The Secret to Success in your Career - Good Communication Skills
Good Communication Skills.... The Secret to Career Success
Being able to ask the right questions
Being able to ask the right questions gives you the ability to gain deep insight, helps you on your career path and can make you successful in almost every aspect of your life. The trouble is that most people are dreadful at asking questions and communicating. So how can you learn?
Great questioning will provide greater value from business meetings
Ask yourself if a great questioning and investigative ability would help you to extract greater value from business meetings? Would the value of your mentors increase? Would networking and chance meetings with fellow executives lead to profitable relationships and new business? The experts say yes.
A former journalist and businessman, Evan Ratliff, (cofounder, CEO, editor of Atavist) explained that his time working at The New Yorker helped him to ask the right questions to get the answers he needed. This ability to question in a high-value way meant that the business could progress and all interactions became more valuable.
A great example of an interesting experiment of Evan Ratliff’s for Wired Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened. This offers great insight in to the sharp mind of Evan Ratliff and what makes him a great journalist.
Most of us ask very bad questions
The difficulty is, however, that most of us ask very bad questions. We accept poor answers, talk too much or get no response at all. Directness embarrasses us, as does a fear of revealing ignorance, so we do our best, fudge things and miss out on personal development and growth.
However, things can be different. Here's the way to becoe a great interrogator and a great conversationalist in the process.
Firstly, stop asking multiple-choice questions.
If you have a question, why is it you who's talking? Ask a simple, direct question and have confidence in your brevity.
Get used to silence as well and embrace it as thought time.
Elicit meaningful answers by starting your questions with what, why, how or when. Stop fishing for answers and give the other person the time to think about a response.
If you don't get a response, ask the question again in a different way.
If you don't understand the answer, ask a follow-up question to clarify matters. You can also check your understanding by rephrasing the answer in your own words. Finally, never be scared about asking what appear to be stupid questions. These are sometimes the best questions of all.
Another tip to remember is that the worst questions are those which are leading, or fishing for a specific answer.
Top journalists always recommend avoiding these. Basically, if you already know the answer then why you are asking the question? If you are simply seeking clarification of a guess or suspicion, ask directly and objectively. You'll show yourself to be confident and you'll tend to get more honest answers.
Other Good Communication Tips
Most people aren't upset by interruptions to their flow, especially if it shows that you are listening and responding to what they are saying.
Remember to re-frame a question in a new way if you feel that you didn't get a straight answer to it originally.
Media-trained people in particular will be skilled in the art of the dodge. Many times, the talker will simply have failed to understand the question or forgotten to answer it. When in doubt, be simple and direct.
And Finally
Don't risk pretending that you know something that you don't.
The most embarrassing questions are the ones that never actually get asked and which cause problems or missed opportunities later down the line. Remember that you don't need to impress other people with your knowledge you are simply information gathering. Most people are more generous with their time and knowledge than we realise. They simply need to know what you want to know.
The Secret to Success in your Career….. Good Communication Skills
by Marc Dewdney of Circle Square
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As a Junior Manager I Told Bad Jokes
Heard the One about the Chicken Crossing the Playground?
Yes, as a Junior Manager I told bad jokes.
Lame jokes never leave us and such classics are still just as popular in crackers or on ice-cream sticks as they are in the playground.
What's interesting, however, is the fact that your team might actually laugh if you were to tell such a joke. But would it be because you're funny or because their success relies on you liking them?
New Managers
Many new managers fall into the trap of over-using humour. It's an easy thing to do as a junior manager as you're getting to grips with the notion of managing a group of people, some of whom may be more experienced or older than you. It's very human to attempt to cover a sense of discomfort with a liberal application of attempted humour.
So as you find yourself being promoted, you might also find that you start to get more laughs. And the danger at this point is that you start to believe that you're genuinely channelling some serious stand-up comic potential. That is until you realise that you aren't actually that funny at all and your team are simply forcing themselves to chuckle along to preserve their own career trajectories.
