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Category: Training (Page 29 of 40)

Bureaucratic traps to avoid

10/09/2013 /

The theme of Diplocalendar 2013 was inspired by Mark Twain’s quotation that: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them”.

8_parkinsons law_final_sm

Diplomats, like many other professionals, must read, understand, synthesise and make sense of newspapers, magazines, emails, official reports and so many other things related to their daily work. But there is so much else to read both for pleasure and to deepen our knowledge.

One of the selected book suggested that supports professional development and is relevant to management in diplomacy is the classic C. Northcote Parkinson‘s Parkinson’s Law

Misused English terms

03/09/2013 /

English is the most widely-spoken language in the world and is currently an official language in 88 sovereign states and territories; it therefore follows that it has many different versions and standards.

However, over the years, the European institutions have developed a vocabulary that differs from that of any recognised form of English. The problem with these words is that when people use them with the wrong meaning or in the wrong context, they are usually unaware that they are doing so.

Consult the list drawn by the Court of Auditors which aims at giving some guidelines for a proper use of English.

Wikimedia commons

Image Source – Wikimedia commons

Excel 2010 Advanced

29/08/2013 /

The manual Excel 2010 Advanced, downloadable for free at Bookboon.com, concerns the spreadsheet software in the new Microsoft 2010 Office Suite. Excel allows you to store, manipulate and analyze data in organized workbooks for home and business tasks.

Bookboon provides a collection of valuable free ebooks for professionals.

10 +1 secrets to communicate leadership.

27/08/2013 /

Communication is the real work of leadership

by Nitin Nohrian

It is a hard work communicating efficiently and even more when the goal one is trying to achieve is to look and be a leader.
Here are the 10 tips that Forbes has decided to share with us in order to become great (communication) leaders:

  1. Speak not with a forked tongue;
  2. Get personal;
  3. Get specific;
  4. Focus on the leave-behinds not the take-aways;
  5. Have an open mind;
  6. Shut-up and listen;
  7. Replace ego with empathy;
  8. Read between the lines;
  9. When you speak, know what you’re talking about;
  10. Speak to groups as individuals;

*Bonus: Be prepared to change the message if needed!

Read more on: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/04/04/10-communication-secrets-of-great-leaders/

no-one-leadership-style

Imagine source: http://yoacblog.com/?p=1504

Time waste

22/08/2013 /

If you love life, don’t waste your time because that’s what life is made of.
[original text: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of”]
Benjamin Franklin

Image by U.S. Government (Wikimedia Commons [1]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By U.S. Government (Wikimedia Commons [1]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Five Presentation Mistakes Everyone Makes

20/08/2013 /

Nancy Duarte has published several books on presentations. The last one is the HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations. Here are some of her tips on creating and delivering presentations.

We all know what it’s like to sit through a bad presentation. We can easily spot the flaws — too long, too boring, indecipherable, what have you — when we watch others speak. The thing is, when we take the stage ourselves, many of us fall into the same traps.

0622_lifestyle_boringmeeting_630x420

Illustration by Andrew Joyner on Businessweek.com

Here are five of the most common, along with some tips on how to avoid them.

  1. Failing to engage emotionally : Try opening with a story your audience can relate to, for example, or including analogies that make your data more meaningful.
  2. Asking too much of your slides: Create handouts from all that text you’ve pulled off your slides and moved into “notes.”
  3. Trotting out tired visuals:  Brainstorm lots of visual concepts — and throw away the first ones that came to mind.
  4. Speaking in jargon:  If they can’t follow your ideas, they won’t adopt them.
  5. Going over your allotted time:  There’s nothing worse than a presentation that seems like it will never end.

Read more at http://goo.gl/jE9dq

The good listener

15/08/2013 /

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” Mark Twain

Listening is not the same as hearing: in order to listen effectively you need to use more than just your ears. The 10 principles to become a good listener are:

1. Stop talking
2. Prepare yourself to listen
3. Put the speaker at ease
4. Remove distractions
5. Empathise
6. Be patient
7. Avoid personal prejudice
8. Listen to the tone
9. Listen for ideas – not just words
10. Wait and watch for non-verbal communication

 
 
 
listen
 
image source: Lysh Thinks
 
 
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