10-2 -- Communicating Effectively

For this final Blog entry, I will talk about five key points that I think are important to keep in mind when communicating. Let's get started:

1. Email etiquette

Email is probably the number one form of communication in the business world today. Myself, I definitely send and receive more emails than phone calls, voice mails and faxes combined. It is important to maintain a proper email etiquette when communicating with supervisors, peers, subordinates and external resources. The spell check feature has saved me many embarrassing typos. A very good idea is to pause before hitting the send button, and quickly read that email again and also check to whom it is going. If you were talking about an attachment, make sure you attached that attachment!

Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/e/e_mail.asp

2. Control Emotions

As part of this weeks Blog entry we had to watch a few videos and I would like to share one here that really impressed me:

Link to Video about keeping emotions in check

As we have learned, emotions should only last for 6 seconds. The advice given in this video to actually take a pause and tell someone we will call back or get back to them at a later time is a great idea to keep boiling emotions in check. I have faced and observed many situations in business before where people lose their emotions. While this is a sign that they take their job seriously, it can also damage vital business relationships with peers, superiors and suppliers or customers permanently. Taking a pause at the right time, calm down and then get back at the problem with emotions in check can save such relationships.

3. Active listening

Another good advice that was given in one of the videos is to listen actively. What this means is to focus on the person we are having a conversation with. Pay close attention to what the person is telling you. Then, give a feedback ensuring that you have been paying attention. These feed-backs can be both verbal and nonverbal. Repeat certain information you have been given and answer in ways such as "I understand, that what you are saying is....".

Here is a short video explaining active listening further:

4. Say something nice every day

This is something we all forget much too often. We should try to give at least one compliment every day. Communication can improve tremendously when we are actually trying to say something nice once in a while. I have had many frustrating business relationships, usually with vendors. When trying to fix them and confront a vendor, I made the most progress when I begun with something nice. Find some common ground. Try to find out why someone isn't performing the way you would like them to perform. Complement and focus on something that is working great. This opens opportunities and makes the message receiver more acceptable of requests too!

Also, if someone actually performs the way you expect them or you see them go the extra mile - mention it! We often focus on failures and improvements, but we need to recognize a job well done as well in order to make sure the quality remains the same in the future.

5. Communicate result driven

When you communicate, be sure you know where you want to get with the conversation. Keep your eye on the price. Here is what I mean by that in 1 Minute and 17 seconds:

Thank you!

This is my last post for this Blog and I would like to thank you for following me through my course. I had a lot of fun reflecting on the topics I reviewed in the text book and I hope I was able to make them a little more interesting by adding some fun artifacts.

Before I let you go, here is one more video that shows the importance of encoding a message correctly. It was actually forwarded to me by a German. The video starts with a supervisor instructing the new employee on all the different machinery... But see for yourself: