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Five Hacks To Improve Your Workplace Communication Skills

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Written by Michelle Riklan

Managing Director of Riklan Resources LLC and expert in employment, employee relations, and training and development coaching.

 

Millennials like to communicate using texts, emails, chats and emojis. They rely on technology so much that 83% of millennials surveyed in a Nielsen study admit to sleeping with their smartphone, while more than 30% use social media in the bathroom.

It’s hard to blame them — they’re the first generation who grew up with social media and smartphones. So it’s not surprising that 64% of college students consider social media access important enough to ask about it in their job interviews. Some young employees (45%) are even willing to accept a lower-paying job if the employer is more flexible in terms of social media access, mobility and choice of device for work.

Comfortable Behind A Screen

Preference for on-screen communication also affects young people’s career choices, with 70% of college students believing it’s not necessary to be in the office all the time unless there’s an important meeting.

 A Hart Research Associates survey found that there’s a huge gap between the students’ perception of their own skills and what employers think. About 62% of students believe their oral communication skills are enough to help them succeed at work, but only 28% of employers agree. Their ability to work with others is also questioned, as 64% of students think they play well with others but only 37% of employers agree.

While their communication and social skills are debatable, it’s no question that there are countless situations when a person’s communication skills will affect their career. It could be an interview, networking event, sales pitch or important meeting. In any case, it pays to pay attention.

Five Hacks To Improve Your Workplace Communication Skills

1. Reframe the negative questions in your mind.

It’s easy to get worked up when you’re worried about a meeting. Negative self-talk like, “What if I stutter?” or “What if I forget my materials?” will make you even more anxious and jittery. Why? Because these questions prompt negative answers such as, “I won’t get the promotion” or “They will decline my proposal.”

I often coach new managers and executives who are not used to the spotlight, and the first thing we work on is changing their mindset — specifically the questions that pop up into their heads moments before they present to an audience. Here’s how that works:

First, list three to five positive “what if” questions you can ask yourself. Examples:

  • “What if my boss likes my idea?”
  • “What if they laugh at my opening joke?”
  • “What if I nail the presentation?”
  • “What if they ask me questions instead of immediately rejecting my idea?”
  • “What if they pay attention instead of checking their emails?”

These questions prompt positive responses, and some of them even trigger your brain to plan ahead. It diverts your attention from all the things that could go wrong, to the things that could go right so your nervousness turns to excitement. Tackle nerves by having a powerful opening to your presentation or speech.

2. Focus on your fans.

Ignore the people who are not paying attention to you — the guy with his arms crossed, the lady busy checking her emails and everyone else spacing out while you’re talking. You’ll just get discouraged if you look at them while delivering an important presentation.

When you’re talking to a crowd, whether that’s a group of five or a seminar with 100 attendees, your best bet is to concentrate on the people paying attention. Find the nodders, smilers and note takers, then focus your attention on them.

3. Be mindful of your body language.

This one is obvious but it bears repeating. The way you stand, how you place your hands and your facial expressions all affect people’s perception of you. Take note of these basic body language tips you can apply in different situations at work.

At a meeting:

  • Don’t fold your arms. It signals that you’re not interested or don’t believe in what you’re hearing.
  • Lean in to show that you’re listening.
  • Smile and make eye contact with whoever is talking. Remember to blink so you don’t look like a zombie.

In a presentation:

  • Don’t be afraid to use hand gestures to make a point
  • Walk around the stage or in front of the table if you’re presenting during a meeting. Sticking to one side shows you’re nervous.
  • Don’t hunch. Stand up straight with your shoulders relaxed. This stance boosts your confidence without making you look stiff.
  • Make eye contact with people in your audience when asking questions. Remember to focus on your fans.

4. Accept people’s facial expressions.

Not everyone will agree with what you have to say during a meeting. Accept it. If it’s your boss who doesn’t look pleased, just carry on and know that you can address negative remarks or questions they have at the end of the presentation. You can redeem yourself then.

