Welcome to the guest blog.
As part of the expansion to help more people tap into their unique talents to communicate, connect and come alive, I've decided to include other voices on the website. I hope the ideas here will help you in your business and in your life. Enjoy!
All my best,
Victoria
Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Marcandangel.com
My mother is a champion small talker. She can make anyone feel comfortable—the mailman, a barista, the kid selling Girl Scout cookies, and her college students. She’s a professor. I don’t know if she learned the skill at work or if it’s something she’s always been able to do, but it really paves the way for her. She’s gotten out of speeding tickets, convinced a contractor to give her a quote far below the cost of materials, and managed to get in to see the Superbowl with no tickets. She’s a phenomenon! There is nothing conniving or manipulative in what she does. She’s just a kind, open person with a gift. People feel comfortable and safe around her. They want to make her life better. Small talk is a powerful tool. It breaks the ice, eases tensions, and gives people a chance to get used to simple communicating before things get more complicated. In business, cleverly crafted small talk can open doors. It ingratiates clients, softens strict managers, and makes new employees feel like part of the team. But like anything, you can overdo it.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Ehow.com
As I discussed yesterday, solid business writing is an invaluable skill. Effective communication relies on succinct grammatically correct sentences, solid organization, clear language, and persuasive argument. Writing is a complex skill that requires a great deal of time and energy to master. It takes consistent practice, a critical eye, and determination. It can be frustrating. Sloppy writing is embarrassing, but we all must be sloppy writers before we can excel. By following some straightforward guidelines, you can improve your writing reliably. For many people, the world of email has dulled perception—it’s easy to gloss over mistakes when our standards are low. Part of learning to write well is learning to see the problems. Before you begin working on your own writing, start paying close attention to the writing you encounter throughout your business day. Is it written in complete sentences? Are words spelled correctly? More importantly, does it convey a clear message? Do you understand what is being asked and why? Here are some additional guidelines for improving your writing.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Ehow.com
I often write about interpersonal communication—the set of complex skills that help one person relate to another, foster collaboration and efficiency, and respect the diverse perspectives of each member of a team. But verbal communication is just one facet of the interpersonal business world. Increasingly, as email becomes one of the primary forms of communication, writing is becoming just as important as speaking. For remote workers, it’s more important. And yet, many of our brightest minds are graduating from business school without a solid formal writing education. This is a dangerous predicament—we must continue to teach grammar, punctuation, and proper voice if we are going to build the next generation of skilled communicators. Here are some tips for effective, powerful writing in a business context. These rules apply if you’re writing an email, a grant proposal, a resume, or a business plan.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Lyriquediscorde.tumblr.com
Human beings are built to fall in love. We see an attractive person and we react. We want to be closer to that person, even if we don’t know why. We get butterflies in our stomachs, our hearts race, our palms sweat, and we suddenly acquire a stutter out of thin air. There is no stopping attraction when it hits. It happened to me once, when a new general manager sauntered through the door of my office like an epauletted Major General out of a 1940’s war movie. His hair was dark and curling, his nose was Roman, and he was every bit as imposing and magnetic as Don Draper or Brad Pitt. I didn’t have time to think or to make a decision, my reaction was immediate and impossible to ignore. I actually blushed! Working with this man for the ensuing two years was an exercise in self-control, discipline, and frustration. If he’d shown any interest, I don’t think I could have resisted dating him, regardless of my long-standing policy to never date co-workers.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Uafs.edu
Last week I wrote about the importance of avoiding ageism in the workplace. Quality older workers are more experienced, they see the big picture, and they are masters of their own performance. If you are lucky enough to have an integrated workplace with employees from different generations, you are likely reaping the benefits of that experiential diversity, but you may also face some challenges. While individuals are always infinitely variable in personality and temperament, there are some general trends that correspond to the decades in which a person spent their formative years.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Politicsforum.co.uk
I was reading an article recently about age and entrepreneurship. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs have been in their 20s. There are many suggested reasons for this: they didn’t have families, they were naïve and unaware of the realistic risks (read: fearless), and they were nimble when it came to pivoting their business plan on a moment’s notice. All of this may be true, but age is just a number. There are plenty of older entrepreneurs who have found major success, like Robin Case, founder of Zipcar. It’s crazy to assume age means a loss of creativity or that older business people are slower on their feet (metaphorically speaking). This attitude travels well beyond the boundaries of entrepreneurship. In business, many of us are hesitant to hire an older employee. We think they are somehow less ambitious and less focused. This isn’t just incorrect, it’s ageist. It’s also illegal.
