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Category: Communication (Page 9 of 14)

Work Smarter, Not Harder: 21 Time Management Tips to Hack Productivity

09/10/2014 /

Many people try to increase their productivity. There are people who scurry from task to task, always checking e-mail, organizing something, making a call, running an errand, as they think that “staying busy” means you are working hard and you are going to be more successful.There are innumerable hacks and tricks to manage your time effectively.

These are some useful tips to manage your time:

  1. Complete most important tasks first
  2. Learn to say “no”
  3. Sleep at least 7-8 hours
  4. Devote your entire focus to the task at hand
  5. Get an early start
  6. Don’t allow unimportant details to drag you down
  7. Turn key tasks into habits
  8. Be conscientious of amount of TV/Internet/gaming time
  9. Delineate a time limit in which to complete task
  10. Leave a buffer-time between tasks
  11. Don’t think of the totality of your to-do list
  12. Exercise and eat healthily
  13. Do less
  14. Utilize weekends, just a little bit
  15. Create organizing systems
  16. Do something during waiting time
  17. Lock yourself in
  18. Commit to your plan to do something
  19. Batch related tasks together
  20. Find time for stillness
  21. Eliminate the non-essential.
  22. Enjoyment should always be the goal. Work can be play.

Read more: The creativity post


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Image source: Pixabay by geralt

 

 

5 Leadership Tips by Abraham Lincoln

02/09/2014 /

Abraham Lincoln gets a lot of credit for being a great leader.
Here’s what he did, why it works and how it can make you a better leader.

1.   Get out of the office and circulate among the troops:
Lincoln knew people were his best source of information. And accessibility built trust.
Guess what? Modern business theory backs him up. These days the management gurus call it “Managing by Wandering Around.”

2.      Persuade rather than coerce:
Does the modern research agree? Yes.
The #1 thing Harvard Business School teaches it’s MBA students about negotiation is “They need to like you”.

3.      Lead by being led:
Looking at the research,  the type of leadership that works in the toughest situations is Lincoln’s method: being democratic and listening.

4.      Encourage innovation:
Reward people for trying new things and don’t punish them for failure.

5.      Influence people by storytelling:
Facts and statistics are great but when people hear presentations what do they remember? The stories.

There’s a lot to learn from Lincoln!

For more: Lessons From Lincoln: 5 Leadership Tips History And Science Agree On

Abraham_Lincoln_Signature.svg

Image source: Wikipedia

 

Why diplomats “lie”

31/07/2014 /

During a training seminar, Ruben Brunsveld of the Stockholm Institute for Public Speaking (StIPS) asked the question: “Which words do you associate with diplomacy and diplomatic language?”

He found out that the words commonly associated with diplomacy are intrasparent, unclear, vague and even lying.

Actually, diplomatic language can be extremely confusing if you are not used to the codes. It is essential to know the context of the communication and the relationships among the people involved to understand the meaning of a “diplomatic” conversation. So why don’t they just say what they think?

In the international arena, actors coming from different backgrounds meet each other, bearing different communication styles and value systems. Diplomatic language is used to avoid mistakes and to establish “the rules of the game”.

In a field where interpersonal interaction is crucial, those rules are needed to communicate without running the risk of offending your counterpart. For sure, you have to know and practice them, taking into account that diplomats do not lie. They just “soften”.

Read the full article at http://stips.se/why-diplomats-lie/

What they say

What they mean
We believe the Dutch proposal is very interesting What a strange Dutch proposal, we will not accept it!
We understand the general idea behind your proposal We have a serious problem with how you want to implement this
We believe this proposal deserves further examination We cannot accept it in this form
We have complete understanding for the French concerns, however we feel that we should …. We disagree with the French
I hope we can be pragmatic and work towards a constructive solution Please stop whining about technicalities
I am not quite convinced the German proposal reflects the best way out for all of us. We will not accept the German proposal.
By inserting this you make it hard for me to convince my colleagues. Stop making my position difficult.
I ask your understanding for the fact that this is very important for Sweden. It is important but I cannot tell you why. Ask me at the coffee machine.
I have been instructed by my government to propose the following solution. I know this is not acceptable for you. Do not shoot the messenger.
The internal coordination process is still ongoing We did not have time to look over the document.

How to Make Your Life Better by Sending Five Simple Emails

17/07/2014 /

Eric Barker from Time Online Magazine has found out how to improve our lives in a simple way, by just sending 5 emails:

• Every morning send a friend, family member or co-worker an email to say thanks for something.
• At the end of the week, send your boss an email and sum up what you’ve accomplished.
• Once a week email a potential mentor.
• Email a good friend and make plans.
• Send an email to someone you know (but don’t know very well) and check in.

