 Do we reward, promote and respect ultra-confident people, or doubt and distrust them? The answer: It depends on how they express it!
One way people express confidence is with words of faith in their own abilities. Another way is nonverbally, using body language and tone of voice. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Elizabeth R. Tenney, assistant professor at the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, reports that In a series of studies, researchers found that overconfidence can damage your reputation — but only if you express that confidence verbally. When you express confidence nonverbally, those negative consequences fade away. Talking about your likelihood of success by making bold predictions can backfire when results don't meet your projections. When this happens, your reputation can suffer. But communicating confidence nonverbally, can be seen as powerful and compelling: Confident people tend to speak in a louder vs soft voice, offering their own opinions, and generally conveying a larger presence. So how should you communicate confidence in a way that garners positive attention and influence in groups? According to this new research, when you express confidence verbally, your credibility may suffer. However, your expression of confidence nonverbally can be a significant advantage. The reason: nonverbal behavior is not so clearly tied to a specific, falsifiable claim as are verbal expressions. How do you evaluate whether someone seems confident, and what is your response if their results are not what you expected? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.
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 Have you ever received "feedback" that’s useless and annoying? Instead of asking for feedback, try asking for advice.
Feedback is backward looking. It is anchored in past behavior. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Dr. Amantha Imber, author of Time Wise and host of the podcast How To Work, suggests asking for advice instead. Advice-giving is a form of guidance that leads to thinking about future actions. Imber offers 4 steps to getting advice that will really help you improve:
When was the last time you asked for advice, and how did you do it? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Do you find unplanned phone calls delightful surprises or bothersome intrusions? Is it fine to call someone spontaneously, or is it impolite to call without texting first? Phone call etiquette has never been more complicated, and it is dividing friends, families and co-workers!
According to The Wall Street Journal, the debate is raging. The more entrenched texting becomes, the more people find a phone call without warning, unacceptable. Yet others find the phone-call-phobic to be rigid and even ridiculous, claiming that phone calls are never “unannounced” — the ringing is the announcement, aided by caller ID. Although exceptions exist, attitudes toward phone calls tend to cluster generationally. Those who grew up with landlines tend to see no problems with spontaneous calls. But those who have been texting since high school, or earlier, feel differently. Preference for text messaging is highest among those 18 to 24, followed by those 25 to 34, according to a December survey from YouGov. Among 2,000 white-collar professionals surveyed by recruiting firm Robert Walters in March, a mere 16% of those who are Gen Z (born between 1997-2012) thought the phone was a productive form of professional communication. They use Zoom, Slack, email or text with ease, but they’re far less likely to make or answer a phone call. So, what should you do? If you have the urge to call, consider factors such as the relationship you have with the person and whether they have expressed a preference about how to communicate. And you might want to react differently to an unannounced phone call from a salesperson than a relative. Do you prefer to be texted before someone calls you, and do you do the same for others? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Neuroscientist Glen Fox has spent his entire adult life studying gratitude. He is convinced that “grateful people tend to recover faster from trauma and injury, tend to have better and closer personal relationships and may even have improved health overall.”
The study of gratitude is a relatively recent phenomenon, and emerged from the field of positive psychology. Yet the practice of gratitude has consistently been shown to lower stress, reduce pain, boost immunity, and improve blood pressure and heart function. To find out, Fox did an experiment using brain-imaging scans to map which circuits in the brain become active when we feel grateful. “We saw that the participants’ ratings of gratitude correlated with activity in a set of brain regions associated with interpersonal bonding and with relief from stress,” he said. To up your conscious gratitude, Fox suggests keeping a gratitude journal. On a regular basis, write down what you are grateful for, even if those things seem mundane. The positive effect is cumulative so it’s a good idea to make this a habit. He also suggests writing letters of gratitude to those who have helped you along your way. Says Fox, “I think that gratitude can be much more like a muscle, like a trained response or a skill that we can develop over time as we’ve learned to recognize abundance and gifts and things that we didn’t previously notice as being important,” he said. “And that itself is its own skill that can be practiced and manifested over time.” When was the last time you actively expressed gratitude, and how did it make you feel? And what experience have you had when people shared gratitude with you? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Gen Z can take criticism, but if you deliver it the wrong way, they might leave to find a workplace that connects with them better.
Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012, is not composed of the sensitive “snowflakes” some say it is. Writing in The Washington Post, technology reporter Danielle April says, “Your youngest colleagues may be the newest to the workplace, but they have clear expectations about how they would like to receive feedback: It should be timely, collaborative, empathetic and balanced.” Experts who study the multigenerational workforce say things go awry when managers critique younger workers in ways that unintentionally alienate or discourage them. For example, it is often counterproductive to focus solely on what went wrong, fix their mistakes without a conversation, or deny them a chance to explain. Used to getting information with the speed of a click, a critique without explanation is likely to create self-doubt and engender the kind of burnout that increases turnover. Gen Zers who spoke to The Washington Post said they view work differently from other generations. They want to be themselves at work, feel that their voice matters, and that their managers are empathetic and will invest in relationships with them. Gen Z is only going to become a larger part of the workforce — they’re expected to comprise more than 32 percent by 2032, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And they’re asking employers to respect them. Have you noticed a difference in the attitudes and preferences of Gen Z workers, and how do you approach them to raise sensitive issues? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Employees crave respect, and most leaders agree it’s important. So why do so many employees feel disrespected? New research suggests that leaders don’t fully understand what respect entails.
In a recent Georgetown University’s survey of nearly 20,000 employees worldwide, respondents ranked respect as the most important leadership behavior. Yet, employees report more disrespectful and uncivil behavior each year. What accounts for this disconnect? Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Kristie Rogers, an associate professor of management at Marquette University, draws on her extensive research into the subject and advises: “In all but the most toxic workplaces, building a respectful organization does not demand an overhaul of HR policies...What’s needed is ongoing consideration of the subtle but important ways [that] respect can be conveyed.” 7 Actionable Examples Of How Respect Can Be Conveyed:
Do you think your employees feel respected, and what might you do to enhance their sense of respect? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  The “real world” doesn’t care about your college GPA, and success is really based on three essential qualities.
In a commencement speech at Kean University this May, Neil deGrasse Tyson, esteemed scientist, author, and educator, argued that five years into the future no one would give a thought to college grades, and he exhorted graduates to focus instead on three essential qualities:
What qualities do you think really matter most in one’s life and career? To join the conversation, click "comments" below because we would really like to get your feedback! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  “Big things happen during small talk,” says Matt Abrahams, Stanford instructor and host of the popular podcast, Think Fast, Talk Smart. He says "Small talk gets a bad rap", but it is actually an incredibly effective communications tool. He often challenges people to think about how many of their close friendships started with small talk – and the answer is, generally, quite a few.
“A lot of us put tremendous pressure on ourselves to be interesting," Abrahams explains. "We want to say exciting, valuable, relevant stuff, and it's the wrong mindset.” The trick, he maintains, is to lead with curiosity. He advises we think of an initial, casual conversation as akin to Hacky Sack. You serve to the other person and then they serve back to you. Good conversation is, by definition, collaboration. Some quick small talk tips:
Of course, if you're at a professional gathering, there's a chance you have a specific agenda in mind when starting a conversation, for example, looking for customers, investments, new hires, or useful information. In such cases, Abrahams says, “find hooks and ways of bridging to the topic you want to discuss so that it could become a natural part of the conversation.” Can you recall a significant business or personal relationship that began with small talk? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. We'd love to hear about your experiences! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Do you want to come off as evasive and arrogant in a job interview? If not, there are two words to avoid.
