develop³

Communication 101

 have posted several articles on effective communication and worked with many different organisations that recognise the need to improve their internal communication.  In each instance there is a perceived need to find some magical solution that will lift the effectiveness of communication.  Unfortunately there is not a magical solution, but if you remember the basics and use that knowledge you will improve the way you communicate.

Delivering the Tough Message – Necessary Update

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article on Delivering the Tough Message and I used real life examples to explain the 5 Rules of Delivering the Tough Message.  Today I want to post an update to that article.  Why an update?  Well, I heard first hand disturbing story from a company that messed up on the key rules.  Unfortunately this was one of the companies from the first article.

In Difficult Times, Remember Maslow

In working with different organisations I notice a strange phenomenon that kicks in when trading conditions are tough – managers forget how to manage.  At these times it is worth remembering Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how this applies to management.

Delivering the Tough Message

The current economic climate is tough, that's not news.  In these tough times we see more and more companies making cuts and reductions in headcount.  Reducing headcount is a difficult business decision but it is an even more difficult message to deliver from one person to another.  Yet it is a fact of business and something all managers and organisations should be very capable of doing effectively.

Two recent situations and one past experience remind me of how not to deliver a tough message and what the people involved could've done better.

Presenting Pt 3 – Ditch the Slides

You’ve been asked to deliver a presentation.  What’s the first thing you do?

Open PowerPoint, choose your template and look at the first slide.  You take a moment and then enter your name on the first slide and perhaps a title.  You pause for another moment and maybe add a slide with the title ‘Agenda’.  Then there is of course there is the final slide, you add that too.  All along you want your presentation to stand out, to be great, to be memorable.  If you really do want your presentation to stand out and be memorable you need to ditch the slides.

IQ - Not So Smart

How do you measure intelligence?  What is a measure of intelligence?  IQ is often used as a measure of intelligence and in fact it is often use by some people as some sort of badge of honour demonstrating how intelligent they are.  But does IQ really demonstrate intelligence?  Well no, it doesn’t.

How To Be Successful

In most walks of life people want to be successful or have some degree of success.  Pretty much everyone has success in varying forms whether that is personally, professionally, privately or publically.  But what makes someone successful, more importantly what makes someone more successful in a specific field or discipline than someone else?

Customer Service the City Inn Way – Follow-up

A few weeks ago I shared a personal customer service experience I’d had at the City Inn hotel in Birmingham.  Recently I went back to the hotel and this is the update.

The hotel was busy, it appeared there was at least one function and the hotel looked full.  Despite this the service from every member of staff I encountered was excellent – professional, courteous, efficient and human (they took time to talk to us).

The hotel manager had left a personal handwritten note in our room thanking us for returning and adding his number should we have any questions or issues.  We had none.

The hotel and its staff exceeded our expectations and made us feel valued.  We will recommend the hotel to anyone and I would certainly recommend the hotel chain.

It was a great example of recovering from a poor customer service situation, starting from a negative point, and turning it round so that we left as promoters of the hotel and the hotel group.

Thanks to Stephen and the team at City Inn Birmingham.

Presenting Pt 2 – Acronyms, Abbreviations and Terminology (maybe not that bad after all)

Acronyms, abbreviations and terminology – none of these are inventions of modern life; they’ve been around as long as the spoken word.  Why do we use them?  Well we use acronyms to help us remember terms, abbreviations for convenience so we don’t need to keep repeating a string of words and terminology is useful when talking about subjects in a specific field or discipline.  But how about using them in presentations?

Most books or training sessions tell you never to use terminology, always avoid jargon, cut out all acronyms and explain all abbreviations.  Often this is good sound advice and it is advice I would also give unless…

Presenting Pt 1 – Don’t Forget To Tell Your Story

Presenting is something that most people have to do at least once or twice in their career; often it is something that most have to do in one way or another on a regular basis.  I am regularly asked to run some form of programme that will help develop or improve their presentation skills.  Each programme I run always have the same key message – tell your story.