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High Impact Communication: Tips to Fast Track Your Career

Guest post by: Peter deLisser

Article Overview: This article describes tips that were presented in a business association's Strategic Solutions Workshop. It provides Three Quick tips, Three Career Essentials, Mandatory Communitcation Skills, and Action Plans to Fast Track a Career

High Impact Communication: Tips to Fast Track Your Career

Here are the tips presented in a recent business association's Strategic Solutions Workshop. 1. Three Quick Tips:

Tip #1, we spend 10% of our time presenting to senior managers. We'd better be good. Answer questions directly. Provide only the information they ask for. Careers have been side- tracked because senior management "remembers" he didn't answer my questions, she seemed to ramble, lacked focus.

Tip#2, we spend 40% of our time managing subordinates. Stories about "how we micro-manage," we "intimidate," we "talk down," we "don't delegate" may stop a career.

Tip #3, managing meetings requires disciplined time allocation - planning 50%, conducting 15%, follow-up 35%. People remember whether the meeting accomplished its stated objectives, whether one person dominated the air time. Participants spread the word to fellow employees. Each of the 10-12 people in the meeting describe the results to 3 or 4 friends who are their friends. Everybody knows who ran or didn't run an effective meeting. By the end of the day 300 people know about the quality of the meeting.

2. Three Career Essentials:

First, know your communication strengths and respect the strengths of others. Our behavioral clues may be we are "insistent, straight forward, urgent, focused, goal driven." The person we are talking to may be "methodical, systematic, reserved, cautious and structure driven." Communications will breakdown unless we tune in on each other's wavelengths. Our communication strengths are not better; just different.

Second, we need to identify the quality of each conversation we are in. Are we treating each other as equals - respectful, logical, congruent - words, tone of voice and gestures are clear; or as unequals - disrespectful, emotional, incongruent. If either person communicates in an unequal way ("I'm smarter," "I have the power," "I'm in control"), information exchanged is tainted and trusting relationships are at risk.

Third, set personal standards for conducting each conversation. One standard is to agree to a mutual time commitment before we start a conversation - "Do you have 15 minutes for this conversation. I think we can finish it in that time frame or do you need more time." The second standard is to know how to exit or change a difficult conversation. We have a right to avoid a conversation in which we are being mistreated. "I'm uncomfortable with this conversation," "I need to take a break," "I'm not use to being yelled at. If this continues, I'll have to leave."

3. One Mandatory Skill:

Want to shift a career into high gear? Want to put a career on a fast track. Learn and demonstrate an ability to listen. When asked to rate ourselves as effective listeners, most of us say "65% or better." Truth is only 5% of us have ever taken a skilled course in listening. As Will Rogers says, "trouble with people is not what we know. It's what we know that ain't so." We think we are good listeners and the truth is we have no idea how to do it! The essential information we need to get from others depends on whether they trust us or not. Who do we trust that doesn't listen to us? No one. Want to build a trusting relationship? Want to get essential information to make important decisions? Learn how to listen. Hire people who listen to us.

4. Action Plans to Fast Track A Career:

Design an Action Plan for the next six months. Plan to get the materials needed (books, audio and video tapes, etc.) Hire a coach or attend workshops for areas most vital to your career advancement. Here they are:

- master skills for presenting in meetings to senior management.

- spend 50% of time planning meetings we run, then 35% follow-up on agreed upon objectives.

- search out a motivational style inventory - Personal Insight Inventory, Myers Briggs, Disc - It is essential to know our communication strengths - and those of others. Our greatest strength is always one greatest weakness. We need to be aware!

- seek out people who listen well. Study their methods. Listening is the most researched communication skill and least studied. Most libraries have books. Distribution companies have films. This is a skill we'll have to dig to find and practice.

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Article Tags: business associations, career essentials, communication tips, Fast Track Career, Mandatory Skill, strategic solutions



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