Management Communication: Three Basic Rules

Many leaders in the workplace choose to ignore these simple points. Fine. That’s their business and good luck to them. But then why do they seem so surprised when the productivity of their workers takes a nosedive?

How to Tell If Someone is a True Friend

It’s a lament one hears often:

“I’m so frustrated about the friends that I have. I trusted someone who I thought was a good friend of mine and I ended up getting used. I really can’t tell who is really a friend and who is just fake and trying to use me. I used to trust my own judgment, but now…I’m not so sure…”

Here are five simple rules that serve as a litmus test.

Working With Difficult People: Turning Tormentors into Teachers

When a confrontational employee or fellow worker with a chip on the shoulder begins to drive you up the wall, a simple switch in tactics could put a smile back on his face. And yours.

How to Leave Professional Phone Messages

Trying to reach a person who isn’t immediately available can be pretty frustrating at times, but take heart! A well planned message could be a fine opportunity to enhance your reputation and even help build relationships.

Voice to High? How to Safely Lower Your Pitch

Some common speaking problems:

“Even though I’m a mature female and a stockbroker, I am often mistaken for a child when I answer the phone or leave messages. I’m not sure what to do. Is my voice too high? Too hesitant? How can start to sound my age?”

“I am a small man and my voice is higher than I prefer. Are there any ways to lower my voice? I once heard that one movie star used to go into the mountains and scream for hours.”

Read what voice production expert Susan Berkley advises.

What to Do About Office Gossip

How an organization deals with habitual gossipers can be mean the difference between growing and thriving, or disintegrating from within

Please use the Comments area to let me know what you think of these articles, or to suggest topics you’d like to see covered in the future. If you prefer, you can also contact me privately at azriel AT hodu.com.

Passive Aggressive Behavior and Workplace Anger

Passive aggressive behavior is one of the most common ways anger is displayed in the workplace. Because people fear retaliation for speaking up, or even fear for their jobs, anger goes deep and oozes out in unhealthy ways

Seven Ways to Stop Interrupting

It happens all day, every day. We see it on television interviews. We hear it on the radio. We experience it at home and at work. One person talking over the other person. Not letting people finish what they were saying. In short, interrupting!

Interrupting can cause a whole stream of problems and challenges. It reduces our effectiveness as a listener, negatively impacts relationships, shuts down communication, reduces our ability to learn and much more.

Icebreakers: The Niftiest Training Tool

If you’re looking for a training tool that will deliver the most benefits for the least effort… a tool that can be used in any number of training situations… and change the mood of a group in a second… all while delivering heaps of learning… then I think I can claim to have found it…
…Icebreakers!

Stand Your Ground With Manipulators!

Nobody likes being manipulated. And despite what manipulators may believe, the act of manipulation always has a diminishing outcome.

How to Deal With Conflict Avoiders

Some people with whom you relate have tremendous difficulty acknowledging and talking about negative feelings.

Because they want to keep the peace at any cost, they pretend everything is fine. They don’t want to rock the boat. As a result, underlying resentments can grow and eventually destroy working relationships as well as personal relationships.

High Time to Change Childish Conversation

Many adults use childish conversation styles some or all of the time. What are the most common types of childish speech, and what makes people talk that way?

Please use the Comments area to let me know what you think of these articles, or to suggest topics you’d like to see covered in the future. If you prefer, you can also contact me privately at azriel AT hodu.com.

Perfect the Art of Asking!

A key part of getting what you want is knowing how to ask for it. And, there are various ideas and strategies that are important in making certain you express yourself clearly and persuasively. Here are nine rules to bear in mind that will help you perfect “The Art of Asking.”

Two Minute Attitude Assessment

Your attitude to life and its challenges is crucial in determining your success in your career or in meeting personal objectives. Moreover, people with poor life attitudes may find it difficult to sustain good personal or professional relationships. This short test and the detailed commentary will give you a good idea of where you stand.

How to Comfortably Connect With Your Conversation Partner

Your attitude is critical when you approach people to engage them in conversation because it gets reflected in your facial expressions, voice, and body movements as well as your words. Learn the key aspects of a winning attitude for connecting with others and building trust and liking.

What You Say Without Speaking

Beware! Precisely at times when it’s most important for you, the nonverbal signals your body sends out may directly contradict the positive impression you’re trying so hard to make. Here’s how to prepare yourself for that crucial job interview, presentation, date or other significant occasion.

How to Appear Confident and Assertive in an Interview

When the job description calls for a high degree of self-confidence and aggressiveness (in a positive sense), how do you show your potential employers that you really do have what it takes?

Conversation Games: Practice Your Skills While Having Fun!

Just for the fun of it during the holidays or at any time, you might enjoy trying some conversation games. Here are a few easy ones

Please use the Comments area to let me know what you think of these articles, or to suggest topics you’d like to see covered in the future. If you prefer, you can also contact me privately at azriel AT hodu.com.

How to Stay Cool Under Fire

Have you ever felt your adrenalin rise and your temper flare
when someone you work with asks a touchy question or makes a
terse comment?

When emotions run rapid at the workplace, we tend to speak
without thinking. This causes communication breakdown.

In this kind of scenario, there’s really only one solution: we
have to empower ourselves to take control. Read these
instructive examples on how to nip potential conflict in the bud
and stay cool under fire. (As with many of our previous
presentations, these tactics can also be applied outside the
workplace to a variety of other situations in everyday life.)

Guidelines for Effective Gesturing

Tips for gesturing and using body language to maximum effect when delivering a speech – while feeling relaxed and without being self-conscious.

Gender Collisions in Conversation

The conversation styles of men and women differ a lot, and not just because of cultural shaping. Significant differences in biology also cause how men and women respond to stress and how they get their emotional needs met.

How to Detect Deception

April 1 is a day for practical jokes and light-hearted hoaxes. But having the wool pulled over your eyes at other times is no laughing matter, whether in the workplace or any place else. While there’s no single gesture that indicates beyond doubt that someone is trying to mislead you, you will increase your chances of spotting a falsehood if you watch out for these simple body language cues.

The Seven Rules of Upward Communication

As more and more organizations rely on their teams to manage themselves, so the need for upward communication becomes ever more crucial. Reporting upwards is a skill in itself; follow these golden rules to keep the people at the top in the picture.

Life in the Cubicle: Etiquette in the Open Office

Building and maintaining strong business relationships is the key to success. While keys are designed to unlock doors, in the modern workplace, doors are about as scarce as good manners.

It is estimated that over 40 million North Americans work in open office environments. That is, of course, a nice way of saying cubicles.

And while cubicles may not have doors, they can act as barriers to strong working relationships.

Please use the Comments area to let me know what you think of these articles, or to suggest topics you’d like to see covered in the future. If you prefer, you can also contact me privately at azriel AT hodu.com.

In line with this mission, we have now launched an exciting new section, presenting carefully selected educational videos dealing with the various topics we cover.

Although many of these videos may be available elsewhere on the Internet, I think you will enjoy the convenience of having the best, hand-picked videos on communication and relationship skills all under one virtual “roof”. They will be accompanied by brief and to-the-point descriptions to help you choose what to view and make the most of your available time.

I have just added two “special topic” pages, one devoted to the best videos on public speaking skills and delivering presentations, and the other to body language and non-verbal communication.

I’ll update all these pages on an ongoing basis, whenever I find good material that meets our criteria.

I invite you to visit our video department now and wish you happy viewing – and perhaps more importantly, productive viewing that will help you achieve your goals in some area of your life.