Career Advice: Improve Your Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively is the most important skill for building your career. As you interact with your clients and colleagues, the way you communicate speaks volumes about your professionalism, and it allows you to forge powerful connections that will take your career to the next level. It is important to remember, however, that good communication involves more than just the ability to speak eloquently. Keep these strategies in mind as you work on your communication skills, and you will notice improvements in every area of your career.

Focus on Listening

Too often, communication breaks down because people are too distracted to listen. Although it's tempting to try to guess what the other speaker is going to say next or plan your response, it is important to stay focused throughout the other person's speech. Avoid staring out the window or glancing at your phone. Instead, look directly at the other person and make it your goal to hear every word they say.

Show Interest

People enjoy talking to people who give them a favorable response and showing interest in the other person is essential for building relationships with clients. In fact, a simple smile or nod as they talk can prompt them to provide you with more insight into their preferred style of financial management. While you do not have to agree with everything a person says, it does help to show that you are genuinely trying to understand their perspective.

Pay Attention to Nonverbal Cues

Body language can often reveal far more than a person's words. Yet, you can also give off the wrong signals if your body language does not match the impression you want to convey. Make sure to maintain a calm, relaxed posture. Avoid crossing your arms or leaning back casually in your chair. Instead, lean toward the person who is speaking and make eye contact so they know you are fully involved in the conversation.

Ask for a Preferred Method of Communication

Everyone has a preferred way to communicate and tapping into a person's preferences will show you care while also getting you faster responses. During your initial meeting with someone, ask how they prefer to communicate. You may also notice when a client ignores your voicemails but quickly responds to an email. When this happens, switch your main method of communication to reflect their preference.

Provide Feedback

Misunderstandings are one of the biggest breakdowns in communication that can occur. For this reason, it is best to end every conversation with clarification of what has been discussed. Rephrase what the other person has said and ask questions about anything you do not understand. This gives the other person an opportunity to correct anything that may have been misinterpreted.

Improving your communication skills will bolster your career by eliminating misunderstandings and allowing you to build stronger professional relationships. As you work on this critical career skill, remember that communication strategies are always a work in progress. Treat each new contact as an opportunity to continue improving your ability to communicate and you will see results in the favorable responses you receive from your clients and colleagues.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Career-Advice:-Improve-Your-Communication-Skills&id=9480410

Three Questions That Can Help Reduce Angry Reactions at Work

Managing our angry reactions in the workplace is crucial to maintaining harmony in the company as well as balancing our business and personal lives. Everyone encounters situations at work that make them angry. What are your triggers?

Is it a Micro-managing boss? An annoying complaining co-worker that always get their way? Perhaps it's those redundant reports that are required which could be eliminated with one quick memo, but instead take hours.

Conflict at work is inevitable, yet learning how to manage and control it, and moving through those difficult situations is critical to the success of the organization as well as your individual growth in your career.

Knowing what your anger triggers are at work is the first step towards managing your anger.

Consider making a list of the things that anger you at work over the next two weeks.

List these three questions:

What was the situation?

What exactly was it that made me angry?

What was I thinking and feeling at the time?

After two weeks review your list and look for patterns.

Consider different things you could have done to avoid the conflict.

Consider constructive ways you can change the situations that cause the problem.

One quick method to control anger is to recognize the difference between Reacting and Responding.

When we react to something, we often do so quickly and without much thought, like a reflex. Whereas if we respond, we think about our actions before we act. Reaction is a negative term, such as when the doctor says you are having a reaction to the prescribed medication, whereas if he says you are responding to the medication that is a positive sign.

The point being, if we think about the situation in advance, we can plan a positive response, as opposed to a negative reaction.

We cannot control the way others are going to act, but we can control how we respond. For example, taking an inventory of what is happening in our personal lives, the stresses we have at home, and comparing them with those we encounter at work, can help us see how both can contribute to each other. It is impossible to completely separate the two. However, understanding how they interact can help alleviate the strain each may have on the other. It is easy to see how stress from home that is carried into the office can make one more susceptible to having an angry reaction to things at work, and vice versa.

Communication is very important, both in the workplace and at home. Whereas we may not feel comfortable, nor think it is appropriate to share our personal struggles with our co-workers, just having an awareness of how one affects the other can be helpful in reducing angry reactions. Being able to objectively look at how we react or respond to circumstances at work can eliminate many instances of anger.

Knowing what contributes to our anger, what our triggers are, and having a plan for responding can help reduce incidents of anger at work, and allow us to be more productive and secure in the workplace.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Three-Questions-That-Can-Help-Reduce-Angry-Reactions-at-Work&id=9464726

How to Make Others Feel Significant

What can you do for the special people in your life? 

There’s a big difference between appreciating people and making them feel significant. Of course, you want to appreciate others. But even more than that, you need to make those important people in your life feel that they matter.

Success—both personally and professionally—is hard to achieve without others who fill gaps for you and support you. There is rarely an exception to this. Think of people in your life. Who has really impacted your career and your family? Do you make those people feel as if they’re irreplaceable? Do you brag on them in the presence of others? Do you give them credit for all they do for you? Do you ask for their opinions on things important to you and to the success of your company? Do you tell them how much you value their advice? Are you interested in the things they care about?

I have a note on my phone where I’ve written the names of the special people in my life. Next to their names, I noted what’s most important to them. By understanding their needs, I can help them win. When I help them win, I show them how valuable they are to me.

What are you doing to make your clients feel special and significant? I have what I call the “black card” standard of services that comes with special treatment. We pick up our clients and drive them to our meetings, create a spa-like atmosphere in the restrooms, have an outside lounge where people can gather at break times, offer healthy snacks and drinks, print their boarding passes, and sometimes even wash their vehicles if they’ve driven themselves. We want our clients to feel like we are their concierge service; this is one way we show them that they really matter to  us.

How about your family? Do you go the extra mile to make your spouse and children feel important to you? Do you listen to them, value their input, compliment them often and do special things for them? I take thousands of pictures of my family every year and spend hours putting together albums on CDs so we can enjoy the memories together. When family members see how much time I put into these albums, they know how much they matter to me. I take them on vacations and go out of my way to make every birthday and milestone event special. People blossom when they feel loved.

How can you do the same for the people you care about?

http://www.success.com/article/how-to-make-others-feel-significant