Most job interviews these days include some of what are known as ”behavioral questions.” These usually begin with phrases like, “Tell me about a time when…" or "Give me an example of…". These are designed to probe your past work experiences. Given the format, most replies job-seekers give will necessarily involve some version of the phrase "I did." What you want to avoid, conversely, is using the words “you should.” Writing In Forbes, Mark Murphy, the New York Times bestselling author whose latest book is Never Say These Words in a Job Interview, says responding with the words "you should," diverges from the personal to the impersonal, shifting the focus from your own experiences to general advice. And giving advice obscures the unique insights into your capabilities and personality that interviewers seek. Research backs this up. Murphy’s Leadership IQ study found that interview answers rated poorly by hiring managers use the word "you" almost 400% more than good interview answers. Bad interview answers also contain significantly more present and future tense verbs. Remember, the interviewer wants to learn about you and your past experience, specifically. Veering into generalities and pontifications can make your answers less relevant and less impressive. Did you ever say something you regretted in a job interview? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. c Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Have you heard that stress and pressure can push people to perform more, better, and faster? A large and growing body of research reveals a very different picture.
Not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to productivity over time, but a positive, collaborative culture leads to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line. Our own research has long maintained that communication is the freeway to culture. Writing in The Harvard Business Review, Emma Seppala, of the Yale School of Management, and Kim Cameron, of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, agree. They suggest four pathways for leaders to create a more positive culture within their organization:
What have you done recently to instill a more positive culture in your workplace? To join the conversation, click "comments" below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Have you ever said "yes" because you were afraid of being seen as uncooperative, of hurting people’s feelings, of getting others into trouble with their bosses, of missing opportunities?
Saying "yes" when you mean "no" robs you of an irreplaceable resource: your time. Refusing someone’s request is easier than you think. And, it gives you the space to agree when something is important to you. Writer Leslie Jamison used to be afraid to say no. Ultimately, she kept a notebook of all the things to which she automatically said “uh-uh”…and she learned 4 important lessons:
When was the last time you said “no”, and were you glad you did? To join the conversation, click "comments" on below. Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Kudos to leaders who practice vulnerability and make an effort to connect with their team. Here are 5 tips so that sharing does not become oversharing and make people uncomfortable.
It is best to remain “selectively vulnerable”… opening up while still respecting the emotional boundaries of your team. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, co-authors of No Hard Feelings, offer advice on how to do that:
What methods do you use to reign in extreme emotions at work? To join the conversation, click on "comments" above -- we'd love to hear about your experiences! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  Small talk is how we open conversations with strangers, build rapport, and plant the seeds for deeper relationships — but how do you actually do it?
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Melissa Hahn, a professor at American University’s School of International Service and Andy Molinsky, a Brandeis University professor and author of Global Dexterity, offer tips for upping your small talk game:
Do you have a go-to method of initiating small talk? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. We would love to get your feedback! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  While disagreeing may be uncomfortable, research tells us that diverse thinking is far more likely to lead to progress, innovations and breakthroughs than “nice” conversations where people hide what they really think.
But how do you foster productive debate on your team? Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Shane Snow, author of Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart, offers four tips:
How do you keep a debate on track when it seems to be veering? To join the conversation, click "comments" above -- we'd love to hear from you! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.  But how does an informal leader motivate colleagues to support their initiatives and adopt their ideas? How can anyone become a go-to person that others look to for guidance and advice?
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, career and workplace journalist Rebecca Knight, outlines a plan for anyone who wants to promote an initiative. First, create a map of colleagues related to the issue you want to tackle. Second, craft your message with a concise elevator pitch. Third, cultivate allies by asking for advice and incorporating it. And lastly, develop your expertise by staying up-to-date on your topic. So, even if you’re not a formal leader at work, you can influence others with these 3 action steps. 3 Action Steps To Influence At Work:
What methods do you use to influence others at work? To join the conversation, click on "comments" above -- we'd love to hear from you! Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022. |
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