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Category: Communication (Page 2 of 14)

6 steps to setting up a meeting for success

05/06/2019 /

It is very likely that sooner or later we will be required to organise a meeting in our professional careers. While it may seem like a fairly simple task, setting up a successful meeting means thinking about certain issues beforehand in order to avoid unpleasant situations.

It can be useful to clearly state where the meeting will take place, at what time, what the objectives are and therefore who must be present and who needn’t be. A very useful model to do this is the PALACE model.

Preparation
Agenda
Logistics
Agree timing and objective uprfront
Communication styles
Efficient follow-up

To read more about each step of this model, be sure to check out the full article!

“How to conduct the perfect meeting for account managers”

 

13/03/2019 /

Oftentimes what makes our life really hard is criticism. Or rather, fear of criticism.

Pursuing our goals becomes a daunting task when we think people will be judging us; the fact that we are often our worst critics makes it even more daunting.

We’re told that we should just ignore those voices, just ignore those criticisms. But how can you do that when it’s your own inner voice telling you that everything you do is wrong?

Well, Brené Brown suggests we shouldn’t try to quieten those voices: we should rather tell them “Tell them, I see you, I hear you, but I’m going to do this anyway”.

Here is her wonderful TED Talk on Criticism:

 

McKnight Principles – Chasing innovation

05/12/2018 /

William McKnight was the CEO of 3M, also known as the “innovation company”, from 1949 to 1966. He was a living example of how all managers should create an environment which fosters a growth mindset (you can read more about that here) in order to create a successful, thriving and long-lasting business.

In McKnight’s own words, here are the principles to follow in order to build innovative companies:

“As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way.

“Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs.

“Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it’s essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow.”

 

Image result for mcknight 3m

Image: AZquotes

The Bus Metaphor

26/09/2018 /

The right people in the right seats on the bus: this is the metaphor from the first Jim Collins best-seller ‘Good to Great’. In that book – published in 2001 – the author identifies what leaders need to do, in order to see their teams and organizations excel. And he uses the power of an image to communicate the following concept.

According to Collins, leaders who are able to transform their organizations begin not by setting a direction, but by getting the right people on the bus – and the wrong people off the bus.

Actually great leaders understand the following three simple truths:

1. If you begin with “who,” rather than “what”, you can more easily adapt to a changing world.

2. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away, because they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.

3. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.

Assembling the team is the first crucial point. Then a leader has to develop a vision (the direction of the bus), to remove obstacles to high performance (that is, maybe people are not exactly in the right seats and need to be assigned to the right role) and to help people with diverse talents and interests building trust in each other.

It is an hard work, but leaders need it to accomplish objectives with the right people.

Image source: http://bit.ly/16TU0QU

 

Master the Instant Speech in 3 easy steps

18/07/2018 /

So many times we are required to come up with sensible and insightful observations to make during a conversation. And many times we find ourselves struggling with organizing our ideas properly and more importantly conveying them effectively to our audience (whether small or large).

The Instant Speech is a powerful yet really simple technique to help us in those situations where we want to tell a story or get across a message in a few words.

There are 3 steps to creating the general framework of an Instant Speech:

  1. Decide your Key Message
  2. Choose 3 points or topics to support it
  3. Deliver your Instant Speech with confidence

To read more about this and to get more tips on Public Speaking you can visit Jezra Kaye’s website Speak up for success 

 

 

Image source: Pixabay (CC0)

MindMapping to learn better

11/07/2018 /

Mind Maps are a tool introduced by Tony Buzan which help organize our thoughts and ideas through key words in a hierarchical yet creative manner. Mind maps can be used for anything from studying, to tackling problems, to making decisions and even preparing for our next job meeting.

Here are the main steps to creating a mind map:

  1. Take a blank piece of paper and place it horizontally
  2. Write the core concept you wish to analyze
  3. Add branches which represent the main ideas which are linked to that concept
  4. Each branch can have further branches stemming from it
  5. Lines representing the branches should be thinner as you get further away from the central point
  6. Be creative: use colors, use curvy lines, use images which help evoke certain ideas
  7. DO NOT FOLLOW A LINEAR PATH: you can go back to branches and add or subtract as you wish

Most important of all, find your own mind mapping style. In order to make ourselves be understood by others, we must find our voice!

 

Here are two TED talks on Mindmaps:

 

 

 

If you want to learn more about mind mapping, you should check out these previous articles:

The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps (part 1)

The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps (part 2): the success formula

 

A young poet tells the story of Darfur

13/06/2018 /

Emtithal was 10 when she learned what the word “genocide” meant. She lived in Darfur and she didn’t understand why they were burying so many people.

She started writing poems to convince people to hear and see what was happening.

Emtithal “Emi” Mahmoud continues writing poetry to witness and to make people more sensitized to the humanity who stands behind such tragedies.

In this TED, Emi shares two wonderful poems with the public.

 

 

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