Cutting Through Foggy Communication
You can't fix foggy weather conditions, but you can feature and repair foggy communications.These three actions work well: 1)testing and refining messages; 2)answering two questions (What's the ask? and Who's got the "D"?); and 3)teaching others.
Put Your Strengths to Work for CIOs
Many CIOs could benefit by working closely with communication professionals. Their weaknesses,as identified by Santa Clara University academics, are often our strengths: synthesis, communications, influence skills plus relationship building.
Is Your Social Media Policy True to Your Values?
Your social media policy should align with your corporate values and ethics. It's a tool for protecting your corporate reputation, not tightly orchestrating what employees and job candidates should and should not pos
Reflect the Lean Way
What‘s an inexpensive yet valuable gift we can give ourselves—and our leaders? Time to reflect. Reflecting—thinking quietly and calmly—requires setting aside valuable time,...
Do A Make Over From Mass to Lean
If you don't provide value-add work, you can find yourself out at sea--along with the sandcastles you've built. How to avoid this from happening? Transform yourself from a modern manager to a lean manage
The Year of the Communicator: Hear Us Roar
How about making 2010 the “Year of the Communicator” in addition to the Year of the Tiger, the Chinese Lunar Year 4078? We’re well suited to be guiding our leaders through the treacherous terrain of the information age, both in the virtual and real worlds.
Are You Asking Enough Quality Questions
What do 2-year-olds and CEOs have in common? They should be asking lots of questions.
According to Peter Senge, asking good questions is one of the most effective ways to open our mind, be more present and learn from others.
When we ask good questions, we take an important first step to explore the uncertain.
Disqualify Friday
If Robinson Crusoe were alive today, would he have discovered Man Friday on Friday?
While Friday is an official business day, its proximity to the weekend has made it a special day. For example, consider “casual Fridays” for work attire. “Telecommuting Fridays” for those who split their time between working at home and the office. And the Friday “no meeting day” at some companies.
As a result, you should think twice about actions you take and encourage leaders to take on the fifth business day of the week
Get Grounded in the Basics to Reach for the Stars
A new leadership communications study shows that the basics still work--even though we may not practice them as much as we preach about them. At any rate, respect information overload, do face-to-face communications and measure.
Are You A Curator or An Editor?
You need to curate conversations rather than just edit messages these days. We need to influence rather than control, and curating is a more effective approach than editing.
What's Your 2010 Journey for 2-way Communications?
How are you balancing your 2010 travel plans with your 2-way communications plans? Typically, 2-way communications has meant face-to-face communications, but that may be difficult to do if you and your leaders are curtailing travel again in 2010.
Sending Messages: HBB (Hip Beyond Belief), In Reach or Out of Touch?
WDYT (What do you think?) about the growing usage of text-messaging in formal business communications? WOMBAT (Waste of money, brains and time) or not, you can follow these rules of thumb.
What Fashion Statements Do Your Leaders Make?
Whether your executives are fashion leaders or followers, they need to avoid fashion mistakes. You want people paying attention to what they say and do rather than what they wear--even though people might find the clothes more interesting!
From Ventriloquists to Sherpas
In the rarefied air of the executive suite, we leadership communications professionals need to serve as specialized Sherpas guiding leaders to communicate authentically in multi-media. The ventriloquist era is over.
Being Authentic Through Actions, Not Necessarily Words
The Authentic Enterprise, the Arthur W. Page Society groundbreaking report provides new food for thought--and action--for communication professionals. For individuals being authentic is keeping your promises, not being who you are.
Socializing Your New Leaders
How do you acclimate your new leaders? A well-thought out and executed socialization plan is just as important for leaders--alpha and otherwise--as it is for puppies and rescue dogs. Try these five tips.
Preventing Fires with LEAN Leadership
Do you spend a lot of time fighting fires in your organization? LEAN leaders advocate and practice fire prevention. They also focus on developing employees. You can take actions to help your leaders be LEAN or become LEANER.
Are You Playing Show and Tell with Your Leaders?
Do your leaders' meetings feel like you're back in elementary school watching Show and Tell? How do you move away from sedentary meetings with report outs to active sessions in which people talk about and deal with the burning issues of the moment?
How Do Your Managers Grow?
For manager communication to be effective and successful, you need to make sure it's aligned with your leaders' goals for manager development. So check in with your leaders on how they're growing managers.Be sure to follow their walk, not their talk.
Avoid the Change Wreck of the Detroit Three; Take These 5 Steps
Everybody's talking about how the Detroit Three CEOs mangled their recent pitch to Congress. Avoid making their missteps by making sure you're taking these five basic steps.
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