. For example, some companies allow comments to go live without being filtered, whereas others insist that comments go through the editor. Some organizations allow anonymous posts while others don't. Some even have a forum entitled 'Rumour Mill' to flush concerns and gossip out into the open to be addressed.

Not all information needs to be official. Tacit knowledge is still shared around the water cooler, or sent via a memo or email. It may never be captured in a form that can be shared. Management agree that this is a huge disadvantage when knowledgeable staff leave, taking their 'unofficial' knowledge with them. Online tools, on the other hand, capture this know-how. Your staff will easily recognize the distinction between opinion and authoritative content.

Tips

Specify a 'Code of Conduct' clearly at the top of each page view.
Implement a range of moderation levels which allow you to monitor and approve posts if required. For example, moderators could be set to receive a desktop alert when an anonymous post or comment is made.

Use multiple interactive channels. Setting up a specific, moderated helpdesk, for example, around an organisational change, can help keep inappropriate content out of other staff discussion forums. 'Risky' discussions, where sentiment might be negative, can be targeted securely to only those affected. This means that negativity does not need to 'infect' the rest of the organisation.

"It's too risky, too uncontrolled"

Management may equate loss of formality with a decline in standards. The idea that staff can write what they want runs counter to the command-and-control structure of many organisations.
Considerable time, effort, and money go into crafting a strong brand image. CEOs may fear that the company's image will suffer if they make it easy for staff to say anything they want about the organization or their colleagues and managers. They may also worry about leaks to outside world.

The response

Just because communication is taking place online doesn't mean that professionalism and respect will be forgotten. Most staff already know that inappropriate use of email is not acceptable, and will transfer this knowledge automatically to social media tools.

Don't forget that Management have legitimate concerns about the need to keep some information confidential. You can offset Management's fear of losing control by implementing appropriate security measures and guidelines for these channels, just as you do with email and Internet use.
There is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to setting the policy. You know your organisation and whatever works best for your organisation is the best way to go. IBM's solution was to create a wiki and to get its staff to create the policy themselves.

The fact that blogs and online discussion are visible is more likely to deter inappropriate comments.

Tips

Choose social media channels that have been built specifically for secure employee communication. Use a solution with a Client applet that resides on staff computers. Only staff who have the applet and have been targeted with access rights can view these channels. This means that the risk of leaks to the outside world is dramatically reduced.

Code of conduct and moderation options mean that if it possible to keep a close eye on conversations that are considered high risk.

Desktop alerts can inform moderators when new content is added to blogs, forums, Q&A spots and staff helpdesks. This can allow moderators to check that information is correct and amend posts if necessary.

Sarah Perry is a Director of Snap Communications, a company which provides specialist Internal Communications Channels and Solutions. Her specific area of expertise is the use of new technologies in the field of Employee Communications but she has a broad knowledge from strategic communications planning through cross cultural communications to measuring communications effectiveness.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Perry

Innovative Ideas For Employee Communication

2009-01-27T13:18:00.000+07:00

With so much information saturating the corporate culture, employers are constantly on the lookout for new ways to get information to their employees by way of corporate communications. After all, even email has become a somewhat old-fashioned way of communicating, as more people use Blackberries and Web conferencing to give out information and pass messages to their employees. There are a number of innovative new ways that you can communicate with your employees. Two great ways include:

• Instant messaging: Almost every Web browser out there has an instant messaging feature these days and this can be a faster method of communicating than even email. Because the instant message alert pops up on the screen each time there is a message, this can be a quick way to communicate with employees working in the office as well as remotely. Beware of this option however: your employees may use it to chat about personal matters when they should be working.

• Snap Comm tools: One of the more unique methods of employer/employee communication on the market today, Snap Comm tools feature six distinct features that allow employers to get their message out to their employees without having to send a slew of individual messages. For example, the six Snap Comm channels include:

• Snap Poll: Want to know exactly what your employees think on a variety of issues? Let them take this quick and easy on-screen quiz that boasts an improved response rate because of its ease of use.

• Snap Ticker: Similar to what you see on CNN, these scrolling tickers will give your employees critical updates and disseminate important company information with the click of a button.

• Snap Quiz: On-screen quiz features will help you get an idea of where your employees might be weak in terms of company policy. There is an automated scoring option that takes the work out of getting all of the results.

• Snap Mag: A replacement for your company newsletter, this electronic version can help reduce the amount of group emails you have to send to virtually nothing.

• Snap Alert: These desktop alerts pop up on the screen as soon as you send out information that has to get to your employees NOW! This is the best way to ensure that your messages take priority over all of the other virtual clutter on your employee's computer.

• Snap Shots: These screensavers act as billboards, broadcasting your message and ensuring that it is being reinforced every time your employee is forced to view it. A great way to get some core company concepts across.

Effective employee communication is the key to good management and communication between employers and their employees. Both of these methods will ensure that you are keeping up with changes in technology that allow you to communicate more easily with your employees and continue to strive for professional excellence and communication in your place of business.

You can get to know more about corporate communications and Effective employee communication using Snap Comms at our website Cut Through Communications.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Louis_Wright

Workplace Communication = Money!

2009-01-26T13:21:00.000+07:00

Train your staff and survive the hard times

Thousands of businesses are failing each year, and millions of people are losing their jobs. Therefore, a serious look at your company and its ability to survive is called for. Every business needs that extra edge to rise head and shoulders above the competition. If your company does not develop that extra edge, there is a very good chance it will fail and you'll be another casualty of this fragile economy. This is a demanding market and prospective clients require excellent service - and they want it with a smile. They expect courteous treatment and, if they don't receive it, they will look elsewhere. To avoid this situation, every person in your company should put forth extra effort to make the company look top notch, and worth doing business with. Your must train each member of the company in effective workplace communication by training them in communication and negotiation skills, corporate communication, and employee communication.

For example, ask yourself these questions: Who answers the phone for your company? Who greets clients when they come into your place of business? If you don't, do you know who does and how qualified that employee is? How do staff members communicate with each other? Has your company had a continual turnover of employees or a problem with workplace productivity? Does your company promote productive employee communication? These are extremely important questions to ask and answer. The future of your company could be at stake.

Pretend for a minute that I am a prospective client (a medical doctor) who wants to spend $150,000 on either a product or a service at your company. I call your business to make an appointment and am faced with a surly receptionist, smacking her gum and talking to her co-worker while answering the phone. What are the chances that I will make an appointment? And even if I do, who greets me at the door when I arrive at your place of business? Is it someone with an "attitude", or someone who is too busy talking to a colleague to bother with me? Or, is it someone who has difficulty with the English language? Or, someone who looks and dresses like a street walker? Now what are the chances your business will get my business? However, let's say I ignore all this and make arrangements to use email because going into your place of business dismays me. Now, I receive email from one of your employees who failed to use spell-check before sending the email to me, plus the subject line is empty. Also, I am addressed by my first name instead of by my title and last name. Do you honestly believe that I will still want to do business with you?

In view of the above scenario it is apparent that appropriate and effective communication between client and staff is incredibly important, as is effective communication between staff members. Remember, the client in today's marketplace is looking for prompt and outstanding service. If that client can get a bargain along with the right degree of respect and effective communication from staff members, the chances are you will get a client who will do business.

Cast your mind back, to either going to a business office, or to a local burger joint; were you greeted with a smile? Did the greeting employee even look at you when taking your order? Did you get the feeling that you were important? More than likely not! However, if these employees had been trained in effective communication, your experience would have been quite different. Let your company benefit from a communication coach. It would greatly enhance your employee/ client communication, your interoffice communication which all points to the bottom line; your business's profit margin. Interactive communication workshops will benefit your staff and give your company a leg-up in the business community. Thus, failing to train staff to be effective communicators and thereby losing a prospective $150,000 client is just bad business.

Peter Lett Communications - Peter Lett is a published author and expert on Communications & Negotiations and specializes in communication workshops, seminars and business coaching http://www.peterlett.com

Peter Lett is a published author and expert on Communications & Negotiations. Mr. Lett specializes in communication workshops, seminars, and business coaching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Lett

Internal Communication: 12 Essential Elements

2009-01-25T13:32:00.000+07:00

There are 12 essential elements of a successful internal communications strategy:

1. Effective employee-directed communications must be led from the top

Effective communications require the active commitment and endorsement of senior managers. It is not enough simply to develop a 'vision statement' or formulate in general terms the values by which the company lives. Behaviour is what counts. Managers must be seen to behave in a manner that is consistent with the ethos they are promoting.

2. The essence of good communications is consistency

At all costs, avoid following fashion and tinkering. If you try to improve communications and then fail—because your messages are inconsistent or are ‘good news only'—things will not quietly settle back into the way they used to be. You will inevitably have created expectations, and may have to live with the consequences of having disappointed those expectations.

3. Successful employee communications owe as much to consistency, careful planning and attention to detail as they do to charisma or natural gifts

We might not all be another Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins or Bill Clinton. But even such communication ‘giants' slip up if they fail to plan, fail to pay attention to detail and fail to project a consistent message.

4. Communication via the line manager is most effective

‘ Line Manager to employee' communication is an opportunity for people to ask questions and check that they have understood the issues correctly. However, be aware that business urgency and reality may dictate the need, on many occasions, to inform employees directly rather than relying entirely on the cascade process. (Though managers will still need to answer people's questions and listen to their views.)

5. Employee communications are not optional extras, they are part of business as usual and should be planned and budgeted for as such

An employee communications plan—key themes, targets, objectives and resources—provides a context in which to deliver initiatives that arise at short notice.

6. There must be integration between internal and external communications

There must be a fit between what you are telling your people and what you are telling your customers, shareholders and public. (By the same token, there must be a fit between what you are telling your people, and what the external media are telling them.)

7. Timing is critical

However clearly expressed and well-presented your message may be, if it arrives at the wrong time you might as well not have bothered. Old news is often worse than no news. Consequently, it is important to ensure that the channels you use can really deliver at the time you need them to.

8. Tone is important

Expressing overly-gushing enthusiasm about a technical change of little real significance to your staff or public at large is scarcely calculated to make people take your message to heart. If they don't take that message to heart, why would they take the rest of what you say to their bosoms?

9. Never lose sight of the ‘what's in it for me?' factor

We are self-interested creatures. I may have invented the most amazing gadget ever, but unless I get you emotionally involved you are never likely to listen to my message about it. But if I can show you how my gadget will revolutionise your life, add dollars to your wallet, free up your time, fix your smelly feet, wash your car for you, stop your kids arguing with you, bring peace with your spouse, bring world peace…

10. Communication is a two-way process

Employee communications are NOT a one-way information dump. Capturing feedback is of critical importance, and if you are not seen to be listening and acting on what you are told, why should people bother telling you?

11. A single key theme or a couple of key themes is a means of giving coherence to a range of diverse employee communications initiatives

In recent years, the overriding theme of many corporate employee communications has been the impact on the business of competition, regulation and economic forces. Many messages and initiatives can therefore be evaluated according to the light they shed on one or more of these key themes.

12. Set your standards and stick to them

Determine which channels should be mandatory and which should be optional; establish quality standards for all channels and review these at least annually.

When you match consumer psychology with effective communication styles you get a powerful combination. Lee Hopkins can show you how to communicate better for better business results. At Hopkins-Business-Communication-Training.com you can find the secrets to communication success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Hopkins

Communication Skills - How to Improve

2009-01-24T13:43:00.000+07:00

It's safe to say that communication skills, among other issues, played a big role in the recent U.S. Presidential election. Opportunities are gained and lost due to speaking and listening skills. We can all be better at this. Here are 5 Cool Ideas for better communication.

1. No comment is a good thing.
Okay, pay attention people. It's okay to say, "I don't know," once in a while.

2. Keep non-verbal signals within the "normal" range.
Behavioral psychologists suggest that the average length of a smile should be about 1.5 seconds, but in the U.S. Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney had a habit of smiling for up to 10 seconds at a time.

3. It's okay not to say everything that comes to mind.
A recent Miss Teen USA contestant was asked to comment on Americans who can't locate their own country on a map. She said, "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh, I believe that our education like, such as, in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere, such as . . ." and then I stopped listening.

4. Adjust your e-mail to communicate better 50 times a day.
The signature file is the chunk of text that is "automatically" added to the bottom of your e-mail. It's surprisingly common to see smart people not include their area code, physical address and other identifiers here.

5. Pause before speaking.
Wait about two seconds before responding to people in person and on the phone. The extra time will help others believe that you're really listening to them and help you formulate a more intelligent response.

Michael Angelo Caruso has delivered over 2,000 keynote speeches and presentations on the subject of communication. He is President of the Edison House, a Detroit-based consulting and publishing company. Mr. Caruso is author of the 5 Cool Ideas books and the FastLearnerAudio series, which can help you become an even better person.

