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Poor Communication Can Impact Work Culture and Performance

February 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Regardless of the industry or the type of job, finding someone who feels their boss does not communicate well with them is more common then you may think. Ask ten friends and I am confident that you will run across someone who feels that their boss is not responsive to their needs. Some feel like their boss does not listen to them, or does not value what they have to say. This can affect the bottom line of the department, business or organization. How? Well the employee who feels this way may feel disconnected and not put forth their best effort at work. They may feel that what they do at work does not matter or make a difference. This ultimately results in the employee not being as productive or motivated as one whose supervisor is interested.

If you are the boss and your staff feels this way, you are having an adverse impact on the revenue of the company. This can be a major problem especially if your business is in a highly competitive market. How do you make a course correction in your behavior? Slow down. A number of times there is a breakdown in communication between people because one is processing information faster than the other. Talking to the other person in passing may be perceived as rude or uncaring. I recommend that you stop and take the time to engage the other person. Do not interrupt them, let them complete their thought. Practice active listening by summarizing the conversation which will allow for better communication.

If you are the employee and you feel like your boss is not doing a good job of communicating with you, you have a few options. Set up an appointment to meet with your boss to discuss improving mutual communication. Remember communication is a two way street and works best when both people are willing to meet each other half way. If your boss is too busy to meet with you, write down the idea or issue and send it to them in an email with suggested times you are free. You never know when a meeting is cancelled and your boss, knowing your availability may ask you to come in at a moment’s notice. This way you are prepared because you previously sent the email.

Being aware of the other person’s needs, expressing the desire to improve communication and taking positive steps to improve communication are the signs of a good leader. Regardless of your position, boss or employee improving communication will be to your advantage and will have a positive impact in the workplace culture of your company.
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Filed Under: Business, communication, Leadership, Relationship Tagged With: , , ,

Can We Trust What You Say?

December 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When you tell someone that you are going to do something do you do it? Can you be trusted?

This might seem like a strange question to ask but it gets right to the heart of developing a good working relationship. When you work with someone else in your office, on a team or with a customer you want to establish a trusting relationship. One of the best ways to do this is by keeping your word.

When I was a little boy my Great Grand Mother, Lily Lace taught me the importance of doing what I said I would do. She said, “People will see that you do what you say and they will trust you.” These words of wisdom I have proven to be true throughout my life and I thought that it was important enough to share with you.

Too many times you will run across people that say, “I’ll call you later.” And never do. Or “I’d be happy to help you with that tomorrow” and they cannot be found when you need them. Some might argue with me that this is an issue of being dependable. I believe that they are only half right. Being honest and dependable is part of it but, it all begins with one word, trust.

Can we trust what you say?

If the answer is yes, you are on your way to establishing a trusted work relationships. If the answer is sometime, then we need to work on that. Why? Because people do business with people that they know, like and trust. If people do not trust you they will not do business with you. This means that if you only do what you say you will do sometimes that people will not trust you in the long run. Is this worth losing business? If your answer is no, then I would suggest that you consider coaching to help you in this process.

Why get coaching?

Just like with any behavior change, if you are serious about making a permanent change in a short period of time that you can sustain over the long haul then you need to have a coach. This person will keep you on track and provide the support and encouragement to be successful.

At Inspired Communications LLC we provide coaching and support for this and a number of leadership and management challenges. If you are looking for coaching in this or another area please complete our contact form with the best time to reach you and we will start the conversation.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Relationship, Team Work Tagged With: , , ,

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up

June 28, 2010 by 14 Comments

When we were little kids we had all kind of ideas of what we wanted to be but very few of us ended up being that person.  Some wanted to be a fireman, doctor, nurse, teacher why, because those were the people we came in contact with.   The truth is we should have looked at what we enjoyed doing to as children and pursued that.

Is it too late to do now?  Of course not but you need to be focused in the process.  It will take a little reflection and memory searching to find out what you enjoyed.  An easy way to speed up the process is to ask people who are old enough to remember what you enjoyed.  That person might have been an uncle, parent, or grandparent, make sure it is someone who spent a lot of time with you growing up.

