Posts Tagged ‘communication’

Cool Apps: Send and Receive Texts In Your Web Browser

By John Thompson | August 19th, 2011 0 Comments

To sum it up, this week’s feature is a “cool to have in case you lose or simply forget your phone at home some day” app:

Browsertexting.

And yes, the straightforward name pretty much sums up what the app does. It enables Android users to send and receive text messages right through their Web browsers.

It’s free to sign up: Visit Browsertexting.com, create and account, install the app on your Android phone, scan the QR code you’re given in order to match your phone to your account, and you’re off to the texting races.

The benefits?

  • Browsertexting makes it easier to continuously work on your computer and not have to pick up your phone to answer text messages.
  • You can leave your phone undisturbed and charging while you work on your computer.
  • You have backup for when you inevitably forget your phone on the mantel, lose it in the parking lot, or forget it in a restaurant.
  • For most of us, a full keyboard is much more efficient than a pair of thumbs by themselves – although it does lack the humorous mess-ups (a tragedy to Lamebook fans).
  • It works in all popular browsers: IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera.
  • Of course, there’s a slick Chrome plugin.
  • It has all sorts of other added features like live synching, no signup, and the ability to cancel messages.

The service is still in beta, which in the app world means there are bound to be glitches here and there. However, I found that it worked quite well.

If you’re using texting a lot to stay on top of business, and communicate with clients and vendors, then check out Browsertexting and make your text/work experience even more seamless.

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How to talk so people will listen

By Mike Bidwell | April 11th, 2011 0 Comments

The real key to career and business success.

Communication is both complex and dynamic – an art form and a science.

Effective communication is a two-way, interactive process in which both sender and receiver continually influence each other – messages are cycled back and forth with many non-verbal, barely perceptible signals.

Most of us do not process all of these signals in a conscious rational way, but we do process and respond to them on a semi-conscious, emotional level with this subliminal processing leaving an indelible mark on the whole communications exchange.

This book takes a look at the whys behind the hows. It classifies us as three basic personalities each distinguished by one of three dominant motivators – Achievers, Affiliators and Influencers.

Achievers constantly strive to win in the sense of reaching the next rung on the ladder or obtaining an advantage. The business world has lots of Achievers.

Affiliators are preoccupied with the quality of social relations – their own and others’ feelings.

Influencers are largely interested in getting, holding and building a power base within a given relationship.

Learning how to communicate with these three personality types when we encounter them in others is as important as knowing our own basic communication style and goals.

‘Fore-thought’ is offered as a tool to help clarify relationships between your own goals and your listener’s goals, needs and expectations. The emphasis is on pre-planning – in other words helping you analyse a situation before you say or do anything.

That might be choosing timing, setting, style and method of your communication – none are particularly complex but efficient execution requires discipline and regular practice.

Some other communication skills that the book explores:

Use vocal variety, eye contact and body language.

Structure your speech or presentation with smooth transitions – such as an up front agenda or breaking the main topic into individual segments.

Use high impact visuals; pictures and videos will often make a stronger point than a complicated graph or diagram.

Elicit listener involvement, feedback and participation.

Hostility can be lessened by allowing and understanding the anger then getting out of the personal realm of the conflict by finding something in common.

In each topical discussion, the same theme emerges. Effective communicators design their messages to grab listener’s attention, maintain their interest, allow for feedback and enable them to visualise and retain information.

Business communication is a process of gaining and attaining – basically getting what you want – good communication techniques help to achieve this.

This isn’t manipulative because in business it is almost certainly precisely what the other person you’re dealing with is doing.

So long as it is mixed in with honesty and candour, this is the way to talk so people will listen.

Reference: How to talk so people will listen – Sonya Hamlin

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Thursday Thoughts: Listen with a Leader’s Eye

By Gino Blefari | August 20th, 2010 0 Comments

One outstanding quality of a great leader is excellent communication skills. But what exactly makes a great communicator? 

Using an excited tone of voice? Being able to use your body language with your words? Adding just the right amount of humor? Having a strong voice? Maintaining eye contact? Brilliant stories? An abundant vocabulary?
 
Most definitely, all these skills are very valuable and should be perfected daily. But none of these amount up to the single most important part of communication in a leadership situation:
 
Listening!
 
Why does leadership mean listening?
 
A leader must listen closely to the world around him or her to be able to react to it.
 
Business leaders all over the nation are asked about communication and one theme comes up repeatedly – great leaders are great listeners. Extraordinary men and women apply feedback, listen to opinions, and act on that intelligence.
 
Genuine listening generates respect, understanding and trust between talker and listener. Great listening skills are an important resource, educate, build business, innovate and motivate. In particular, employees like, and respond better to, supervisors who they think are listening to them.
 
Pat Croce, a nationally renowned motivational speaker explains in his book Lead or Get off the Pot, the Seven Secrets of a Self-Made Leader pg. 120-121, “The best listeners are those who learn to listen with a leader’s eye. This supernatural-sounding skill doesn’t call for magic spells, but when it’s practiced and consistently applied, it does lead to magical results.”
 