In big audiences, it’s impossible to get everyone’s approval so don’t let the audience’s blank stare lower your confidence. Sometimes, they’re just trying to process your message.

If someone keeps interrupting you or shouting negative remarks, don’t let it faze you. Let them share your spotlight or stop talking entirely until your audience turns to them.

5. Stop hiding behind a screen.

If you expect your first in-person meeting or presentation to be perfect, I wouldn’t be surprised if you never spoke up and just continued relying on emails and texts to communicate. It’s such a huge loss, though.

It doesn’t matter if your presentation is a bust, or if your comment doesn’t make you look smart in a meeting. What matters is that you stepped outside your comfort zone and spoke up. Your anxiety and mental insecurities will diminish as you get more comfortable talking in meetings and giving presentations in person.

Original article: Forbes.com

Have you flipped the switch to global thinking yet?

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 By Kirsty Thompson

 

 

 

 

Thank you to everyone that voted in our poll on whether international leadership training programs are relevant in South Africa.

An overwhelming number of you voted YES, agreeing that international leadership training programs are relevant in South Africa, but we also had some interesting comments. One hit the nail on the head – ‘we need to start seeing ourselves as international and align to global standards’. Another comment warned against using ‘uniqueness to hide incompetence’.

So why might global programs be relevant?

The most obvious is that leading in a rapidly evolving global environment surely requires that we access a diversity of thought beyond our own borders and frames of reference. Whether it is the concepts and ideas of the ‘grandfathers’ of leadership theory, or the latest thinking and trends such as AI disrupting and transforming learning and development, we simply must expose ourselves more widely.

Relevance too, comes from the fact that many core leadership attributes have been widely shown to transcend geography and are considered universally applicable (GLOBE). Given the increased global nature of organisations, leadership training that can be delivered consistently to leaders across borders, provides a shared language and a reference point that can be powerful in driving the ownership of behaviour change and affecting a cultural shift in the organisation. And as Peter Drucker said: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”!

The trend toward the global economic village is clear, and the 21st century may very well become known as the century of the “global world” (McFarland, Senen, & Childress, 1993). As leaders, now more than ever, it’s time to seek out the best in class thought leadership (from wherever that originates), make it contextually relevant to ourselves and our organisations, and do the hard work necessary to become the responsible, future-ready leaders to take our organisations and ourselves to great heights.

Business Results Group

With more than 15 years of experience in leadership development, BRG stands on the shoulders of giants. We facilitate greatness by partnering with world respected thought leaders to bring them and their content to Africa, and enable our clients to #BeReallyGreat. We continue to be inspired!

Virtuous Radicals: How Some Companies Achieve Positive, Large-Scale Impact on Society while Others Fail

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By Jennifer Reimer

 

 

How can you and your company achieve greater impact on society?

Serious social and environmental challenges threaten the sustainability of human populations. Millions of Rands are spent each year on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes in South Africa and many large corporations have made commitments to socially responsible actions. Yet there is little evidence of a positive impact of these socially responsible actions. This threatens the positive future state of our society and environment.

At the same time, the future workforce, which will largely consist of millennials, is looking for greater influence on society and our planet through their workplaces. Engaging, motivating and empowering them is on the minds of leaders in South Africa today.

These are key challenges for the future leadership of our workplaces. To cultivate a positive interaction with our society and environment and to ensure a positive future state of our businesses and planet, it is critical that we understand the leadership qualities and processes that will guide these positive interactions. We need to know how these leadership qualities permeate through an organisation, empowering and inspiring the future workforce.

In the face of these challenges, we need to ask; Why are many companies failing to make a significant impact? Are there companies that have shown significant positive impact? What makes these companies different?

Jennifer Reimer, an associate of Business Results Group, and strategy and sustainability consultant is currently conducting her PhD research to discover why some companies have a large-scale positive impact on society and others do not.  As a leadership capability company, we aim to provide you with more information about the leadership and management qualities that can be cultivated to ensure a positive future state of your businesses and our planet. The findings of Jennifer’s research will be made available to enable BRG and our clients to better understand what drives some companies to have a significant positive impact on society while others do not.