More on: How to Make Your Life Better by Sending Five Simple Emails

 

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Image source: Flickr – Biscarotte (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Posted by Camilla Sicuro.

10 Effective Ways To Get More Followers On Twitter

15/07/2014 /

If you aim at broadening your influence, it is very likely that you are already acquainted with Twitter. With over 500 million registered users in 2012, and 200 million active users, Twitter is quite a large pool to fish in. That is, if you get people to follow you. In order to maximize your twitting experience and to keep your followers counter on the rise, here is a list of 10 useful tips, drafted by Malika Rani:

  1. Come up with an effective tweet;
  2. Make sure your Twitter profile is complete;
  3. Follow followers of people that are like you;
  4. Ask for retweet;
  5. Follow back your followers;
  6. Be active on twitter chat;
  7. Include hashtags in your tweets;
  8. Use twitter searching sites;
  9. Post content on a regular basis;
  10. Explore “follow me on twitter” Links.

Twitter_Logo_by_Megachix

Image source: Megachix on http://goo.gl/pRMpkl

Soft Diplomacy: Skills for Future Affairs

05/06/2014 /

Ines Pires-Urquiza, a specialist in Soft Diplomacy Skills, in her post on The International School of Protocol and Diplomacy website affirms that soft diplomatic skills and protocol not only are an “European Art”, but rather a common need among developing countries and they should therefore be integrated into global daily lives.

“The current business and social environment is multicultural, multi-generational and multilingual”, she writes. Mastering effective communication skills has rapidly become a worldwide necessity, and the key to success in diplomatic and business domains.

Knowing rules and procedures, which represent a central element of protocol learning, constitutes a prerequisite to any successful negotiation. “Skills development goes before organization, communication and leadership”, affirms the author. The benefits springing from knowing the culture base, the attitude and the background of our counterparts are countless and are able to influence the outcome of any deal.

Read full article at:http://ispdnews.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/soft-diplomacy-brief/

2770502978_d47a8b1af6Image source: flickr.com “Playing chess on the Nile#5” Ranil Amarasuriya http://goo.gl/I7L1Gv

proposed by: Emanuele D’Andrassi

The Twenty People Skills You Need To Succeed At Work

27/05/2014 /

Do you think you’re qualified for a particular job, fit to lead a team, or entitled to a promotion because you have extensive experience and highly developed technical skills? Well, it turns out that while those things are crucial to your professional success, it is imperative that you also have great soft skills, more commonly known as “people skills.”

Jacquelyn Smith suggests 20 soft skills we need to succeed at work:

  1. The ability to relate to others.
  2. Strong communication skills.
  3. Patience with others.
  4. The ability to trust others.
  5. Knowing how and when to show empathy.
  6. Active listening skills.
  7. Genuine interest in others.
  8. Flexibility.
  9. Good judgment.
  10. The ability to persuade others.
  11. Negotiation skills.
  12. The ability to keep an open mind.
  13. A great sense of humor.
  14. Knowing your audience.
  15. Honesty.
  16. Awareness of body language
  17. Proactive problem solving.
  18. Leadership skills.
  19. Good manners.
  20. The ability to be supportive and motivate others.

Read the full article at: http://onforb.es/1bKPpB7

8218844183_7eae5f9dd8Image source: http://bit.ly/1bkRUsa – Image by changeorder (License CC BY-SA 2.0)

Posted by: Maria Del Carmen Taschini Otero

The Six Rules for Disagreeing Agreeably

15/05/2014 /

The Dale Carnergie Training, a leader company in performance improvement, in a post on its own blog asserts that the way in which we communicate can elicit positive or negative emotions. If we don’t have the right tact or sensitivity, people might misunderstand the message we are trying to convey. An approach that combines strength and empathy can help us keep bad emotions at bay.

Read full article at: http://bit.ly/1fCJquo

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Image source: http://bit.ly/1ebFUuP – Image by Dushan Wegner shtikl (License CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Posted by: Maria Francesca Dell’Apa

Leadership Without Ego

13/05/2014 /

What is true leadership? Can it be taught?

During TEDxESCP, Bob Davids – entrepreneur and visionary – explains the difference between leadership and management and stresses the importance of leadership without ego.
According to Mr. Davids, management implies control and if you push people you cannot predict what they will do.
Analyzing examples of famous leaders like Gandhi, he affirms that if you can lead people and get them to follow you, then you have the skills to be a leader.
But leadership is a gift and cannot be bought.
Leadership without ego is thus the most valuable commodity and the rarest in the planet.

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