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December 16, 2012
Why Is It So Difficult to Implement Change?
Follow These Steps to Become a Change Leader
By Deb Calvert, President, People First Productivity Solutions
As humans, we prefer a state called homeostasis. It’s the state in which a person’s relationship to the environment is stable. It’s in our very nature to strive for stability and resist change. Physically, we are wired for regulation that keeps our systems operating in a way that is stable and unchanging. Emotionally, we may cling to what or who is familiar.
You may have heard or read before that the top...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Communication Skills on December 16, 2012
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November 8, 2012
Can You Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?
Six preferred learning styles for adults-Adapt your message for a better response.
By Deb Calvert, President, People First Productivity Solutions
It’s been said that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks (I can say that because I’d qualify as an “old dog”). There would be a true statement if it were slightly modified to read, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks the same way that you’d teach a puppy.”
That’s because adults do not learn the same way that children do. Children are like sponges, soaking up...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Communication Skills on November 8, 2012
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October 4, 2012
A Model for Active Listening: Master a Skill That Can Boost Your Career
How well do you process what's being heard?
By Deb Calvert, President, People First Productivity Solutions
Research by Korn Ferry International reveals that there is one competency that may be more important than any other in the workplace. That competency, active listening, rises to the top of the list because it is a “compensator” for other competencies. As a compensator, active listening can neutralize the negative effects of a gap.
In other words, while an individual is working to master other competencies or when he or she...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Communication Skills on October 4, 2012
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September 10, 2012
Building Trust with Co-Workers
What can you do to be sure you are universally and consistently viewed as someone others can trust?
By Deb Calvert, President, People First Productivity Solutions
In the past decade, trust has become a hot topic in business. Maybe it’s a reaction to the big corporate scandals that rocked the U.S. and led to stringent accounting practices or to housing market declines and big business bailouts. Or maybe it’s the lack of trust in companies that rapidly inflate and can’t sustain their growth so they lay off thousands of people with barely the blink of an...Continue reading
By Deb CalvertPosted in Communication Skills on September 10, 2012
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August 2, 2012
Ten Tips to Get Good at Communicating Bad News
Do you avoid communicating bad news?
As managers, and leaders, we anticipate challenges, take on responsibility and drive results. Our ability to communicate well gives us an advantage when motivating, providing direction and giving feedback, however, no matter how good you are at communicating, nobody likes to communicate bad news. We all dread reporting poor results, pointing out mistakes and letting employees go…. but, it is an important part of the job; better to do it well than to avoid doing it at all.
Here...Continue reading
By Lisa WoodsPosted in Communication Skills on August 2, 2012
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July 31, 2012
Dealing With Workplace Bullies: Seven Actions to Protect Yourself AND Others
What can you do to protect yourself, and others, from being bullied at work?
We all deal with different, and sometimes difficult, personalities at work. But what do you do if the personality is a bully? If you have ever encountered someone who berates you, deliberately excludes you from information, sets you up for failure, mocks you, points out your flaws in public, creates rumors about you at work, or any other deliberate act of negativity toward you…know you are not alone. Unfortunately, most of us will face at least one workplace bully directed toward...Continue reading
By Lisa WoodsPosted in Communication Skills on July 31, 2012
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July 4, 2012
Dealing with difficult personalities at work.
Learn to work with difficult personalities so they do not interfere with your job.
Learn to work with difficult personalities so they do not interfere with your job.
You will encounter many personalities in your career. Some of them are annoying, many inspirational. What I want to address here are the difficult personalities that can stand in your way of accomplishing great things. By understanding how to manage your way forward as you encounter them, you will grow professionally and possibly become an inspirational personality for them to learn...Continue reading
By Lisa WoodsPosted in Communication Skills on July 4, 2012
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June 20, 2012
Four Steps to Influence Your Boss’s Decisions
What should you do if you boss is your biggest roadblock?
Do you work for someone that does not like change, they don’t want to improve things, or they prefer the status quo to avoid putting themselves at risk of making mistakes? What if you have ideas to improve your business but you can’t get them past your boss? What if your boss’s practices are preventing growth and inadvertently hurting the company…do you say something to them? Do you go above them to be heard? This is a common dilemma that many of us will...Continue reading
By Lisa WoodsPosted in Communication Skills on June 20, 2012
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June 13, 2012
14 Steps to Using Surveys As Powerful Communication Tools
Are you asking the right questions before making decisions?
There are several great online survey templates you can use for standard measurements such as employee reviews, customer satisfaction surveys, product ratings and many others. My message to you, however, is to go outside of those templates and understand that a survey, in its simplest form, is a communication tool that serves three important purposes:
It allows you to ask consistent questions in order to see a trend of answers.
It provides data points you can use to make informed decisions.
It...Continue reading
By Lisa WoodsPosted in Communication Skills on June 13, 2012
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May 21, 2012
Three Personality Traits That Hurt Your Career AND How to Fix Them
Is your attitude helping you our holding you back?
It seems simple enough to assume one’s attitude has an impact on success. But what is not so simple is understanding if you exhibit certain attitudes that prohibit yours. Unless someone actually pulls you aside and tells you that you should change, you will not know until you examine yourself. That is because bad attitudes are like bad customer service. People will just take their business elsewhere rather than complain…. promotions and opportunities work the same...Continue reading
By Lisa WoodsPosted in Communication Skills on May 21, 2012
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