In the first phase of her research, Jennifer interviewed employees and stakeholders of South African companies, all of whom reported to engage in socially responsible actions. She found that some companies fail to have a significant positive impact on society, and calls these ‘Moral Traditionalists’. They are trying to do the ‘right thing’ but have little impact.  Those that do tend to have a large-scale positive impact have very specific qualities that differentiate them from their peers. She has termed these companies ‘Virtuous Radicals’ and the world needs more of them, especially as corporations grow increasingly powerful, and humanity’s grand challenges remain unresolved.

The difference comes down to the beliefs of leadership teams and how they permeate through the company to influence the company’s role in society and company processes and actions.

The results include:

  • The three key factors that characterise the companies that have a large-scale positive impact – Virtuous Radicals;
  • The qualities of the leaders who are behind the Virtuous Radical companies;
  • The four actions that leaders can practice to cultivate the Virtuous Radical belief system amongst their employees.

Why is this important?

  • Companies want to ensure that their precious investments are, in fact, positively impacting the intended beneficiaries.
  • The ‘millennial’ population, soon to comprise 75% of the workforce, wants to know how they can make a difference at work and the results suggest some ways to do this.
  • To transform companies, leaders and employees for the future world of work, we need to understand what qualities are needed and what drives them.

Become part of the change

In order to learn about how the company’s leadership beliefs permeate through the company to impact employees, stakeholders, greater society and the environment, we invite you to participate in our 15-minute survey. Kindly click on the appropriate link below.

Survey for C-level executives

Survey for managers and employees

Participants will receive a summary of the first phase of the research immediately upon completion, and a summary of the survey results in a few months. Participation is voluntary and confidential. Your name, organisation and responses will be kept completely anonymous. Thank you in advance!

How Do You Create Business Value?

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By Adam Rampton

In the past three months, I’ve been to China twice, each time working with different Fortune Global 500 companies that are all wrestling with the same challenges: changing market conditions, accelerating competition, and the tensions inherent in trying to maintain local connectedness while ensuring global reach.

In a world of increasing volatility and change, more organisational agility is needed. This puts tremendous pressure on HR leaders and professionals who want to create business value – they are increasingly asked to maximise ideas and outcomes that are inherently in opposition to each other.

Some examples that HR leaders and professionals must effectively tackle include the following:

  • Achieving short-term results and long-term growth
  • Improving customer service with reduced budgets
  • Building collaborative teams and having individual accountability
  • Increasing speed to market and quality
  • Enhancing local relevance/connectedness and driving global brand unity
  • Doing more with less

The CHROs and HR leaders at the multinational corporations operating in China that I work with recognise that their HR professionals and business partners need help navigating these paradoxes and managing these tensions effectively. A new mindset and skillset is needed. The changing business environment requires it and demand is high. These CHROs are working to build the supply side so that HR is better positioned to create real business impact now.

In the seventh round of our global HR Competency Study (HRCS), two new interesting themes emerged:

  1. HR professionals who ‘navigate paradox’ have the highest impact on business results.
  2. Navigating paradox is not done well by HR.

Effective paradox navigators tackle conflict head-on and help their business leaders do the same. They shift from the traditional mindset of ‘either/or’ logic to one of ‘and/also’. These professionals focus on managing tensions that will unleash creativity and new insights.

Seem impossible? You’re not alone. To help you get started, here are four simple steps to strengthen your ability to navigate paradox and position your business for success:

CLARIFY THE POLES

Most business strategies fail in implementation because of unresolved paradoxes. Effective HR business partners will recognise these paradoxes and help their business leaders clarify the poles. What do we mean by “do more with less?” What short-term results are most important? How will we measure them? What does long-term growth look like? Where do we need to innovate?  How do we create space for and encourage experimentation?

Average leaders ignore one pole. Poor leaders swing back and forth or demand both. Great leaders see the inherent tension in both poles and bring the right people together to collaboratively clarify and address them.