To receive Michael's free, bi-monthly 5 Cool Ideas newsletter, simply send an e-mail to 5CoolIdeas@EdisonHouse.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Angelo_Caruso

Employee Communication: The Secret to Business Success

2009-01-23T13:45:00.000+07:00

Business surveys consistently show us that poor workplace communication is a major source of employee dissatisfaction. The repercussions of this include not just low employee morale. Employee productivity suffers, along with a range of other business performance indicators.

Business Impact of Poor Communication

Have you stopped to think about how much unsatisfactory communication practices are costing your business? Some of these costs include:

* increased employee turnover
* increased absenteeism
* dissatisfied customers from poor customer service
* higher product defect rates
* lack of focus on business objectives
* stifled innovation

How many of these costs can you recognize in your business? You can turn the situation around. Employees will put in that extra "discretionary effort" when they are kept informed openly and honestly on aspects of their job and the business and they feel that they are being listened to with empathy.

Employee Communication Needs

What and how should you communicate with your employees? Communication in your organization should satisfy the three key employee needs before they can be engaged and highly productive. Each and every employee needs to:

1. Know that …

–included here are facts about your organization and their specific job – what business you are in, who your customers are, specific details about your product or service, where forms are located, who to see when there is a problem ...

2. Master that …

–included here are the practical skills required to do their job well – repairing a machine, filling out an invoice, designing a building, writing a software program ...

3. Feel that …

–included here are the interactions that give them a sense of belonging and self-worth – being listened to, respected, trusted, valued ...

Managers predominantly concentrate on the first need – know that – and pay less attention to the second need to master skills. The third need – feel that – is what makes employees distinctly human and what drives them to outstanding achievement in work and outside of work. And yet it is in this dimension that employee communications are most lacking.

Look closely at the communication happening in your business. Is it satisfying what employees need to be fully engaged and working productively? Consider each of the four fundamental levels of communication in your organization for an answer:

1. Organization wide communication – involving all employees

2. Departmental communication – specific to one department or unit

3. Team communication – within one cohesive team or group

4. Individual communication – specific to one employee at any one time

Communications may be working effectively at higher levels, with regular and informative newsletters emanating from Head Office. However, the quality and quantity of communications may fail dismally at the more local level. The interpersonal skills of supervisors, team leaders and local managers are especially critical at levels 3 and 4, as these are the people that frontline workers develop working relationships with most personally and closely. Many exit surveys have shown that employees commonly leave an organization because of a poor working relationship with an immediate supervisor. How are the communication skills of the supervisors in your organization?

Just as important is the communication between and within levels. Gone are the days when departments could stand as silos, isolated from the rest of the organization by impenetrable barriers. Intra-national and international competition is now so fierce that everyone in the organization needs to collaborate closely on solving organizational challenges and on achieving agreed strategic objectives. What are the communication barriers in your organization?

Where is your organization at in its life-cycle? Is it large or growing rapidly? As more people are added to an organization, communication needs and stresses increase exponentially. Joe, who used to do purchasing, inspection and warehousing on his own now needs to talk to three other departments as well as the people in his own growing team. What structures, systems and processes has your organization put in place to encourage and facilitate effective communication flow?

Well-designed organizational culture surveys and employee communication surveys can determine how well your communication systems and practices are contributing to your organization’s performance – or how much they are hindering performance. This information will then help you in devising an effective employee communication strategy. Whatever else you do, communication practices impact every facet of your business. Looking closely at communication in your organization is well worth your while, because even if you do not, your employees are.

2006 © Business Performance Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vicki Heath is the Director of Business Performance Pty Ltd, a company providing practical online information and resources in a range of business areas, including employee surveys. Her company's guides, tools and templates assist organizations engage and develop people, manage organizational change and improve project delivery.

Available tools include a ready-to-go Organization Communication Assessment Survey. This survey in the familiar Microsoft Word format is customizable and is packaged with a comprehensive Consultant Guide. Investigate this and other useful tools and free downloads at http://www.businessperform.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vicki_Heath

Face-to-Face Communication - Old Fashioned? Not!

2009-01-21T13:51:00.000+07:00

It's unbelievable how dependent we've become as a society on electronic communication devices! E-mail, text messaging, PDA's, cell phones, video conferencing, blackberries, blueberries, rasberries, and more...have taken the place of good old fashioned, face-to-face communication leading to many interpersonal difficulties and miscommunications in today's workplace.

You may be thinking...Why improve my interpersonal skills when most businesses do 99% of communication by telephone, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, e-mail, and on rare occasions, snail mail. A popular way of thinking today...but, is it really the correct way? "Face-to-face communication remains the most powerful human interaction," says Kathleen Begley, Ed.D., author of Face-to-Face Communication, Making Human Connections in a Technology-Driven World. "As wonderful as electronic devices are, they can never fully replace the intimacy and immediacy of people conversing in the same room and it has worked for millions of years."

In business, we talk about "B2B" (business to business) and "B2C" (business to consumer) methods. I try to buck the trend (in a positive way!) to stress the importance of face-to-face communication. You'll hear me talk a lot about the "P2P" (people-to-people) connections and how important it is to get beyond technology and talk face-to-face with friends, family, colleagues, customers, vendors, and the like. You may think that's a bit old-fashioned, but in my opinion, there is no substitution for the human, up-close and personal contact. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for the terrific technology tools we have today and I use it regularly, but it's not always my first or best choice.

Several decades ago, John Naisbitt, in his mega 1960's best-seller, Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives, brought a new concept to the forefront called "high tech, high touch." His idea was that "as human beings became capable of anonymous electronic communication, they would concurrently need more close-up personal interaction." Seems to me that he was right on target!

We live in a society when flocking to the local coffee shop or diner for coffee chats with business associates or friends is a testimony to our need for human togetherness, especially when most coffee lovers can make a latte or cappuccino right in their homes. Think about the fortunes coffee establishments are making on our need for face-to-face communication! The people-to-people connections...

We hear of the many children (and adults) who spend countless hours alone playing video games. However, The Game Manufacturing Association reported in 2003 that family board game sales (like Monopoly and Scrabble) are booming and growing at 20% per year. Cranium has recently come out with a whole new line of board games for our "little people" (ages 3+). The people-to-people connections start at an early age - if you haven't heard it, ask me to tell you my "Papa Zitto" story!