Tap into that knowledge and use it to your best advantage.  After you discover what you enjoyed apply it to your current life and think of how that would apply.  One of the things that helped me in this process was the book Strength Finders 2.0.  Reading this book and taking the test in the back will reveal your top 5 strengths.  You want to make sure that you purchase the book new, because the test in the back of the book is only good to use once. With this information you can take an objective look at your life and discover how you can apply your strengths.

Working from a position of strength makes you more productive and confidant.  You feel empowered when you are using your strengths.  Do not spend time on your weaknesses.  You may have to develop a process to manage them but do not spend time trying to improve them.  You will get more leverage by spending time focused of developing your strengths.

I would be happy to help you in your strength finding journey.  I recommend that you purchase the book and give me a call after you have taken the test.  Send me an e mail or a message on my contact form to tell me what your top 5 strengths are.  I would be happy to work with you.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Your Talents Tagged With: , , , , ,

Food For Thought

June 24, 2010 by 4 Comments

Have you ever heard of a business allowing a competitor to come into their physical plant and run their business out of the same physical plant?  Well that is exactly what Mr. Lawrence Hackney owner of the Wood Pit BBQ restaurant did.  A fellow competitor, James Turner, who owned a restaurant and catering business in Newark, New Jersey, saw his business go up in smoke as a result of a fire which started next door to his restaurant.   Mr. Turner had clients like Prudential that he had contacted to serve and no place to do business.

Mr. Tuner first found refuge in a church kitchen in Newark, but it did not have a smoker and his specialty is smoked BBQ.  In stepped a retired municipal court judge, Ernest R. Booker who frequented both BBQ restaurants.  Mr. Booker informed Mr. Hackney of the fire that Mr. Turner had experienced and wondered if he would consider helping Mr. Turner out.  Mr. Hackney reached out to Mr. Turner and said “Listen, I have a barbecue pit and two smokers. You’re welcome to smoke your meats.”  This began an unlikely pairing of two competitors working together in harmony for the better good.  You can read more  about this story at New Jersey.com

Why share this story?  To illustrate a point that we all know about but rarely see in the business world today, genuine care and concern for one another even if that person is a competitor.  As leaders in the organizations and companies which we have responsibility for leading this would be considered counter intuitive, but I would like to challenge you to look at this from a different prospective.  Not the prospective of destroying your competitor but rather partnering and growing with your competitor.

Partnering with a competitor in today’s economy will not only help save jobs and reduce unemployment but it also says something about you as an individual and the mission of your company.  Having more competition in the market place makes our economy stronger and will ultimately result in a wider variety of products going to market.  I believe that we have to stop thinking about limitations as leaders of companies and organizations but rather look at the possibilities of alternatives never attempted before.

Following the example of The Wood Pit owner, Mr. Lawrence Hackney, we all would benefit if businesses looked for opportunities to partner with businesses which may suffer the loss of closing down permanently.  The fact that this is not usually done, but it feels right to do is the reason that we should.  This is why my mastermind group decided to meet at The Wood Pit BBQ Restaurant.   We learned about the story from one of our members Pat Ferdinandi and thought that this would be an excellent place for us to meet.  You see in our master mind group we are all speakers so you might think that we are in competition.  This could not be further from the truth.  We share information with each other in an effort to make us better in our own speaking businesses.

This may sound counter intuitive, but it really is not.  We believe there are a number of clients who can benefit from our individual services and topics.  We improve individually by providing the best information in our own unique styles to our clients.  So we are not really in competition, because we are all individuals with our own unique way of presenting.    The advantage of sharing information allows us to reduce our learning curve through our own unique experiences that we openly share with each other.  This is the same thing that Mr. Hackney did with Mr. Turner.

I would like to leave you with this food for thought.  What kind of city state or country would we have if every business realized that they would benefit from a collaborative working relationship with potentially faltering competitors?  Just take a moment to think about this question.  If you live anywhere near Montclair, NJ I would urge you to visit The Wood Pit BBQ Restaurant.   It is worth the trip, some of the best BBQ I have ever had, and the sauce is out of this world.  Besides, a leader who willingly would help competitor in the same line of business is running a business that we all should support.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Relationship, Speaking, Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

Daily Goals – Do You Have Them?

