Four Steps for Conducting Challenging Conversations

Last week, I posed some questions you should ask yourself before initiating a challenging conversation. Now that you’ve had some time to prepare yourself for the conversation, here is a four-step process that will help you navigate through the most difficult conversations to a successful conclusion. However, keep in mind, no conversation will be successful if both parties aren’t […]

Six Tips for Better Nonverbal Communication

When I started the Practical Communication Blog, my second post was entitled, “What You Don’t Know About Nonverbal Communication Can Hurt You.” In it, I discussed the importance of understanding the powerful role nonverbal communication plays in our interactions. Today, I want to share five nonverbal communication tips taken from my book “Practical Communication: 25 Tips, […]

Stop Beating a Dead Horse: 5 Reasons You Should Stop Using Cliches (and Idioms)

At the end of the day, the bottom line with communication is to create a win-win situation between you and your audience. In a nutshell, you want to communicate your message clearly. Okay, how many clichés have you counted so far? According to Dictionary.com, a cliché is, “A trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, […]

The First Step in a Successful Job Search: Believe in Yourself

Whether you’re a first-time job seeker or a seasoned, professional job hunter, the first step toward getting the position you deserve is believing in yourself. My friend and colleague Monique Solomon Spence, Executive Recruiter and Business Coach, and President of Spence Staffing Solutions (www.spencestaffingandcoachingsolutions.com), offers the following tips for job seekers.   Believe in Yourself “This is […]

10 Tips for Improving Self-Esteem

When my college interpersonal communication class last met, we discussed the role of self-perception, in the communication process. Part of self-perception is self-esteem, which according to our class text is a person’s evaluation of his or her competence and personal worthiness. Although you’ve probably never thought about how your self-esteem affects your communication, it plays a role in every relationship […]

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