Even when disaster strikes and the news media bring these events into our homes and workplaces via TV, radio and the Internet, we seek out opportunities to share grief. I personally waited in line for almost three hours with hundreds of others to visit Ground Zero in New York when it opened to the public in December 2001. Many people also left makeshift shrines nearby to honor the victims of that tragedy. The people-to-people connections...

We lead hectic, multi-tasking lives both at home and in the workplace these days and we find the need for balance even more critical than in days gone by. We understand that technology can be impersonal, but it's quick! We know we need to make time for more people-to-people connections but, the reality of the hectic pace doesn't leave us much time for this more intimate form of communication. You may be thinking, isn't it much faster to make a quick phone call, send a brief e-mail, or hook up via video-conferencing to have a meeting of the minds? Yes and no. It's a communications paradox...faster is not always better.

So the better question may be, how can we make the best of both worlds - technology and face-to-face, people-to-people connections?

Just as fashions are redesigned and come back with a variation on a style from days-gone- by, I believe it is time for redesigning and revitalizing face-to-face (P2P) communication skills.

We need to get the balance right! People-to-people (P2P) communication skills remain one of the primary success factors in business, even in this age of technology. There are many situations - often those involving conflict, hurt feelings, high priority, or a large sum of money - that demand business people take the time and trouble to get in the same room to share information. Video-conferencing has become a good simulation and cost-effective method when individuals are in remote locations, but there is still no substitute for good, old-fashioned, face-to-face communication.

Don't take my word for it...Let's take a look at what some of the experts are saying.

Tom Peters, internationally known business guru, says without reservation that you should constantly attend to your face-to-face communication. Not to do so, will lead to career disaster. "We believe in high tech, high touch," Peters writes. "No question, technology is the Great Enabler. But, paradoxically, now the human bit is more, not less, important than ever before."

Sheila Hodge, author of Global Smarts: The Art of Communicating and Deal Making Anywhere in the World, says "The modern office is full of gadgets - computers and the Internet, uplinks and downlinks, videoconferencing, and online databases. Many people think they should let the fancy technology handle the messy task of interfacing with people."

Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, in her book Reading People, talks about how young, technically oriented employees tend to communicate mostly in computer chat rooms. "If you want to become a better communicator, you must make a conscious effort to engage other people (in person)," she writes. "Even the most entrenched Internet junkie can learn the true meaning of 'chat' if the desire is there, but you have to get off the couch and make it happen."

Gary McClain and Deborah Romaine in their book, The Everything Managing People Book, put it this way..."Consistent, daily face-to-face communication promotes more than just good feelings; it also promotes effective and collaborative teamwork."

"One of the most critical areas of communication to get right in business is the one-on-one situations - especially offering advice, constructive feedback, and annual performance appraisals," says Chris Roebuck in Effective Communication.

One of my favorite quotes stated very simply by Margaret Wheatley, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope for the Future, says "I can believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again."

Sounds like we're on to something here...So, what can you do? Start out by taking an honest look at your communication methods and your attitude about technology vs. (P2P) face-to-face interaction. Are you e-mailing more and meeting less for financial reasons? Are you avoiding human contact mostly because of a lack of interpersonal skills? If the latter is true, you need to take action before it's too late.

The next time you are tempted to send an e-mail, text message or make a phone call for other than routine purposes, stop! Get back to basics. Go out of your comfort zone and, instead, send the e-mail, text message or make the call to set up a face-to-face, in person meeting with the person behind the technology! Why? Because it works!

Make the people-to-people connections... You and your business will be glad you did!

A Positive Workplace Means Business! TM

Mary Jane (MJ) Paris, Founder and President of Positive Impact Consulting Services, LLC in Shelton, CT, brings a broad base of experience to her practice gained from more than 25 years in people management, sales, retail banking, training, recruiting, coaching, project management, event planning and community leadership.

With a focus on "The Positive Workplace," MJ and Positive Impact specialize in leadership and professional development programs, speaking engagements, and small business coaching that bring "Positive Energy" to your workplace. Engage employees, maximize productivity, improve customer service and business results...

mj@posimpact.net
203-929-6702
http://www.posimpact.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Jane_Paris

Developing Your Communication Skills

2009-01-19T14:09:00.000+07:00

It is a tough world out there and unfortunately many individuals think a lot more of their skills than they are really worth. In most cases, it is not their fault as their shortcomings have been overlooked so as not to hurt anyone's feelings but in reality by not being upfront and honest with them about their performance, they simply do not know any better.

The majority of employees simply want three things out of their job. Fair pay, training for the job they are expected to perform and feedback about how well they are doing their job. Evaluating someone job performance can be a stressful experience not only for the employee but also for the business owner or supervisor. If performance reviews are given annually, there should be no surprises at the end of the day. Consistent communication throughout the year should have provided the employee with specific things they need to do better so when evaluation day rolls around they have a good idea of what to expect.

If the supervisor goes the entire year without offering any corrective measures needed, or praise for doing a good job, the employee is going to believe they are performing at least up to expected standards. If they walk into an evaluation and find out you are not happy with their work, you will drastically undercut their morale. They have gone a year not knowing if they were under performing or overachieving and waiting until the last minute is not going to do much for employee retention.

That is not to say you need to sit down with the employee every month, or even every quarter, but if an issues comes up it should be addressed immediately. Yelling and screaming is never the right way to handle an employee discipline issue, but sitting with the employee in a private setting, where their co-workers can not see or hear what is going on, explain how the associates behavior, attitude, productivity or whatever the issue is affecting the company as a whole.

The supervisor should never attack a person with phrases beginning with the word you. Instead, all problems need to be addressed by focusing on the problem and not the person. When it comes to offering praise or thank you, those should be done in front of their peers, and as often as it is deserved. Over praising one employee may make others believe they are the favorite and can spark charges of favoritism.

Bad behavior breeds bad behavior and you have one employee that is constantly slacking off or late for work and nothing is done, not only will that employee believe their behavior is acceptable, other employees who may have never had a problem, will begin to resent the person getting away with their actions, blaming you for allowing them to get away with it and themselves for continuing to do their best with no apparent rewards. All of your employees need to know that anything that affects the business negatively will result in consequences to equal the affect on the business.

Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California

Delivering the best home based business ideas, opportunities and resources so you can work at home successfully. http://www.home-incomeportal.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Obinna_Heche

Handling Employee Benefit Communication

2009-01-17T13:02:00.000+07:00

The human resources department traditionally spends a great deal of time developing written benefit information within the corporate communications structure. Most companies spent a great deal of resources on of general benefit information as well as summaries of health insurance or deductions are printed at the bottom of employee paychecks. Since the role of the HR department has evolved since the 1990s, when the department began to change its role in the workplace, employee benefit communication can be conducted in a number of different ways. The point of solid corporate communications strategies is to make sure that you are providing your employees with as much information as possible to be completely effective at their daily jobs.

If you're running a smaller company, your HR department will most likely consist of one or two people, so it may be a little easier to have effective employee communications regarding things like changes in health care benefits or paycheck deductions. Corporate communication in the form of mass emails detailing these changes, or reminders to read the new information that will appear on the bottom of pay stubs will most likely suffice in these instances. It may also help to partner will smaller health insurance companies to meet the needs of your employees. In many cases, larger corporations that handle employee benefits will relay employee communication to your company in the same way they would a national corporation. This could cause your employees to miss certain important internal communications regarding the amount of coverage they can receive for their families. Therefore, working with independent health insurance companies, and finding out about employee benefits from organizations may be the way to go.

No matter how large or small your business may be, holding an employee meeting to learn more about things like 401k, IRAs, Social Security, and health insurance is always a good method of corporate communication. Employees that may have joined the company in their 40s or 50s will most likely be especially concerned about retirement benefits, and those with children will have questions about health insurance. Being able to utilize hard-copy materials as a form of effective employee benefit communications during a face to face meeting may ease any doubts and answer any questions they may have about their benefits and compensation.

The importance of effective corporate communication is a huge part of your company's success. Be sure that you are being clear and open any time you engage in employee communication and try to have some available at all times during regular business hours to answer any additional questions concerns.

You can get more information on corporate communications and employee communication ideas by visiting Cut Through Communications.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Louis_Wright

Employee Feedback

2009-01-16T13:30:00.001+07:00

Employee feedback is very essential for an organization's success. It will tell and keep the managers updated about the organization's strengths and weaknesses. Thus they can work upon them and try to eliminate those weaknesses. It will help them in carrying SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis in an organization, thus, contributing to organization's growth. Employee feedback should be encouraged by the managers as it tells them how motivated and satisfied the employees are in an organization. It tells the managers the reactions of employees to the company's policies. The employees should be honest enough in giving their views about a particular manager. They should be assured that their suggestions would be taken into consideration. They shouldn't be hesitant in giving their feedback.

Employees are a mediator between the managers and the customers. They can keep a company informed about customer satisfaction and customer's traits. They can give suggestions on improvement of goods and services, on what type of training sessions should be conducted in an organization for the employees, on how can their working environment be improved, on the perks and benefits which should be given to keep employees motivated. The employees can tell the managers about what they feel about the tasks assigned to them. They can make managers understand that lack of appreciation by managers can lead to less productivity and thus, to slow growth of organization. If the employees feel overburdened with work assigned to them, they can honestly discuss this with their superiors so that their work can be distributed and shared if required. Employee feedback can help measure the outcome of training sessions, the requirements of customers, quality improvement in an organization, etc.

Thus, the managers should encourage employees to give feedback and take it into consideration for the growth and smooth running of their organization.

Employee feedback is very essential for success of an organization. Author is the writer of http://www.managementstudyguide.com which explains in detail about the importance of feedback in an organization.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Himanshu_Juneja

Mobile phones with classy looks and magnificent functionalities by daykevi

2008-11-30T18:33:00.000+07:00

Mobile phones today are having awesome features, most of the latest mobile phones are quite user-friendly and come at reasonable prices.

In this context, the name of LG is an absolute must to talk about. LG is an emerging brand in the world of mobile communication, it has been a name behind the production of a number of mobile phones with enticing qualities.

One of its most stylish phone is the LG KC910. This is a fashionable 3G Smart touch screen phone which is quite easy-to-use, it has stunning, useful entertainment and communication features to keep its user at ease. The gorgeous looking handset comes with high-end technologies such as Wi-Fi,3G HSDPA and Bluetooth technology. The amazing handset comes with a 3 inches touchscreen which allows its user to control the mobile's feature as well as viewing a high colour display when using the 8 mega pixel camera feature which completes with video capabilities.

Motorola, another name in the world of mobile phones, has been able to win the laurels of its customers with top-class service. Motorola RAZR2 V9x is a stylish and sleek mobile phone and is a clamshell opening 3G handset. The Motorola RAZR2 V9x is a new member to the Motorola family, which includes the Motorola RAZR V3, Motorola RAZR V3i, Motorola RAZR V3x, Motorola RAZRV3xx and the Motorola RAZR2 V8. The RAZR2 V9 is a multimedia focused 3G phone which comes with a strong and durable framing.

The LG KC910 has a 3 inches TFT 262,000 colour screen (240 x 400 pixels), whereas the Motorola RAZR2 V9x has an internal 2.2 inches TFT 262,000 colour screen (which is of 320 x 240 pixels) and an external 2 inches QVGA 262,000 colour screen (320 x 240 pixels).

As the mobile phones are from different brands one is from LG and another one is from Motorola, the specifications of these two phones (LG KC910 and Motorola RAZR2 V9x) are quite different from each other. The Motorola RAZR2 V9x has seven variant types of messaging options,they are- SMS (Short Message Service) for text messages, EMS (Enhanced Messaging), MMS (Multimedia messages, instant messaging, email, Moto Sync and Predictive text messaging. In the LG KC910, messaging options include SMS (Short Message Service) for text messages, EMS (Enhanced Messaging), MMS (Multimedia Messages) for illustrated messages, email and predictive text messages.

The LG KC910 and Motorola RAZR V9x have many entertainment option too, in the LG KC910 entertainment specification include Java games and downloadable games(downloadable games means where a user can download games from any other source) and in the Motorola RAZR V9x, there are embedded games(we can say in-built games) and downloadable games.

Motorola RAZR V9x contains amazing sound features, it has a media player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WAV, MIDI and XMF), touch sensitive dedicated music keys, polyphonic ringtones, MP3 Ring tones, Stereo micro USB Cable port, stereo Bluetooth wireless technology with A2DP. Whereas, on the other hand, the LG KC910 has only four variant types of sound specifications they are - media player(MP3 and AAC), FM Radio, Dolby Sound, MP3 and Polyphonic Ringtones.

