Research suggests that asking questions that show you're listening is a great way to make conversations click. Since not all questions are equal, here are 3 tips. Conversations help us forge and deepen connections. And they are essential to our well being. Sometimes, though, we avoid conversations because we fear they may become tedious, awkward, or even confrontational. Writing in the Journal of the American Psychological Association, Zara Abrams notes that one of the best ways to make conversations click is to ask questions. But be conscious of how you do this:
Do you have a go-to conversational style that works for you? And what do you do to show you're listening? 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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What makes a leader more relatable, more approachable, and more successful? The surprising answer: humility “Strong cultures can only happen when team members feel safe enough to tell one another the truth -- and that starts with leaders being willing to show they're fallible,” writes Jeff Haden in Inc.. Citing numerous research studies, Haden explains why vulnerability and humility are central to strong leadership:
Humility is a predictor of high performance among leaders. Employees want to work for a boss who is willing to admit their own weak spots, eager to work to strengthen them, and willing to help others do the same. In short, a good leader is one who wants to get things done, and knows they can't do it alone. Do you believe humility is one of your traits? How has it helped you in the workplace? How might you strengthen your humility habit? 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 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. 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. If you are considering a significant change in your organization, it is crucial to first take the emotional temperature of your members. But new research suggests that few leaders know how to do this. In her survey of over 200 leading company executives, Patti Sanchez, chief strategy officer at consulting firm Duarte, Inc., found that 69% of respondents said they were planning or currently conducting a change effort. Unfortunately, half of these same execs said they hadn’t fully considered their team’s sentiment about the change. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Sanchez offers strategies for ensuring your team is motivated and onboard:
Do you know how the members of your organization feel about any changes you plan to implement? And if not, how might you find out? 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. To get ahead, it’s good to be noticed by senior management, but how do you do it without antagonizing your own boss? If your boss isn't being particularly useful in helping you advance your ideas or take advantage of opportunities, you may be tempted to go over their head. But, needless to say, this can present risks. As recounted in the Harvard Business Review, Dave MacKeen, CEO of Eliassen Group, a strategic consulting and talent solutions provider, and Chuck Cohen, Managing Director of Benco Dental, the largest, privately-owned dental distributor in the U.S., offer suggestions for demonstrating your true potential without alienating your direct manager:
What have you done to raise your profile, and how did your boss react? To join the conversation, leave a reply below. We would 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. Managers today are leading up to five generations at one time… which brings challenges and also opportunities... Poorly managed generational differences between employees can be toxic, resulting in bias, negative attitudes, dysfunctional teas, and diminished performance. Well-managed generational diversity has the potential to create enormous benefits, from knowledge transfer and mentoring, to innovation and employee retention. The most valuable scenario is when genuine intergenerational friendships form. Once established, research shows, intergenerational friendships can provide a less judgmental or competitive relationship than employees may experience with coworkers of a similar age. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Megan Gerhardt, a professor at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University, suggests how managers can foster these relationships:
Do you have friendships at work with people of other generations, and what do you get out of them? 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. Being an introvert in an extroverted world can be stressful, but these 5 actions are game-changers at work. Thirty-eight percent of people say they are either completely introverted (9%) or mostly introverted (29%). And 31% report they are an equal mix of introversion and extroversion, according to a survey by YouGov. Writing in Forbes, Tracy Bower, PhD, a senior contributor, offers this advice...
If you are an introvert, what about your work do you find most gratifying and what strategies have worked for you to connect with colleagues? 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. At work, comparisons are everywhere: Jealousy of a colleague’s successes, or work schedule, or relationships with leadership. But what if your boss is jealous of you? Writing in The Harvard Business Review, Ruchi Sinha, PhD, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of South Australia, says, “You may need to manage their emotions to manage your career.” Here are 4 ways to manage your boss's emotions:
Have you experienced a jealous manager, and how did you handle them? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below. We would really like 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. 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. 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. “Growth mindset” has become a buzzword in many organizations, but many people have a limited understanding of what that really means. People who believe their talents can be developed through hard work, strategic thinking, and input from others have a growth mindset. Those who believe their talents are innate gifts have a fixed mindset and are limited by their worry that the effort and hard work it takes to learn something is a sign of not being inherently smart. A growth mindset achieves more, by putting much more effort into learning. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Carol Dweck, the Lewis & Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, points out three common misconceptions about a growth mindset:
Organizations that embody a growth mindset encourage appropriate risk-taking, while knowing some risks won’t work out. They reward employees for important lessons learned, even if a project doesn’t meet its original goals. They support collaboration across organizational boundaries rather than competition among employees or teams. They are committed to the growth of every member, not just in words, but also in deeds such as making development and advancement broadly available. When is the last time you deliberately attempted to learn a new skill? Did your employer encourage that? To join the conversation, click "comments" above. We would 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. |
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