Stuck On The Speed Bumps Of Life?
Have you ever felt like you were stuck on a big speed bump of life, and worried that you were going to stay there, past forever? Many leaders feel that way when strong wills and big ideas clash around the communicator table at work. Too many titans trying to drive the communicator car at the same time can create frustration and a stagnation of creative problem-solving.
MY MANAGER OR BOSS IS A GOOD COMMUNICATOR WHO LISTENS WITH INTEREST TO ME?
Are you a narrow-minded but long-winded communicator who doesn’t listen with interest? Nope. You are becoming a better communicator as we speak. Good managers and leaders who communicate effectively have fired-up employees who check off this important company-wide feedback box: “My manager is a good communicator who listens to me with interest.”
RESULTS-DRIVEN DECISIONS THAT WORK
I design personalized, process- and content-centered results-driven management communication training programs for companies who take their communication seriously. Why is communication everything? Clear communication delivers results, while “foggy” communication produces negative or no results. Like, duh.
LET’S TALK COMMUNICATION LEADERS
Here’s what reliably takes place in your team when you use the “Talk to Me” communication system:
1. “We Team” vs. “Me Team” synergy. The TALK2ME system combines the energies of all parties to ignite the heart and soul of the entrepreneurial spirit, the same spirit that is driven to succeed by driving over the speed bumps of life.
2. Happy employees. Don’t laugh. You want to inspire your employees to feel important and keep them happily and productively working for your company. The TALK2ME communication system boosts employee morale.
3. Communication laziness. Public and corporate enemy No. 1 is cynicism, going along to get along, pessimism about people and change, close-mindedly continuing to do what doesn’t work, half-honesty, telling leaders only what they want to hear, saluting a false sense of security, refusing to use measured results to adjust in-flight courses of action. In short, communication laziness.
4. Clear communication gets you off the speed bump you’re stuck on. The “unique communicator mix” of your management or employee team is discovered and capitalized upon by using the New Insights Communication Inventory–Leadership Survey or NICI-LS. That way you can tell who you’re talking to by type AND include everyone’s best ideas, even those who may feel too shy to speak up.
5. Pulling an elephant out of the hat. The two leadership communication styles of Empathizer- (E-type) and Instigator-type (I-type) communicators, use different driving lanes and rules to talk and live by. For example, I-types assertively speak out at meetings, while E-types more often only speak when spoken to. So companies are only benefiting from half-a-brain, which is akin to ignoring the elephant in the room, or trying to pull it out of a hat.
6. The “communicator table” produces the best results you seek. When both E- and I-type communicators are seated around the invisible “communicator table” (or riding in the communicator car) and talking openly and equally, spontaneously produces positive synergestic (1+1=3) strategic decisions whose results will benefit everyone.
7. Ability to implement “keep it simple” marketing “experiments” that get results. We all have experienced frustration when a “good plan” is “half-done then dropped.” The ability to measure results against idea plans, and talk honestly and openly about the results, makes us all walk our talk.
8. The biggest complaint I run into when I consult with companies is this one: “Managers are perceived as NOT being very good communicators.” By being trained in, and using, the “Talk to Me” communication system your managers will be evaluated as “better communicators.”
9. The second biggest complaint is that leader managers who are poor communicators don’t “listen with interest.” In other words, poor communicators just listen long enough to jump into the conversation to monologue about their preferred position of action. Not good!
10. Why bother with open lines of communication that are results-focused? Well, your best employees will stick around, new “A” players will chomp at the bit to join your team, company morale will soar, personal energy will sizzle, difficult people will drop out, and better ideas and thus better solutions will be generated and more likely to be strategically implemented. Using the TTM system, creative solutions are brainstormed that take your breath away in simplicity and effectiveness.
11. We all love change, now don’t we? The TALK2ME system beckons all of the workforce family to let go of doing what isn’t working but is the favorite idea child, and grab hold of what quietly does work to get where you want to go. Namely, the land of huge payoffs that benefit everyone.
REALIZING EXISTING POTENTIALS
The biggest threat to your company is the strangulation hold of mediocre to poor communication. Getting too comfortable with your communication style, will make you nap like the Hare in the parable the Tortoise and the Hare and lose the race.
USING THE TALK TO ME (TTM) COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
I will design a personalized, results-driven program for the facilitation of management communication training within your corporate environment today. Call so we can sit down and “just talk” about the outcomes you wish to produce. The defined program will incorporate the “Talk to Me” communication system within the work dynamic at your company, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the communication exchange and workflow while promoting a positive team dynamic. In short, you will get great results using good communication strategies.
ABOUT MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION CONSULTANT DR. DENNIS O’GRADY, PSY.D.
Dr. Dennis O’Grady is the author of three works, and the developer and originator of the “Talk to Me” leadership communication training programs. Positive results are quickly produced and measured using this system which is personally led by Dr. Dennis O’Grady who is a communications psychologist from Dayton, Ohio, USA. He can be reached by phone at (937) 428-0724 or on the Internet at www.drogrady.com. “Talk to Me: Communication Moves To Get Along With Anyone” describes his powerful new communication system that will work for your company or family. Dennis is also a “relationship communication expert” and is the father of three daughters, two of whom are teenagers. Dr. O’Grady will help you drive down the two-way communicator highway today, instead of stay stuck on a speed bump of life that can bum out everyone’s creative energy, motivation and needed synergy. His book is available at Amazon.
The two leadership communication styles of Empathizer- (E-type) and Instigator-type (I-type) communicators, use different driving lanes and rules to talk and live by. For example, I-types assertively speak out at meetings, while E-types more often only speak when spoken to. So companies are only benefiting from half-a-brain, which is akin to trying to pull an elephant out of a hat.
Comment by Dr. Dennis O'Grady — April 2, 2007 @ 7:01 am
Empathy is such an incredibly powerful tool to have in your kit, yet it is extraordinarily under-utilized by so many. Being able, let alone willing to put yourself in others’ shoes or really sense where they are on a specific topic is not something that comes naturally (or at all to some). It happens to be a gift that God chose to bless me with and I use it in every aspect of work and play. I must admit that like hearing, my use of empathy can be selective when the topic or person involved is in conflict with my values, beliefs or it seems petty at the time. But most of the time, it is one of the most powerful skills one can possess and apply.
Comment by Jerry — April 4, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
Managers can’t do everything for everyone all of the time. Lending a helping hand too often can actually reduce production. Human nature and experience tells us that as more help is given more is expected. It all depends on the individual with which one is dealing. An effective manager has to recognize when an employee needs help and when to give a pep talk to increase production. If one employee consistently relies on outside help to complete tasks, others will recognize that maybe they shouldn’t work as hard so they too can get help. One bad apple can spoil a whole bunch.
Comment by J. — April 4, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
I’m more in touch with my feelings, and able to let them out more. I can tell when I’m feeling down or grouchy, or whatever. I deal with it automatically. I used to have a lot of physical health stress issues, which I haven’t had for two years now. Overall, I’ve felt much healthier as a result of my communications training in your system. “The freedom to talk” says it all.
Comment by Dave — April 4, 2007 @ 1:15 pm
Regarding respecting the communication styles of others, that’s an area where our workplace needs a great deal of improvement. Without finding ways for being working in close quarters to be able to respect each other and what they do, it is hard to get them to accept different communicate styles. Covey’s principle about seeking first to understand, then to be understood would go a long way toward helping this. Then, helping people to understand that I types and E types are neither good nor bad, right nor wrong, but just different in the way they communicate.
Comment by Rick — April 4, 2007 @ 7:01 pm