What Causes People to Shut Down and Disengage From Conversation?

Due to the power differential between leaders and their team members, leaders must learn not only how to tolerate criticism, but also to restrict their criticism of others. When we are criticized, we feel like our bodies are under attack. This fear or panic causes our prehistoric, reptilian brain to flood with blood. Rational thought is restricted, and, instead, we concentrate on our bodily impulses: fight or flight. A “flooded” person (whether it is the leader or a team member) is of little use when there is a problem to be solved.

Love your Coworkers

Love your coworkers and improve your workplace.

Corporate Event Planning - Planning A Meeting - Getting Started

A checklist that outlines the key items to focus on when you decide to plan a meeting.

Learning Style Based Training in a Corporate Atmosphere

Biologically, every person has a preference for the way they learn. Training in a corporate atmosphere traditionally does not foster to these differences. This article offers advice on how to cater towards the learning styles in a business place so that every employee functions at their most effective state.

Self-Serving Letters and Emails

Getting timely responses can be tough. Use self-serving communication. Make someones inaction, instead of their action, give you the answer you need.

Fundamentals of Communication

Most of the verbal communicating you do is from one individual to another. This is true whether you're in a family, social, or a work setting. One-on-one verbal communication affords the greatest opportunity for precision, because immediate feedback can tell you whether you were understood accurately. But communicating effectively involves more than just accuracy. The purpose of most communication is to influence the attitudes and behaviors of those whom we address.

Give a 'Pat-on-the-Back' For a Job Well Done

How can I praise others? See their ACTIONS as positive? Give a 'pat-on-the-back' for a job welldone. Become the Encourager - praise when due - be positive - then write down what happens as a result of your NEW attitude as a business cheerleader in your company.

Giving Feedback - How Do It In The Right Way

Do you find it difficult to express your feelings in a constructive way at work? Here are some tips and a framework to help you.

Employee Communication: The Secret to Business Success

Business surveys consistently show us that poor workplace communication is a major source of employee dissatisfaction. The repercussions of this include not just low employee morale. Employee productivity suffers, along with a range of other business performance indicators. Are you looking in the right places in fixing your organization’s communication problems?

The Personality of Business: Manage Your Style for Greater Success

While gaps in hard skills, like understanding a balance sheet, are relatively easy to identify and fill in, it’s often quite difficult to pinpoint the personal assumptions and beliefs that can limit effectiveness. An individual's personality style includes strengths that when over-used can narrow perception and result in habitual ways of reacting that may not be the best choice for all situations. Becoming aware of limiting patterns makes it possible to learn new ways of thinking that offer a more balanced perspective.

Are Smileys Appropriate in Professional Emails?

When email first began, users discovered a problem. Concise statements and words on a computer monitor didn't communicate emotion or intent very well...

The Power of Storytelling -- How to Use It in the Business World

Every company and business has great stories. We need to hear them, tell them and internalize them. The biggest challenges, however, are convincing others of the power of storytelling and the impact it can have in the business world. How can we do this?

Transforming Conversations

The important conversations that can have the most impact are the ones that people avoid. They may know the conversation needs to happen but hope that somebody else will initiate it or feel it’s not my job, or want to wait until the time is right. They make an attempt to have the conversation but sidestep the important issues. The question is; how much talking is happening in your organization?