The LG KC910 weighs only one hundred and fourteen grams and its dimensions are-107.8 x 55.9 x 14 mm; the Motorola RAZR V9x weighs much more than the LG handset, it weighs one hundred and twenty five grams and its dimensions are-103 x 53 x 13.3 mm.

Motorola RAZR2 V9x has network connectivity options related to Quad band technology, it has quad band technology with support for GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 1900 frequencies along with WCDMA. Whereas on the other hand, the LG KC910 also has Quad band technology, with support for GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 1900 with HSDPA 2100 frequencies.

Both the mobile phones have the option for internet connectivity, the LG KC910 has WAP/xHTML and HTML Browser while the Motorola RAZR V9x has WAP 2.0/HTML Browser. LG KC910 and Motorola RAZR2 V9x have some really incredible features, a user can easily handle any of these mobile phone with utmost ease.

About the Author

If you like to get the latest mobile phones and free laptop with best deals, visit our online mobile shop.

3G Pay Monthly Mobile Phones: give way to new technology by Dennis Lewis

2008-11-29T21:29:00.000+07:00

While on the way to progress, it becomes very much necessary to move along with the advancements that are made in the field of technology. From the basic handsets to the modern technology like 3G, the distance has to be traversed by the users to keep themselves updated. There is now an easy way to afford such technology too by way of 3G pay monthly mobile phones are very much affordable and convenient for the users to manage.

3G pay monthly mobile phones can be taken up by the users who wish to employ more advanced features from their mobile phones. The 3G technology supersedes the 2.5G technology and offers a range of advanced features from the network. These include wireless voice telephony, video calls, broadband wireless data, etc. This technology can benefit the users a great deal and they can easily use it to a better standard of communication.

Users who wish to get 3G phones do not have partake themselves in any high and over the top costs. They can get these phones easily and manage them well too. With pay monthly mobile schemes for 3G phones now available, it is not difficult anymore to manage the expenses and the services since the payments have to be made on a monthly basis. This also cuts down the inconvenience caused to the people when they have to get their mobile accounts recharged. The users can now research online to compare and get the best deals for 3G pay monthly mobile phones.

With 3G pay monthly mobile phones now available to users at subsidised costs and easier mode of payments, it is easy for users to be connected in a better and advanced manner.

About the Author

Dennis Lewis is associated with 3g Pay Monthly Mobile. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication from IIT, Kharagpur. To know more about 3G pay monthly, 3G phones, 3G pay monthly mobile phones about mobile phone please visit http://www.3gpaymonthlymobile.co.uk/

Mobile phones come up with attractive and trendy offers by David Boon

2008-11-28T21:13:00.000+07:00

Mobile phone offers make customers delighted as most of the offers are meant for the customers' benefit. Mobile phone offers bring revenue to the network service providers and bring some exciting things to the customers too.

Mobile phones is a fundamental tool for a hassle-free communication in today's fast-paced life. In the earlier days, mobile phones were just meant for communication,i.e., one is for making and receiving calls and another one is to sending and receiving messages. During these times, mobiles were meant only for verbal and non-verbal communication. With the advancement of technology, manufacturers are now coming up with mobiles loaded with numerous specifications and amazing features. Mobile manufacturers are extending their businesses with improved and new services to a large number of people. This way, if any of the mobile phone manufacturers is successful in attracting the attention of their prospective customers, he can easily be recognised as one of the leading companies in the mobile phone industry.

Keeping the genre in their minds (to produce ache functionality mobile phones), the mobile manufacturing companies are introducing mobile phones with exciting features and functionalities. Some of the sought-after mobile phone companies such as Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson are all putting up their efforts to please the demands and desires of the modern day mobile phone users.

We already know that the mobile phone have taken all the attention as this tiny gadget has become one of the basic needs of most of the people. With it, a large number of mobile phone retailers have entered into the market. Every network service provider wants to survive in this competitive world and also wants to make a mark in the market. This is the reason why every provider is offering different types of mobile phone offers to the customers on purchasing mobile phones from his store.

Every mobile phone user of this time wants to get the modern mobile handset in his pocket to enjoy all types of comforts and entertainment features. In addition to that, the common man is expecting latest mobile handsets at affordable prices. To reach the maximum number of people and to maintain these modern handsets at very low prices, the retailers are offering various types of deals such as-Contract deals, pay as you go phones, Sim Free Phones, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months monthly rental plans. Many of the retailers are even offering free talktime and text messages to make few things easier for the users.

As we have the idea that there are numerous offers and discounts with the mobile phone offers that are provided by the retailers like Free Gifts with Mobile Phones of gaming consoles (gaming consoles like Sony PSP, Xbox 360, or Nintendo)music player, iPods, LCD TVs, Laptops and mobile phone at the cost of one price. These all surprising gifts and offers are available with the most innovative mobile phones that come up with all the world class features and entertainment specifications. That's why, the present day mobile phone market is flooded with different styles of phones with various features. Users have all the liberty to choose the best one that can easily suit their needs. Those who are music lovers can go for a phone which comes with built-in high-quality music player and FM Radio. We can see now that all the modern gadgets are coming with digital camera features that help the users to capture the memorable moments of their life.

Mobile phone offers brought a huge number of revenues in the pockets of service providers as well as in the mobile phone manufacturers. Contrary to that, the network service providers are equally important because good network service providers that provide mobile phone offers to the users in the UK market such as O2, Orange, T-Mobile, 3 and Virgin are desired by one and all.

About the Author

BCMPD offering Mobile phone offers with Sim Free Phones and Free Gifts with Mobile Phones on UK mobile phone networks contract and deals.

Exploit the latest features on the Samsung i8510 by Samuel Herick

2008-11-27T21:08:00.000+07:00

The Samsung INNOV8 is a versatile 3G smart phone which is also known as Samsung INNOV8 and it helps the owner realise its personal, business and entertainment requirements. Definitely, the most outstanding feature of the INNOV8 is its availability in two versions of internal memory. This 3G camera phone comes in 8 GB and 16 GB internal memory and they are expandable. Both the versions of the gadget are expandable with 16 GB of external memory. Therefore, the choice is left with the prospective purchaser, and further expand its capacity with external memory if his data goes beyond the capacity of the internal memory. This 3G smart phone also comes with 128 MB of RAM memory. Its screen is 2.8 inches which is good enough for a smart phone with the size of 17.2x 106.5x 53.9 mm.