Listening skills have always been important in the workplace. View the possibilities. Observe the body language behind the words and identify the emotions. Listen with an eye toward making a connection. And keep all lines of communication open to all things. If you keep the big picture in mind, you will listen with a leader’s eye.

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Thursday Thoughts: Communicate with Power

By Gino Blefari | August 12th, 2010 0 Comments

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”
                                                                                         -James Humes
 
Communication is a leader’s most powerful tool. You could possess all the knowledge and experience possible in your field, but without impeccable communication skills, you’ll have trouble leading effectively.
 
In fact, when senior executives and CEOs all around the country are asked to list the most important skills a leader must possess, the answer consistently includes good communication skills.
 
Powerful communication is the work of great leaders. These skills create and support the understanding and trust that’s necessary to encourage others to follow. A manager accomplishes very little if he or she is having trouble communicating with the team.

An example of a well-known executive leader who exudes the power of excellent communication is Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. This is a man who knows not only what he stands for, but also is able to communicate those values in an effective way that leads to significant results. He knows how to make an emotional connection with his listeners, and that connection creates an incentive for them to follow.

The three communication qualities that help Schultz stand out as a top-notch persuasive business communicator are:

  • Emotional connection: As I mentioned above, Schultz excels at tapping into people’s emotions as well as their minds to get the most out of them. Everyone can relate to stories. The ability to use stories to get people to see your vision is a powerful leadership quality.
  • Passion: Schultz is great at identifying his own passions and expressing that message to employees and colleagues. When you are passionate, you naturally are excited, energetic and enthusiastic. These are qualities people like to see in others – and if people like you, they are more likely to do business with you.
  • Inspiration: Schultz provides inspiration to employees and colleagues by painting a picture of a world that is made better by his company’s service. Inspiration creates a connection that people remember.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Each of these qualities can be used in your own workplace.

It all starts by stopping to ask yourself: how effective is my communication?

Powerful communication skills are often something we take for granted. In your next real estate transaction, consider that it does not matter what you know about anything if you cannot communicate with people. Leaders need to be sensitive to how and what they communicate to others with their actions and words.

How you communicate the message often is more important than information itself. Learn to communicate better and you’ll find yourself leading more effectively. 

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Thursday Thoughts: Crises and the Practice of Leadership

By Gino Blefari | July 23rd, 2010 0 Comments

“People with passion find a way to get things done and to make things happen, in spite of the obstacles and challenges that get in the way.”  
                                                                                                                 -Steve Jobs

After you spend some time leading a company or team, you inevitably encounter a crisis. How you deal with that crisis as a leader ends up mattering more than the crisis itself.

On June 24, the consumer technology industry’s darling, Apple Inc., found itself wrapped up in a publicity nightmare. Many of the consumers who’d bought the latest iPhone 4 were reporting reception issues, and evidence showed that a defective antennae was causing dropped calls and poor connections when held a certain way.

The issues were more than a big deal partly because of all the fanfare leading up to the iPhone 4 release. When the long-anticipated iPhone 4 was announced in early June, Apple said it was the biggest leap they had taken with the product since the original iPhone shipped three years ago. The company sold more than 3 million iPhone 4s in the first 22 days on the market.

The negative press regarding the defective antennae continued to pile on, causing Apple CEO Steve Jobs to abruptly end his Hawaii vacation to address the issue in a rush press conference.

Apple handled some things inadequately during this calamity, but eventually ended up doing the right thing. Here are five leadership qualities Steve Jobs used to get through this crisis that we can all learn from:

  • Strive to educate. In his press conference, Jobs focused more on the larger issues of the smartphones rather than the signal deprivation. He wanted to combine his learning with action and impel the public to seek greater understanding of the product.
  • Maintain constant communication. As this whole debacle transpired, Jobs’ main goal was to show that communication is the real work of leadership.
  • Become a problem solver. Apple did not choose to simply forget about this issue and not deal with it. Instead, company officials dealt with the situation head on and extended support to their customers.
  • Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability. Jobs began his press conference by admitting the company is not perfect. In doing this and explaining that Apple does have faults, he showed he was strong enough to care.
  • An apology is a powerful way to make things better. At one point, Jobs offered a pure apology. His forgiveness does not change the past, but it will enlarge the future.

The clear lesson here is that it is only in the practice of leadership that we influence our world. Rather than view the iPhone 4 problems as a setback, Jobs saw it as a healthy, inevitable part of becoming a successful company.

As American football coach Lou Holtz once said, “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

Steve Jobs exemplified just that. Without his passion and leadership to get through the crisis, the public would not have believed in his ability to resolve the iPhone 4 antennae situation.

As you think about your career and obstacles you face, remember that Steve Jobs believes, “Passion rules! Passion is about our emotional energy and a love for what we do. Without passion it becomes difficult to fight back in the face of obstacles and difficulties.”

The next time you face a crisis, let your passion kick in and guide your leadership decisions.

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