June 14, 2010 by 6 Comments

So many of us talk about the goals that we have and that is it.  It does not go any further, it is just talk.  I suffer from the same problem so I know what I am talking about 😉 .   If you suffer from the same problem no need to worry.  I would like to share a strategy that you can use to address this problem.

Writing down your goals makes them real and not just a dream that you have.  Putting a date to the goal makes it a focused goal that you can work toward.  We have all heard that goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely but writing it down brings it to life.

So let’s talk about the things you accomplished today.  Those are goals that you reached.  Why don’t you write those accomplishments down on paper so you can see them?  It is good to look at them and realize the number of accomplishments you completed today.  In our fast paced world we don’t spend the time acknowledging our accomplishments.  Please take the time before you eat dinner to write down your accomplishments for the day, when you do please include those things that you did not have a chance to complete today.  These unmet goals are opportunities for tomorrow’s success.  Make sure you write a to do list or a goal sheet and pursue them for tomorrow.  Do not feel bad about not reaching those goals.  Develop a plan and go out tomorrow and make it happen.

Filed Under: Leadership, Video, Your Talents Tagged With: , , ,

Leadership in Toastmasters

June 13, 2010 by 2 Comments

Looking for an opportunity to become a leader?  Consider joining a Toastmasters Club.  Toastmasters is an International Organization that helps members become better communicators and leaders.   To be honest, I believe Toastmasters is the best kept secret for anyone who is  determined to improve themselves, willing to work and not afraid to leave their comfort zone.

I joined Toastmasters because I was deathly afraid of speaking in public and it was something I had to do more of as a Director of an Admissions Office in a level one trauma center.  I will discuss my accomplishments in Toastmasters in a future posts.  But I do want to talk to you about leadership.  In a Toastmasters club there are 7 leadership positions (Club Officers) and it is their job to help the club member reach their goals.

The individual member goals help the club become a distinguished club. There are several levels of being distinguished, from distinguished to select distinguished and president distinguished.  I am currently an Area Governor in my Toastmaster District and responsible for 5 clubs.  I work with the club officers to help them become distinguished.  If a club meets all 10 goals they will be president distinguished.

Last year I presented a workshop which focused on Toastmaster Club development at the Spring Conference in both New York and New Jersey.   Below is an excerpt from that presentation which focuses on the Distinguished Club Program (DCP).  There are a number of acronyms in Toastmasters.

So many times the idea of club development is a boring topic to present in a workshop so I decided to spice it up by being a Michael Jackson Impersonator (This was before Michael’s untimely death).   I preformed a different Michael Jackson song parity for each segment of my club development workshop.  Humor is one of my talents and I love to make people smile.  I hope you liked the video and if you are not a member of Toastmasters consider joining a club near you.

Filed Under: Leadership, Speaking, Toastmasters, Video, Your Talents Tagged With: , , , ,

Chairing A Conference

June 10, 2010 by 4 Comments

Last year I chaired an Anti-Racism Conference for the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.  The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey has more than 158 parishes and covers the area south of Newark to Cape May, New Jersey.  How I came about this position is really funny.  I happened not to attend a diocesan committee meeting and was selected as the conference chair.

Tip # 1 – Be sure to attend all committee meetings

I had been a committee member on the previous anti-racism conference team and had experience as the inaugural fall conference chair for the newly formed Toastmasters District 83.  One of the challenges was coordinating group meetings because the location that we met previously was not going to be available.  The rising gas prices and logistical issue prompted me to come up with alternative solutions.

Solution # 1 – Establish a free Teleconference line for the committee

Solution # 2 – Meeting time will not exceed an hour

Solution # 3 – Record conference call so people who missed the meeting could hear it

Solution # 4 – Built and internet membership site to post the recorded meetings

These solutions introduced the committee members to technology that they had not used previously.  This allowed the meetings to be more efficient and productive.    In fact this process worked so well that they have adopted this process and currently use it for meeting.

