What makes for good communication? It’s easy to make communication mistakes, and that’s why I sometimes tease that good communication is a miracle. Yet, the truth is, good (or bad) communication starts at the top, powerfully rippling down to people throughout families and organizations, like a snowball rolling down a hill. But you already knew the power of your words or lack of them. What talk must we walk together to qualify as good communication in your real life?
WHAT MAKES FOR GOOD COMMUNICATION?
In a recent opening Talk To Me© positive and effective communication class exercise, tuned-in students came up with this list of essentials for good communication:
- Keep it upbeat and positive
- Be clear
- Don’t leave until both parties understand
- Be sure to look at the big picture
- Make time for short meetings
- Be direct
- Stay focused
- Be sincere and honest
- Be on equal ground feeling at ease
- Confidence: Believe in yourself and in your talk partner
- Use self-control
THE MOOD FLAGS ON THE RACE TRACK?
Everyone is zooming around the track at work. Do you account for the mood of the person you are talking to? Do you manage your own mood well? Are you able to be a positive communicator when your mood is frustrated (yellow flag of caution), angry (red flag to get off the talk track pronto), or confident (green flag that signals all is well)? You can learn to be a PosiTalker, whatever your mood happens to be, when you drive using the T2M Driver’s Manual and system four minutes a day.
THE MIRACLE OF COMMUNICATION
Think of good communication as the hub of a wagon wheel. Benefits flow down each spoke of the wheel…benefits such as improved morale, higher productivity, fewer problems, extra effort, attracting A players, tossing out bad apples from the orchard, feeling focused and energized, sharing recognition respectfully. Pretty nifty results when the rubber gets rollin’ down the road of good talk at work or home.
ABOUT TALK DOC, DENNIS E. O’GRADY
Dennis O’Grady, Psy.D., is known as the Talk Doc since the advent of his positive and effective communication system, Talk to Me©. Dennis is president of the Dayton Psychological Association and is a clinical professor at the Wright State University School of Professional Psychology. His talk textbook, Talk to Me: Communication Moves to Get Along With Anyone, received the 2008 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal. Dennis is currently (and through the end of the year) training 2000 corporate executive management/supervisory employees for a very successful regional trucking company. The results are so outstanding that the company has expanded the original contract to include all managers and supervisors, instead of just the executive management team. He has also trained smaller groups for an internationally known designer and manufacturer of robotics, as well as training all employees of a small, local electronics distributorship. He also uses the T2M system with his private, relationship communications training clients. Please feel free to contact the office to set up a time to speak with Dr. O’Grady. You won’t regret that you made the call — no one ever does!