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Posted by
Anni M.
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Consistency may be the biggest challenge on the road to excellence. That may sound like an inspirational poster but it’s worth some deep thinking: Being consistent, day in and day out, is one of the most difficult feats for humankind. It’s grandiose and it’s a fact. We aren’t necessarily built for the daily grind. Every day we do the same thing: get up, get dressed, have some coffee, go to work. It gets monotonous and monotony is the enemy of solid thinking. When I get bored I tend to dwell on the negative. I feel sorry for myself for having to suffer through the same 9-5 schedule. I complain to my husband about how much I need a vacation. My work suffers. This is what separates a good worker from a great one. A great worker fights through the periodic attacks of boredom. He sees the bigger picture and doesn’t sweat the small stuff. A great businessman knows how to control his own mind.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Ingramsonline.com
Yesterday I began a discussion about the University of Northern Iowa College of Business Administration’s guidelines for gendered communication in the workplace. What started as a simple discussion of gender in business became an exploration of the many deep-seated stereotypes that are infused into our most well intentioned organizations. In an effort to help women navigate the complex and gender-biased business world, CBA is perpetuating the cycle of unequal treatment. They are encouraging their students to work within the stereotypes rather than encouraging them to simply be good at conducting business. I don’t blame CBA. I think they are trying to help their students succeed in a realistic way, but it does illuminate the larger problem: How can women find equal success if they are not held to equal standards? Surely, men and women are different, but the equation is so individual, so variable, I don’t think we can draw any real conclusions on a population scale. But that doesn’t stop people from trying, over and over again, to put men and women in their own little boxes, ignoring the gray area entirely.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Adgloballaw.com
I spoke briefly about gender in the workplace yesterday and it inspired me to dig a little deeper. It’s a difficult subject. Many people are resistant to the idea that gender matters in this day and age. It’s appealing to think that we’re beyond our prejudices, but it’s not realistic. Women still get paid 77% of what men get paid. Some pundits argue that this is due to women’s occupations—they tend to gravitate towards lower paying jobs. If this were true (and there is no evidence that it is) perhaps we should ask why. Are women encouraged to pursue higher paying jobs? Are they trained in key competencies? There is an innate gender inequality built into our culture, from early childhood education to maternity leave policies to preferential hiring. This inequality is expressed everywhere: in our interpersonal interactions, and in our cultural stereotypes. We assume women are quieter, meeker, more emotional, less cutthroat. These assumptions are holding women back.
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Posted by
Anni M.
Image source: Thedapperdude.com
I’m a huge fan of the show Mad Men. I love the 1960s ambiance: the big hair, fabulous dresses, modern art, gas-guzzling luxury cars, and two martini lunches. I get piping mad about the sexism, racism, and other period-appropriate social backwardness. It’s refreshing for a television show to be so brutally honest. One thing I always wonder about when I’m watching it, however, is the constant mixing of business and pleasure. Don Draper will sit in a business meeting drinking whiskey, then he’ll take his clients out for a Broadway show. He’ll wine them, dine them, and sell them on his clever advertising campaigns. Madison Avenue advertising in the 1960s might have been something of an anomaly—we just don’t see that level of high-powered glamor in today’s work place—still we often are asked to incorporate social interactions into our business relationships. So, how do we maintain the appropriate professional balance?
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