DEFINE THE BEST ALTERNATIVE OUTCOME

Once the poles are clarified and we know what we’re trying to achieve, we work through a series of divergent and convergent processes to define the best alternative outcome. A useful tool is illustrated in the matrix below. This matrix helps to further clarify the poles where needed and, more importantly, provides the basis for divergent and convergent discussions to determine how best to move from current state to desired future state.

In this example, the strategy is to ‘achieve 20% EBIT while investing in long-term growth’. For each pole (light blue), the leader and team further clarify the poles by defining degrees of success (dark blue). Next, they identify where they are today and where they want to get in the desired future state (grey blocks). Spending enough time on this step helps the team align to define the best alternative outcome collectively.

SEE OTHER’S POINT OF VIEW TO FIND COMMON GROUND

The tool outlined in Step 2 helps teams see points of tension and begin unravelling paradox in a productive way. They are able to identify potential trade-offs. Effective leaders help the group converge (focus) using simple questions and then diverge (expand) to consider different options and viewpoints. They strive for integration, avoiding ‘either/or’ answers opting for ‘and/also’ solutions instead.

They ask questions like “where do we agree?” and “where do we disagree?” They listen.

In essence, good leaders and HR business partners lead through a series of divergent and convergent cycles to see other’s point of view and find common ground. This allows the group to align with the best alternative outcome and prepare to take first steps.

TAKE THE FIRST STEP

Built on the strong foundation created in the first three points above, these first steps should be easy to initiate. Outline specific first steps – things the leaders and teams will do in the next 3 days, 3 weeks, and 3 months – to demonstrate progress and maintain clarity. Sometimes these first steps will include two steps forward and one step backwards. Be consistent and help your leaders do the same by adjusting operating mechanisms, measures, and incentives to reinforce the desired future state. Take a whole-systems view to enable and sustain the desired change.

Paradox matters. It’s inherent in day-to-day and organisational life. Effective leaders embrace this fact and assemble the right stakeholder team to clarify and address paradox head-on. In HR, paradox navigation skills are the largest predictor of business impact. As HR builds this skillset, it will be better positioned to drive business results by helping leaders clarify the poles of paradox, define the best alternative outcomes, see other’s point of view to find common ground, and take the first steps towards the desired future state.

This article was originally posted on rbl.net

If you’d like to learn more about preparing HR professionals to navigate paradox, contact us at info@brg.co.za. Business Results Group is the exclusive Africa partner to Dave Ulrich’s RBL consultancy group.

 

Critical Lessons from Start-Ups for Human Resources

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By Darryl Wee

The news is constantly discussing how digital start-up companies are disrupting their industries. Interestingly, when I examine these companies further, I find that many practices which are common among start-ups to drive more value in their businesses that HR should also consider adopting.

Are there lessons that HR can learn from start-up companies?

1. Start by Resolving Pain Points

When I listen to CEOs from successful start-ups describe the ideas behind launching their companies, 95% of the time the business was designed to resolve a real-life problem they faced: a specific pain point.

In HR, we should adopt a similar perspective, by looking at organisational pain points. Notice I refer to organisational pain points, not only HR pain points. HR can create the most value by looking outside of our core function and to the entire organisation.

In order to do this successfully, we must approach the pain point from the perspective of the customer and the business as a whole. We must examine how, as an organisation, we can resolve an issue for the business or customer. The solution may bring us back to some HR policies or practices; however, our analysis should not begin inside the HR function. It is important that we look at the issue strategically and from the outside-in, and not from the inside-out.

I am not suggesting that as HR we should not represent our function, or use our functional expertise to address said issue, but I have found that when HR operates as a business leader rather than just as a functional expert, more value is created. The business as a whole benefit from another pair of eyes, analysing an issue with an external lens. Once we have clarity on the pain point and how we may want to respond, we can then add our HR lens to explore additional solutions.

