Building Relationships in the Workplace
Here are 7 seemingly obvious, but often forgotten, workplace tips to strengthen your relationships at work.
Workplace Tip: Always Keep Your Cool
Hi Gang,
Let’s get right to it, today’s workplace tip: Always keep your cool.
Now, that may seem obvious to some, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve have seen people lose their cool. I know sometimes you might think it is necessary to prove a point or to emphasize something. However, rarely is an uncontrolled outburst ever a good thing. OK, let’s dig a bit deeper.
Keeping your cool doesn’t mean sitting their quietly being stoic about everything. It does mean always being in control of your emotions and your actions. It is perfectly ok to be passionate about an idea, but resist the temptation to become overly and overtly boisterous about it. Losing your cool will cause others to avoid you and lose respect for you.
At times, in the heat of battle, voices will need to be raised and gestures will need to become exaggerated, that’s ok. We should use our voice volume, tone, and pitch to better communicate. Be conscious of your voice and how it comes across to others. Good politicians have this skill nailed. In our culture, people are more likely to respect and believe someone who speaks in a controlled manner.
The same goes for gestures. Gesturing is necessary to help you communicate and as such, keep your gestures in control. A firm fist to the table can provide emphasis to a point you are making.
Admittedly, I have lost my cool a few times and invariably I regret it later. The key is to learn from mistakes. Understand the messages you are sending. Remember, you want people to think of you as someone they would want to work for or as someone they want working for them.
Until the next workplace tip, keep moving forward, and bye for now . . .
Simplify Your Writing for Better Understanding and Clarity
While in college, recall that when you had to write a paper, the first question was usually, who many pages does it have to be? You worried about filling up the pages by writing as many words as possible. While that approach may work in the academic arena, in the workplace, you should strive to simplify your writing for better understanding and better clarity. The goal should be to communicate in as few words as possible. The key to effective writing in the workplace is being clear and concise. Unless you are writing a fictional novel, keep it short and sweet.
Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address using just 286 words, and the Declaration of Independence has 1,332 words. Yet, some folks in the workplace write a dissertation when a simple short memo or email (we used to call them memos) will do. And think about it, which would you rather read, a clear and concise memo or a convoluted two page explanation containing way too much info and not getting to the point. Chances are you probably won’t even finish reading the document, what a drag!
So, whenever you write, your objective should be communicating in as few words as possible while still conveying your thoughts. It takes practice and conscious effort.
Try rewriting a recent memo with fewer words, even one fewer is better. Take baby steps and soon you will begin to automatically edit your writing as you go.
IM101Coaching and Mentoring for Success
This is a sample of Word Smiths’ second audio CD, ‘Coaching and Mentoring for Success’. This audio package comprises two CDs, a thirty two page booklet and a range of online resources for coaches and mentors.
You can buy this product from Amazon or from our website. It’s also available in MP3 format.
Using this CD, coaches and mentors can aquire all the knowlage and understanding that they require to become more effective in the workplace.
The resource has been endorsed by OCR as being compatible with their coaching and mentoring qualifications.
Duration : 0:4:5
Workplace Tip: Don’t bad mouth or speak poorly of others.
Workplace Tip: Don’t bad mouth or speak poorly of others.
This applies whether it’s someone who works for you, a peer, or a higher level manager. See, if you speak poorly of someone who works for you, other people who work for you will think you must do the same to them when they’re not around. If it is someone at the same level as you, a peer, then again, they will think that you do that to them too.
There’s a phenomenon that you need to be aware of and if you know it, great, if you don’t, learn it, because it does exist and it certainly affects your workplace success. It is: When you speak poorly about a person to someone else, the “someone else” will process what you say about that person as if you are talking about them.
For example, if you speak poorly about a current subordinate while interviewing a job candidate, the candidate will think that if they are hired, you will do the same to them. Undoubtedly, they will be less interested in working for you. And remember, you want to be viewed as someone others want to work for.
Likewise, if you’re a candidate for a position and during the interview you speak poorly about any of your past bosses, the interviewer will think that if they hired you, you will do the same to them. Undoubtedly, they will be less interested in hiring you. And remember, you want to be viewed as someone others want working for them.