As a More Senior Manager
Many managers can become unaware of their standing within teams as junior staff begin to tweak their behaviour around organisational seniority. Most of us remember laughing hollowly at a director's tired old patter, just to seem interested and worthy of promotion. And as a more senior manager, it's essential to retain that all-important sense of self-awareness and the ability to interpret feedback in a genuine way.
First-Time Manager
When you become a first-time manager, the social cues that previously helped you to moderate your behaviour become increasingly less reliable. This is because your new position within the organisation will change some people's behaviour around you.
This applies to bad jokes, endless monologues about your over-achieving children and the 'it's fine' responses when you turn up late to meetings. If your team appear to be endlessly accommodating, attentive and responsive to you, then question their motives and review your behaviour objectively.
Rather than holding the room with your personality and wit, you may find that your words and actions are being discussed by your team the minute that you leave the room. In fact, the best and most experienced managers will severely limit the amount of time they spend joking and chatting with their team. They work hard to show respect to their staff by observing timeliness, processes and good working practices.
So how can you transform yourself from 'embarrassing boss' to a respected manager that people within your organisation aspire to work for?
Be conscious of the changes that a promotion or change in job title creates.
Firstly, learn about organisational dynamics and be conscious of the changes that a promotion or change in job title creates. Your colleagues will begin to treat you differently and your seniority and influence will mean that they need to seek your approval. If you're smart, you'll realise that the things they say to you may not always mirror what they are thinking.
However, that's not a bad thing in some ways as most successful people know the art of internal politics and discretion, but it's still something to be aware of.
Get feedback from your original peer group, who knew you before your promotion and who will have a more balanced view of you. They will tend to be more honest, open and genuine.
Change your social compass, so that it's guided by your own judgements rather than your team's reactions. Aim to be honest with yourself and assess your behaviour. Before taking an action such as rescheduling a meeting, ask yourself how you'd feel if your own manager did it. Put yourself in the position of your team.
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Goals - How to achieve your goals
I was asked to write down both my personal and work goals at work today. With a piece of card and a pen, I sat at my desk wondering why I was doing this. After delving into the depths of my thoughts and imagination I managed to write everything I wanted both in my personal life and at work in the future.
Why do we Create Future Goals
This then led me to wonder, why do we create future goals, do they work and how do we achieve them? Do they work, the answer undoubtedly is yes. Would you set out a long journey without knowing at least the direction of which you are going or your destination? Probably not! Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality.
Setting Goals
The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that can, so easily, lead you astray.
So goal setting is an important task, but how easy is it to achieve these goals?
Here are 10 ways to create and achieve your goals.
Good luck!
- Make all your goals real by first identifying and then focusing on specific, tangible targets for what you want.
- Maintain at least one clearly defined goal for every major interest and role in your life.
- Set your goals so they are directly aligned with your life’s mission, purpose and passion.
- Create goals high enough to ignite your spirit and inspire you to take action.
- Write down all your goals in specific, measurable detail.
Absolutely, unconditionally commit to hitting each of your targets.
- Share your goals with others for mutual accomplishment.
- Set a whole series of related daily, weekly and long-term goals, complete with starting times and completion dates.
- Take 10 minutes every day to imagine how terrific it will feel when your goals are actually realised.
- Take an action step toward the attainment of at least one goal every day.
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To contact one of our specialist consultants call 0207 492 0700 or email:
To download the Finance & Accountancy Salary Guidelines 2013
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CV Writing - Give Your CV a Competitive Edge
Make Sure your CV Gets you the Job
CV writing is a crucial factor to get right. Job hunting is time-consuming, often boring and frequently frustrating. There isn't really any way of putting a gloss on the process but when it lands you the job of your dreams you'll feel that all the hard work of slogging away over applications and preparing presentations and interviews is well worth it. Getting your foot on the career ladder, landing a new job after a period of unemployment or making a big step-change in your career can give you a major sense of personal achievement.
CV Writing to get noticed
Make Your CV Interesting
Demonstrate Your Company Research in your Covering Letter
Many companies ask for a covering letter to accompany your CV, here's where you can really shine. Try not to send a standard letter to each company. Make it personal to each, making it abundantly clear that you have researched the company and have something to offer it.