The user shall not miss the FM radio programmes if he has got a Samsung i8510. It can accompany the owner all the way like any other FM radio and can entertain the listener all throughout the day. Not only this, game lovers can keep on playing games on this 3G smart phone as games are down-loadable on this widget.

Samsung INNOV8 is the other popular name of the Samsung i8510 and it comes with built-in web browser that offers XHTML and HTML services. It has a variety of communication features and it ensures pleasure with its dynamic services. In addition to making calls the individuals can share SMS, MMS, e-mail and have live chatting with the contacts online via its instant messaging service. It does support 3G video calling, so the enthusiasts can view the body languages of the contacts on its screen and makes chatting vital.

The Samsung i8510 has built-in still-cum-video photography features as well. Its eight mega pixels camera supports flash which helps in brightening the dullness or vagueness because of poor light. Its auto-focus feature helps in capturing well-focused photographs and helps enrich the quality of the photographs it captures. As this camera phone is equipped with image stabiliser the enthusiast need not be apprehensive of the movements while handling the camera feature. This option automatically manages all such movements that may spoil photographs being captured. Whether one be an armature or a professional, one can capture motion photographs on this camera phone and it enables in reviewing the recordings as and when interested.

Listeners hardly need to think of a separate radio if they already possess the INNOV8. Because of its RDS the listener enjoy viewing of other information like the weather reports, the news etc., on the radio being feed by respective channels.

The users can avail both the connectivity options--Bluetooth and the USB on the Samsung i8510. Anyone would prefer to be wire-free whether on a journey or at home and the Bluetooth on board this widget helps the owner go wire-free. Moreover, Bluetooth makes the gadget hassle-free and a portable infotainment device. The presence of the EDGE technology in this 3 G smart device expedites the transfer of data from this gadget to any other compatible device. With the GPRS one can think of transferring data from one device to another, but with the availability of the EDGE technology on the Samsung INNV8 one can ensure faster transfer of data than that of GPRS. The individuals are also able to exploit the full advantage of the Wi-Fi on this gadget

About the Author

Read more about latest mobile phone deals on Samsung Mobile Phones.

The Speaking Channel Makes Public Speaking Nothing To Fear by TJ Walker

2008-11-26T21:23:00.000+07:00

If you asked a group of random people to list their greatest fear, for many it would be a fear of public speaking. Yet in so many walks of life ranging business presentations to job interview to sales training exercises and some other variations on the theme, we are called upon to do just that. At the Speaking Channel, our mission is to deliver you from your fears and help you to master the art of public speaking. Improve your public speaking through better speech writing, and master the art of the presentation so well that you may even become a motivational speaker some day. We've seen it happen, and it can happen to you!

The Speaking Channel is a meeting place of sorts, an online home for communities to meet and offer speech writing tips, motivational speaking tutorials, comprehensive sales programs, job interview tips, media training programs, and much more. Purchase products related to the subject of your interest, watch educational videos that break down and explain public speaking techniques, speak to other like minded individuals on our message boards, and begin to build the skills you need to excel in your particular public speaking situation.

One of the great aspects of the Speaking Channel is that it sheds light on how many situations and scenarios, personally, professionally or otherwise, involve a need for public speaking. By exposing yourself to the resources available on the Speaking Channel, you'll realize that you're not alone in your fear of public speaking. Secondly, you'll realize that overcoming your fear is simply a matter of applying tried and true techniques. By zeroing in on their specific needs as it applies to their personal or professional situation and applying practical steps to the problem, every day people just like you come to the realization that they are capable of making that speech or presentation they've consistently lived in fear of.

If you've never imagined yourself as a first-rate public speaker, perhaps it's time that you did. Learn the ins and outs of public speaking from A to Z, as well as how to give a successful and persuasive business presentation, speech writing, and much more. At the Speaking Channel it's all about communication. If you find your communication skills lacking just remember that you're not alone. Think of it as a support group for your public speaking skills, and get to work on bringing those skills to life.

About the Author

Speaking Channel TV's founder, TJ Walker, began media training in 1984 and is the media columnist for Investor Relations Magazine (www.irmag.com), the leading publication in the investor relations field.

Why Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is better than other phones? by Rahul Bhadaurya

2008-11-25T18:34:00.000+07:00

Sony Ericsson Mobile phones have recently launched a new elegant phone called Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. This phone is going to make history with some tough features in this phone. The gadget has been so beautifully designed by the manufacturer that you cannot guess from the outward look that there are so many high end ergonomics inside the phone.

You will enjoy a new convergence of communication and entertainment with Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. You have so many panel options for navigation in this phone. You can touch, use joystick, or touch the soft key pads to browse the phone.

This Arc slider design phone comes with a 3 inch Wide VGA display and wonderful premium metal finish body. The phone is very much sophisticated and distinctive from other brand phones. The array of features in this phone make its totally different from other models of handsets. This energized phone has complete features of that you can expect from it. From web applications to multimedia to communication and to other exploration the phone supports you in all cases. You just cannot demand more with Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is a quadband phone and the 3G HSDPA network also runs well in 850/1900/2100/1700 frequencies. The phone has dimension of 110 x 53 x 17 mm and is quite a heavy phone. There is a complete QWERTY keypad which comes out when the phone is flipped opened by its side.

The camera of the phone is a 3.2 MP lens with Auto focus, Photo light and Video recording. There is a secondary camera for videocall. The music qualities of the phone has Bluetooth stereo (A2DP), Media player called Walkman, has Music tones, PlayNow List, TrackID music recognition, has Windows Media Player, FM radio for live entertainment, Video streaming and then at last you have Video viewing.

Quick and effortless access to broadband Internet. You have a new experience with video calls. There is audio and video streaming, MMS, SMS, internet surfing, email, Instant Messasging and many other features in this gadget.

If you compare all these features of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 with other brand of phones like Nokia, Samsung, LG or Motorola you will find that very few of them could match to the level this Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 has moved up to. For instance Nokia N96 has some features in that can really give tough competition to this new phone.

About the Author

Nokia 3500 Pink, Nokia 3600 Slide Red and Nokia 3600 Black are the popular in UK.

Rahul Bhadaurya is Search Optimizer for Chums IT Systems PVT LTD.