I’ll agree that sometimes others may have earned the poor reputation that you are now preaching, but your listener doesn’t always know that. They will conclude that if you speak poorly about others, then you will most likely speak poorly about them also.
Is this always fair? Well, probably not. But it is the conclusion that’s drawn. And like it or not, most of the time, it is true. So be careful about what you say about others. If some criticism slips out, follow it up immediately with something more supportive. Balance any negative statements with positive ones that outweigh the negative, always more good than bad. Because the same effect happens when you speak kindly of others, think about it.
Workplace Tip: YES and NO, Strengths and Weaknesses
Here is a workplace tip, and life tip and a career tip for that matter, for everyone. See, most people don’t have a strong enough ability to say “NO” when they should. Typically, we say yes to too many commitments and too many opportunities and too many things to do.
So, we need to think twice about taking on too many commitments, opportunities and things to do and risk losing our focus and end up getting less done and not more.
We need to realize that workplace growth and workplace success are dependent upon consciously realizing the difference between DOING THINGS and GETTING THINGS DONE. Simply stated, every time we say yes to something, some other thing gets pushed lower on the priority list.
So instead of just adding things to our list by saying YES, we need to do one of two things: either say NO or finish something already on our list then say YES. If we just say YES, knowing that something else will suffer, then we fall into the trap of just doing things instead of getting things done.
So, what types of projects, tasks, and commitments should we say YES to?
OK here’s the real nugget, the real workplace tip: we should say YES to things that utilize our strengths so we get maximum results with minimum effort. That’s called optimization.
Unfortunately, most folks don’t know what our strengths are - which leaves many in a conundrum of sorts. So, take time to not only look inside yourself and determine what you are good at, but also ask others you trust for their thoughts on what you are good at. The old adage “know thy self” never rang truer.
To be successful in the workplace we need to know what our strengths and weaknesses are. And, once we do, we need to do whatever we can to stay in those strength areas.
In other words… say “NO” sometimes.
Workplace Tips: Plan Ahead
Workplace Tip: Plan Ahead
While dealing with the here and now, always be thinking ahead.
Even though you may be steeped knee deep or even neck deep in the day-to-day events of your workplace life, and your personal life for that matter, you need to keep your eyes looking down the road to ensure you are heading in the right direction. Think about it in terms of software development, something many of you are somewhat familiar with, where the current release level might be 3.3, but you can bet that the 3.4, 3.5, and even the 4.0 release is being planned and being worked on.
Formulate the ideal picture in your mind of where you want to be and what you want to be doing at several different points down the path. Identify and acknowledge, and actually be on the lookout for, the successes, both big and small, to confirm that you are on the road to where you expect to be. Envision what your workplace life will be like at the different points along the way, and actually experience the feelings you will have at the realization of those goals.
It can sound funny, but the old saying, “see your future, be your future”, can actually help you get to the future you desire. When you have thought about and created a vision of where you want to be, your subconscious mind will continue to work on that vision, even though you may be busy with getting done with the current day’s tasks. The key is to truly create that vision and feel how you will feel when you arrive at that place.
You have probably heard these sayings before;
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
“Whatever a person can conceive, a person can achieve”
“If you don’t look, you won’t find”.
Determine your own personal mantra that strikes a cord with you helping you to take the time to plan ahead.
My final thought about this workplace tip, go ahead and write out your plans. Revisit them often, and adjust as needed. If you are anything like me, I can easily think about something and that’s all fine and good, but if I take the time to write, or type, it out, it sticks with me. The mere act of creating something physical, words on paper, from your mental activities, helps energize those thoughts into actions.
Until next time, bye for now . . .
Soft Skills in the Workplace
This video depicts scenarios in the workplace. at the end of each scenario, questions are posed to the viewer to help them with discussion points and to help them better understand how their personality and behavior are major factors in the world of work.
Duration : 0:2:19
Workplace Tips: Enhancing Business Communications 1
Course instructors, Camille Valvo, Isabel Deeble & John Baikie reveal some secrets to enhancing business communication.
For more information, contact +61 2 9080 4050, edinfo@iir.com.au , or visit: http://www.iired.com.au
Duration : 0:2:1