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After over 2 weeks on the road it was great to sleep in my bed on Saturday night but I was still a bit in la-la land. Friday night was a true highlight as I sat in the 7th row of the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Vancouver. I saw many of the staff I had trained at BC Place and the stadium was alive with Canadian pride. Watch for a note from me on Thursday that tells more of that story!

In the meantime, here is a great article on Communication. I hope it will offer insight on how to improve your relationships.

Remember that we are still accepting registrations for my upcoming webinar series that starts Feb. 23. See below for more details.

Your fan,


Ruby Newell-Legner, CSP

Throughout my travels, I get the same question - 'How can we improve communication in our organization?' So today, I thought I would address that topic.

You've probably heard this educational philosophy:
Tell me, and I'll forget.
Show me, and I may not remember.
Involve me, and I'll understand.

Almost the same could apply to communication in the workplace, except communication in the workplace is more than just about teaching and learning.

For successful leaders, it's a great way to show your staff respect and demonstrate that your employees are a key part of the leaders 'Big Picture' clear vision.

Often, the more successful leaders are those who interact with their staff rather than do all the talking. Employees know their leader cares about their input and they help control the direction of their work.

Communication involving employees can give them the chance to share problems and get answers, share expertise and develop as staff members.

Communication is the leverage leaders need and most lack. It is a huge topic to tackle so I have outlined a couple of key areas:

Key Communication Tactics for Successful leaders:
1) Encourage brainstorming
2) Create effective communication channels

Encourage brainstorming Successful leaders involve people in finding new ways to achieve goals.
They also understand that when you reward staff for offering solutions to problems they create independent thinkers.

A great way to promote a healthy dialogue with your employees is to ask what they think should be done to resolve the situation and then have a dialogue around those possibilities to help the employee learn to think things through.

After surveying over 20,000 employees in companies throughout the United States over the last few years, PBS & Associates found that there is a direct correlation between how involved employees are in the decision making in their department or team and their overall morale, motivation, and satisfaction with their jobs. Companies and departments with a higher level of employee involvement in decision making show higher levels of employee motivation and satisfaction. Do you solicit input from your employees?

Create effective communication channels.
Whether you are keeping staff updated on changes within your organization or sharing details of an upcoming event, it is important to consider the delivery method. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

• What are the key points that I need to get across?
• Would this be better delivered person to person, in a meeting, over the phone, in a memo, in an e-mail, or in a newsletter?
• What might be going on in the readers head as they receive the information? Will they be distracted? Or are there some unresolved feelings that could cause this information to be misconstrued?
• Did I include all the information that they need to be successful in their role?
• Did I deliver this information in a way that will let them comfortably pass it on to others whether it is to the staff they supervise or directly to the customer? What unresolved questions might they have?

Powerful Presentation Skills

In keeping with the spirit of developing your Presentation Skills,
check out this f.r.e.e. webinar from Ruby:

Powerful Presentation Skills How To Be More Effective as a Speaker
http://www.rubyspeaks.com/webinars/webinar-20090310.html