Let’s face it, most people love to talk more than they like to listen. The squeaky wheel gets the grease after all, right? In fact, everything we learn from the time we’re young reinforces the value of talk over listening. We wait for baby’s first word, bribing and cajoling them to say something … anything […]
I was presenting a customer service program last week when a participant asked how to handle customers who continued to talk on their cell phones while she tried to help them. “Isn’t that rude?” she asked. She was obviously a nicer person than I am, since she had to ask. Of course it’s rude, disrespectful, […]
If honesty is the best policy, why is so difficult to be truly honest? Here are 5 tips for sharing your truth in a way others can hear it.
Every time I teach a “Making Meetings Work” workshop, I ask the group, “How many of you enjoy going to meetings?” Can you guess how many hands go up? You’re right — none! Since so many of us don’t like to go to meetings, I think we’ve developed some bad habits as a subconscious rebellion. Unfortunately, […]
Technical expertise isn’t enough to ensure career success. You must have excellent communication skills to achieve career longevity.
Over the years, I’ve discovered that there are two types of people when it comes to the issue of accountability. The first is the accountable person. This is the person who is self aware and understands his or her role and responsibility in a problem situation. The accountable person is someone who learns and grows […]
Most of the conflict I have experienced in my life, both first and second hand, has not been the result of factual disagreement, but of differing perceptions. Every day we interact with others, “notice” their behavior, and then proceed to draw conclusions about what it is, what it means, etc. Our interpretations, and thus our […]
Any parent can tell you the most annoying question kids ask is, “Why?” Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why do I have to take a bath? Although it may sometimes feel like kids ask these questions merely to annoy us, kids ask them because they’re trying to understand their world. […]
As January is a time for reflection on the past and planning for the future, I decided to go back through every blog post I’ve written since I began the Practical Communication Blog on May 31, 2011. In reviewing where my blog began and thinking about where it’s going, I came across this particular post […]
Last week, I targeted advice givers and provided tips for offering advice in a way that makes it more palatable to the receiver. However, I know that not every advice giver reads my blog and even those who do will struggle to keep their opinions to themselves. Therefore, I thought I should follow-up this week […]