I presented the results of being an anti-racism conference chair at my local Toastmasters club as part of a high performance leadership project (HPL).   High Performance Leadership is a module project in Toastmasters in which you establish a committee, a vision, a leadership project to work through and give speeches along the way.  In the video I am presenting the results of my HPL and hope you enjoy it.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Speaking, Team Work, Toastmasters Tagged With: , , , ,

The Winds of Change

June 9, 2010 by 2 Comments

As we grow and learn each of us have to deal with the winds of change.  These winds of change can come in the form of job loss, relocation, or career change to name a few.  What the actual change in is not as important as how we react to the change.  At times we may feel overwhelmed, confused and unsure what to do next.

I suggest that when we feel that way we take inventory of ourselves.  In our hectic lives we need to take an assessment of where we are and what we have done.  What are your accomplishments?  What do you want to accomplish next?  Sometimes the winds of change blow to send us in a different direction other than the one we were planning to take.  I recommend that you take a long hard look at this change of direction and try to project the new destination.

Why not look at the winds of change as an opportunity to actually make a choice to change.  Change your point of view, your attitude, your out look on life.   I believe, if you make a choice to go with the winds of change you will be happier and you just might enjoy your new point of view.

Filed Under: Leadership, Your Talents Tagged With: , , ,

Be Flexible Explore and Develop Your Creativity

June 8, 2010 by 4 Comments

For some people the thought of being flexible give them angina.  If you are normally not open to being flexible please indulge me for a few minutes.    The reason that you get chest pain or feel uneasy at the thought of doing something different is probably out of fear.  Do you know the fear of the unknown impacts the majority of us, but it is how we react to it that makes all the difference in the world.

So let me ask you, when was the last time you did something that was totally new to you?  For example explore a place you had never been before?  If you said not in a long time or you cannot even remember then I would like to extend an invitation to you to do so as soon as possible.  Why?

Being willing to explore opens up your mind to new things and provides the opportunity for you to develop your creativity.  When you experience new things it causes your brain to think in a different way, especially if you are not use to exploring.  When we were children we explored all the time.  That was the way we learned.  As we get older a number of us became more sedentary and set in our ways.  The routine becomes the norm and we stop exploring.

Exploring is fun. There are wonders to discover if you are willing to be a little adventurous.  Don’t you want to have some fun? Have you ever seen an indoor beach with lounge chairs suspended above the Atlantic Ocean?  Well if not take a look at this video.  You will discover that and more.  Join me on a little exploration journey.

Now that you have seen this video I hope that you will be willing to become more flexible, take a risk and start exploring again.  You never know what you may discover.

Filed Under: Branding, First Impression, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

Talent Education

June 3, 2010 by 5 Comments

When we were in school we were told to follow the rules. We were all taught the same thing the same way. There was no thought given to what we all know to be true today, people have learning preferences. In fact people can look at the same problem and find different solutions. Our educational system did not reward creativity, but rewarded the ability to return one specific result to a problem as the correct answer. Our talents are connected to our creativity. Most teachers that I had in school did not encourage creative thinking.

It started as early as preschool. I was thrown out of preschool for talking too much. I was told that I would be the valedictorian of my class. I had learned my graduation speech and we were going to put on a play for our parents. My preschool teacher, Ms. Dusseldorf, suspended me because I repeat the other children’s line in the play when they did not remember them. She called my mother who took me home and spanked me (this was before there were child protective services). Needless to say I was a good little boy, never speaking out of turn from that point forward.

Kevin Thompson Pre School Graduation

On graduation day I approached the stage to say the valedictorian speech. I was told by my teacher that she choose someone else to deliver the speech since I had been suspended from class. I was hurt, dejected and returned to my seat. I watched the little boy go up to the stage to say the speech. He stood there looked out at the crowd and broke out in tears. Ms. Dusseldorf rushed him off the stage and asked me to come up deliver the speech. Speaking in public is one of my talents. But I did not rediscover it as a talent until 6 years ago. Now I am a professional speaker.

Pre-School Graduation Certificate

I share this story with you because your talent may be waiting to be discovered just like mine. Just think what progress could be made in our educational institutions if we considered valuing and developing people’s talents. Have you had a similar experience? Please feel free to share your comments below.

Filed Under: Your Talents Tagged With: , , , , ,
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