Blogging Is A Free Service For Communication And Self Expression! by Risna

2008-11-24T21:24:00.000+07:00

A blog is an easy way to use a web site where a user can create and quickly post his thoughts to interact with people and express his ideas and views for free. It is a free service that is used for communication with the freedom for speech to express his views. A blogger increases the availability of any information and also encourages a very healthy debate in such a manner that it makes possible new connections between different peoples. A blogger has the ownership and respect for the content that he may choose to share with different people. Censoring the content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.

The service usually encourages the freedom of expression of a blogger. As a result, there may be some boundaries based on the type of the content that is hosted by the blogger. The boundaries usually defined are those that may comply with legal requirements as well as serve to enhance the service. The policies of the content may play an important role in maintaining the experiences for the user. The user in turn is expected to respect the content of the blog. The blog may not include any type of pornographic material or image and video contents that may contain nudity or sexual materials. Users may not even publish any type of written, image or video content that may in any way promote incest or bestiality. Users may not publish any materials that may in any way promote hate towards any group or community or ethic origin, religion, gender, for more detail visit www.atoz-about-rss.com age and sexual orientation identity. Any article that is a direct threat to violence against any person or group of people may not be published. Web sites may not allow the users to unauthorized publishing any information that are private and confidential including their social security number or credit card numbers or even license number.

A blog can be anything that the user wants to share based on education or hobby or even expertise. It can be for promoting any products keeping in mind that the product that is being promoted should not be dangerous and illegal. In doing so the web site might terminate the account of the user without any prior notice to the user and also report to appropriate authorities. Blogger is a web publishing service or a hosting service, so a blogger must be at least thirteen years of age before using the services. The blogger is responsible for support, for more detail visit www.blog-and-ping.com representation or guarantee the truthfulness; accuracy or reliability of any communications posted via the service or endorsed any opinions expressed via the service. A blog may be referred to as a collection of private or public thoughts. A user may simply share his latest announcement or news, debate his or hers position, support a claim, share his expertise or some may even have fun. A user may bring his thoughts or ideas alive and share it with his closest friends or the world at large. A user may make up his blog the most interesting thing on the web.

About the Author

www.building-blog-empire.com

www.blogers-guide-to-profit.com

Improving your Relationship by Fred Morris

2008-11-23T06:36:00.000+07:00

Tips in fostering closer relationships can be found everywhere, in every magazine as well as in men and women websites. The availability of such information has only magnified the impact of the results of the statistics on current conditions of relationships in this increasingly modernized world.

With the ever increasing number of divorce and annulment cases in the countries around the globe, the discussions on how to improve one's relationship has become a necessity. Here are some of the juicy bits on how a typical couple can work out issues and problems that a normal couple encounters.

Having and Keeping Faith

Some couples put God or religion at the core of their relationship. In believing that a much greater force has brought them together to become life partners, having and keeping faith gives them a common ground that makes an excellent foundation for a relationship. This way, the couple surpasses rough patches together, having faith in God and to the love of one another. Faith, in whatever form, provides the couple a great motivation in achieving personal as well as professional goals.

Support System

In a relationship, each person must be treated as an individual with individual goals and dreams that will make the person fulfilled in other aspects of life. One of the secrets in being successful in the relationship department of life is by giving and gaining support to and from your partner.

Learning to Communicate

Often, couple's quarrels start with miscommunications. Even in other forms of relationships, a problematic means of communication will always be the core of a problem. It is true that giving and gaining support can foster better relationships. However, to actually give and be given with support, you need to effectively communicate your intentions first to your partner. When one fails to do that, he will find a hard time getting all the support he needs. Remember that as a couple, you are a team of two people that understand each other. Not only that, effective communication also prevents arguments.

Learn to Make Compromises

Treat your partner as an individual with different thoughts, needs and ideals as yours. Sometimes, these thoughts and ideals may clash. This often leads to arguments and fights. When the argument becomes heated, the couple should stop, reflect on everything that was said and done. The thoughts and decisions of one's partner must be respected, so yours will be respected to. The funny thing is that all the trouble can be avoided if the couple communicates well with one another. Fully understanding your partner enables you to become more willing to bend for the good of the other.

Set Priorities

This is particularly important among married couples. Often, we become hesitant or reluctant to cut our family ties. Inevitably, even though we are already married, our siblings, parents and friends expect the same kind of relationship that has bonded you with them. But once you have committed yourself to your partner, the relationship should be the top priority, which means he and the family that you two have created over your family is your top priority. This is supposed to make all decision making, particularly those involving money and time, a lot easier.

About the Author

RedneckandSingle.com is the place on the internet to meet thousands of single rednecks and country folks. Head over to http://www.redneckandsingle.com and have a look around. It's like an online honky-tonk, without all the cussin', fightin', and drinkin'.

Samsung F490 : The Phone With Google Maps by Rahul Bhadaurya

2008-11-22T18:32:00.000+07:00

Samsung understands the need of mobile users and thats why they have launched this new Samsung F490 with all the features which will enable the user to use this device for communication, internet, music, games and photography. The features of Samsung F490 speak of its capability and what this phone can do for you. No body expected that all of a sudden Samsung will launch so many models together.

It seems that they want to attract all sections of consumers and beat its contenders. The phone is literally a smart phone which can give a altogether a new experience of phoning.

This handset has a 5 MP camera with stunning features to give a throttle feeling to photography enthusiasts. The full touchscreen mode enables the user to access the applications without any trouble.

The new technologies like touch sensitivity, track management and others will make the usage convenient for all. This is 3G smart phone which supports network of GSM 900/1800/1900 and UMTS 210 as well as HSDPA 3.6 Mbps.

The screen of the phone is quite large to display videos and images of desirable resolution so that you don't have to widen your eyes to watch the videos. There is Croix interface and the wide screen enables the user to command with just single touch. The 5 MP with auto focus and flash is great for still and video photography. You can video shoot at the speed of 30 fps and there is a secondary video call camera.

Samsung F490 has 130 MB inbuilt memory and can be extended with the help of a microSD card. There is built in mobile Google maps. You have standard 3.5mm jack for headphones and other audio output devices. The slim and sexy phone connects well to web with GPRS, EDGE and the WAP browser enables you to access the internet quite easily.

Connectivity to other devices with USB port, Bluetooth is fun.

The multimedia of Samsung F490 is quite powerful to play MP3 MP4 files and WMA files. You will simply love this gadget and will not be able to keep it aside.

About the Author

Samsung G800 Black, Samsung G810 and Samsung i200 Black are the popular in UK.

Rahul Bhadaurya is Search Optimizer for Chums IT Systems PVT LTD.