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Tuesday

Manage Your Own Morale

Business facts
Here are some facts that you probably didn't realize that you needed to know.
  1. Every business day people file 200 million pieces of paper.
  2. People spend 60% of their day dealing with documents.
  3. The average business document is copied 19 times.
  4. Executives waste 3 hours a week searching for lost documents.
  5. Businesses produce 600 million documents a day.


Getting the right message across

According to the experts, 7% of the impact we make on people is based on what we say, while 38% is based on how we say it (our voice, grammar etc…)

Unless we are diligent about the way we express ourselves, we can easily fall into bad communication habits – and our professional images suffer.

To ensure that you are getting the right message across polish up your verbal skills:

Avoid careless pronunciations such as I wanna, “cuz” and “yeah”. They tend to reflect carelessness and can tarnish your professional image.

Cut out unnecessary fillers; too many “ums,” “likes,” “you knows” and “actuallys” have the same tarnishing effect and can distract the listener.

Avoid slang and profanity. Many people find it unprofessional and offensive. In addition, slang is not universally understood, so you risk not getting your point across – especially in today’s global marketplace.

Use the right word. Misused words detract from your credibility and cause the listener to question if you really know what you’re talking about. If you’re uncertain about the meaning of a new word, don’t use it until you’ve had a chance to use your dictionary.

Speak confidently. Don’t put yourself down by prefacing your statements with “I don’t know much about this, but…” or “This may sound silly…”. These also undermine your credibility, and may mean your audience stops listening altogether.

Being conscious of the way you express yourself can have an enormous effect on your image and your future. It may be hard to break old habits, but if you want to get the right message across, it’s well worth the effort.


Manage your own Morale

Over the years, we've been led to believe that “management” is accountable for all employee morale. Letting someone else have the responsibility of keeping you happy and cheerful at work could be construed as a clever move - it may even be possible to justify on occasions, as organizations can treat people unfairly and some managers are unable to provide positive feedback and praise when it is fully justified.

As in any fast-evolving environment, difficult decisions need to be made and companies can be forced into tight corners on issues. Things have to be done that may be hard to accept, but this doesn’t automatically mean the people in charge carry the complete burden of responsibility to give everyone a positive attitude.

On occasions, there may be the “grieving” or “getting over a bitter disappointment” time which is not only totally natural, but also a necessary part of the recovery process. However, don’t lick your wounds throughout the rest of your career - you’ll need to get over it at some stage, preferably sooner rather than later.

But if you put someone else in charge of your own morale, you are dis empowering yourself; instead, make sure you’re in charge of your own “attitude control” button. Organizations want employees who not only cope with change without breaking stride, but positively thrive on it. Rapid change guarantees that almost everyone will be able to cite examples of being hard done by, but it’s your choice if you decide to be bitter about it or take the punch and rise above it.

At the end of the day, what’s best for your career? Ideally, you’ll accept change as an exercise that, though sometimes painful, helps you build more emotional muscle.



Using questions skilfully
Effective questioning begins with active listening - listening for the feelings behind the words. It is listening that puts the speaker's feelings, concerns and thoughts first.
Few things are harder than active listening. Not only must you first process information, then remember it, interpret it, evaluate it and respond to it; you must also not ask anything back for yourself - no changes to 'have your own say' or 'get your two cents in'.
So why bother with such a demanding listening skill? Because you can't truly be an effective manager, supervisor or co-worker unless you do! Once you master the skills of active listening, you'll 'get' as much as you 'give' in terms of increased productivity, morale, motivation, sense of teamwork, etc.
Questions can sometimes be detrimental to the active listening process. However, if asked correctly, they can be extremely helpful. It all depends on the kind of questions you ask and the way you ask them.
Active listeners consciously avoid using questions that would threaten or challenge the speaker. ("What do you mean by that?" or "Why did you say that?").
Instead, they use questions to clarify, elaborate and understand. ("How did you come to feel that way?" and "What do you think is the biggest stumbling block right now?").
To get a better handle on the questioning, let's first take a look at some questioning 'do's'.
Do use open questions
'Open questions' are questions that call for more than a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer or similar short reply. Open questions make it possible for a person to respond with what's on his or her mind.
Open questions often begin with words such as "how", "what, and "where".
For example:
  • "How did that make you feel?"
  • "What happened next?"
  • "Where do you see this leading?"
Do use expanding questions
This type of question may encourage the speaker to elaborate or clarify something she/he has said before. These questions are especially effective when you sense that the speaker is hesitating to say something she/he may wish to communicate, but is afraid to say for some reason. Examples of 'expanding' questions are:
  • "Can you tell me more about that?"
  • "I'm still a little hazy on that last point. Could you be a little more specific?"


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