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Tag: communication (Page 1 of 3)

Top 10 digital photography tips

03/02/2023 /

In today’s communication, pictures and photographs are more and more crucial for an effective result, both on the web and on paper.

Whether you are a beginner or more experienced with photography, here are some tips that will help you improve your photography:

  1. Use the Rule of Thirds
  2. Avoid Camera Shake
  3. Learn to use the Exposure Triangle
  4. Use a Polarizing Filter
  5. Create a Sense of Depth
  6. Use Simple Backgrounds
  7. Don’t Use Flash Indoors
  8. Choose the Right ISO
  9. Pan to Create Motion
  10. Experiment with Shutter Speed

And, finally, remember that is always better to invest more in learning and less on gear. You can take stunning photos that you’ll be proud of, even with a modest digital camera fitted with its standard zoom lens. But you can’t take such great photos without understanding the basics.

Take your digital photography to the next level with the full article.

Image: Photography – Evan (CC BY-ND 2.0) 

Six tips to write effective email

06/11/2019 /

Emails are the most common way of today professional communication. The average office worker receives around 80 emails each day.

To write effective emails, first ask yourself if you should be using email at all. Sometimes, it might be better to pick up the phone. Make your emails concise and to the point. Only send them to the people who really need to see them, and be clear about what you would like the recipient to do next.

In this article you will find 6 operative and essential tips in order to write effective emails:

  1. Don’t overcommunicate: before you begin writing an email, ask yourself: “Is this really necessary?”;
  2. Make good use of the subject line: it should grab the reader attention and summarize the email content;
  3. Keep message clear and brief: keep your sentences short and to the point. The body of the email should be direct and informative, and it should contain all pertinent information;
  4. Be polite:  the messages you send are a reflection of your own professionalism so be always polite;
  5. Check the tone: Think about how your email “feels” emotionally. If your intentions or emotions could be misunderstood, find a less ambiguous way to phrase your words;
  6. Proofreading: before you sending, take a moment to review your email for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes.

Image: Pixabay – Geralt (CC Creative Commons)

Getting around the limits of empathy

14/07/2016 /

Although empathy is considered to be at the heart of several crucial sectors – from product development to customer service, including also leadership, failing to recognise its limits can impair individual and organisational performance.

As Adam Waytz brilliantly describes in its article there are three main problems you can run into when dealing with empathy, and luckily three valid recommendations for getting around them.

Problem #1: It’s exhausting

Being an heavy-duty cognitive task empathy depletes our mental resources.

Several studies on health and human professionals, as well as those who work for charities and other non profits, show that empathy is exhausting, in any role in which it’s a primary aspect of the job.

Problem #2: It’s zero-sum

Empathy doesn’t just drain energy and cognitive resources – it also depletes itself.

The more empathy we devote to one aspect of our life, for example our job, the less is left for others (family for instance). Moreover the zero-sum problem leads to another type of trade off: empathy toward insiders – people in our team or organisation- can limit our capacity to empathise with people outside our circles.

Problem #3: It can erode ethics

Empathy can cause lapses in ethical judgment. Extreme loyalty toward insiders may push us to take their interests as our own and to overlook transgressions, or even worse to behave badly ourselves. With actions like cheating or stealing to benefit those in the immediate circle people put empathy for a few before justice for all.

So how to rein in a land of excessive empathy?

As a manager there are a number of things you can do to mitigate these problems.

1. Split up the work

2. Make it less of a sacrifice

3. Give people breaks

Despite its limitations, empathy is essential at work.Understanding and responding to the needs, interests and desires of human beings involves some of the hardest work of all. Managers shouldlook for ways to give employees breaks,Encourage individuals to take time to focus on their interests alone. When people feel restored they’re better able to perform the demanding task of listening to what others need.

Empathy

Image source: Flickr – AleKsa MX (CC-BY 2.0)

 

 

Image source: https://locallocale.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/empathy-schmimpathy-why-bother-nathan-mctague-empathy-parenting-advice/

5 sentences to get what you want

23/06/2016 /

Certain words and phrases have surprising power to influence your listener and are particularly helpful at getting the desired response.

“They increase our effectiveness in communicating clearly and up our ability to get what we want,” says famous writer Wendy Capland.

Let’s try some phrases Capland suggests and see if they make a difference:

1. What I heard you say is …

People are more likely to listen to you if they feel they themselves have been listened to.

2. Help me understand …

Rather than jumping to the conclusion, you’re wisely pausing to get all the facts.

3. Would you be open to the possibility …

It softens the request and allows the listener to take the next step.

4. My request is …

The more specific you are about what you want and when, the likelier you are to get it.

5. I’m not sure, but let me get back to you in …

Much better than “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

Read more here.

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Image source: Quotesgram

 

Speak beyond words!

17/05/2016 /

You don’t speak with your mouth: you speak with your body, too.

Or rather: your body speaks for you. Your body’s movements and positions express your thoughts and feelings. Your facial expressions communicate information. Also, body positions affect attitude.This happens silently and often mechanically.

Body language does not have a real grammar. The first step is to become aware of it. For this to happen, you have to practice. Here are some tips:

  1. Do not gesture above your shoulders.
  2. Talk more with your hands.
  3. Watch your eyes (eye contact is important).

Interesting? Find more here.

Hands

Image: Flickr – Francesca Solaro (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

How to talk so others will listen

03/05/2016 /

A post published on the Coaching Positive Performance blog stresses the importance of communication skills as a pivotal part of everyday life.

It highlights 7 essential communication skills which will improve the quality and effectiveness of our communication in order to deliver a clear and specific message to our audience:

  1. Be complete
  2. Be concise
  3. Be considerate
  4. Get your facts right
  5. Be clear
  6. Be courteous
  7. Keep it appropriate

The post also suggests to master communication skills with a simple but powerful guide to communicating with confidence.

Read more here.

listen

Image: Flickr – Britt Reints (CC BY 2.0)

15 ingredients to be (emotionally) wealthy

07/04/2016 /

Sherrie Campbell in a post for the blog “Entrepreneur“ investigates a particular area of life which, if fully developed, may lead to everlasting happiness and success.

Sherrie’s thoughts could be considered as a recipe! You can imagine emotional wealth as a well-prepared dish to impress your loved one and each ingredient needs to be carefully picked!

Here are the ingredients:

1.Confidence is like the salt we put in boling water to cook pasta

2.Resilience is like the cooking pot

3.Keep looking forward is refraining from testing  during the preparation

4.Don’t compromise yourself: if you don’t like molecular cuisine, don’t do it!

5.Faith: believe in yourself and your abilities: the object of your desire will be satisfied!

6.Maturity: be patient, and choose no shortcuts (no frozen pizza, pre-packed sushi or home-delivered chinese, please!)

7.Discerning: proportion and quality of ingredients are always better than quantity, just as friends

8.Reality: you cook what you really want: no trendy recipes!

9.Readiness: put your cooking tools on the working board,

10.Self-preservation: you know when to stop cooking and have a sip of wine

11.Value time: or your soufflè will deflate…..

12.Have limits: no red wine with lobster, please!

13.Altruism: you cook for your loved one, not for your own glory

14.True to yourself: see n. 8!

15 Create happiness: it’s not a given, it’s an happiness-generator

For the full article read here

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Image source: Flickr – Anders Sandberg – (CC BY 2.0)

 

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