If we are looking at resolving HR pain points, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of our employees and honestly look at what is and is not working. In order to make a real impact, we must minimise our emotional defensiveness from the perceived effectiveness of an HR solution, and really listen to what our customers are telling us.

2. Think Big, Test Small, Learn Fast

After launching their products, start-ups develop, improve, and adapt when necessary. Frequently, after these numerous improvements and tweaks, the original value proposition of their product is significantly different from the end result.

In many larger organisations, there is an expectation that the product be 100% perfect prior to launch.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no matter how much we plan, unexpected things can happen that we are not prepared for. While I do believe that we must be very thorough in our work, I also feel that a more agile approach allows us to react more quickly, focus on solutions, and accomplish more optimal results.

The ‘think big, test small’ methodology is being implemented throughout many organisations. I have noticed that even government ministers are using this terminology. I would believe in this concept but take it one step further: ‘learn fast’.

For years, Dave Ulrich has inspired HR and business leaders to ‘think big’. From my perspective, we should always plan our actions in order to have the most significant impact on the entire business. By thinking big, however, we should not be deterred by the size or complexity of the issue or solution at hand. ‘Testing small’ is an excellent means of quickly piloting a solution to ensure its feasibility and scalability. Start-ups constantly send prototypes that are 70-80% finalised for beta testing with the intent of receiving meaningful feedback before the full product launch. The company expects imperfections but is committed to obtaining insights into potential shortfalls and oversights as quickly as possible. This agile approach allows organisations to act swiftly in refining the product before the final launch.

The third element is to ‘learn fast’. Testing small is not effective or useful if we are not learning from customer feedback to adjust our products and solutions accordingly. In some cases, we see companies rapidly realising a more compelling and practical application of a solution or product, so they ‘pivot’ their focus entirely. As HR, we should also learn how to be agile, and pivot to boost our organisation’s value and total impact.

I am sure that there are many additional lessons we can apply; however, in following the theme of this article, I believe that HR can actively help reduce organisational and individual pain points by ‘thinking big, testing small and learning fast. Utilising this methodology, we will increase our impact on the people within our organisation.

This article was originally posted on rbl.net

Contact us at info@brg.co.za to equip HR to drive more value in your organisation. Business Results Group is the exclusive African partner to Prof Dave Ulrich’s RBL consultancy group.

 

Neuroplasticity: Upgrade Your Brain

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by Adam Gale

Focus, creativity and stress-management are all things you can change with a bit of brain science.

WHAT IS NEUROPLASTICITY?

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to form new synaptic connections between neurons. It’s what enables us to learn new things.

We’re at our most neuroplastic as babies, but as we get older and become more efficient at doing things we already know how to do, we get less neuroplastic. In recent years, however, scientists have discovered that adult brains are far more malleable than they’d previously thought.

WHY DOES IT MATTER TO ME?

Because it means you’re able to improve things that you didn’t realise you could. Whereas before you may have thought there was no point trying to improve because you were congenitally unimaginative or irredeemably scatterbrained, now you have no excuse.

‘Neuroplasticity is happening anyway, we don’t have to do anything to make it happen,’ explains Dr Jenny Brockis, author of The Future Brain: The 12 Keys to Create Your High Performance Brain. ‘If you are exposed to new stimuli, your brain will rewire itself in response.  But if you choose to, you can literally upgrade how well your brain functions in areas like memory or focus.’

HOW CAN YOU USE NEUROPLASTICITY TO UPGRADE YOUR BRAIN?

We are creatures of habit, whether we like it or not. If we’re in a situation often enough, our brains will form such strong pathways that our responses become automatic. It’s similar to riding a bike or using a keyboard.

Unfortunately, our brains can just as often form unhelpful habits as helpful ones: giving a speech automatically causing unnecessary anxiety, for instance. If we want to harness our inherent neuroplasticity to replace bad habits with good, we simply need to practice applying the good habit in a given situation instead of the bad one, until it becomes our ‘new normal’.

It’s hardly rocket science (or indeed brain surgery…), but it works. To increase your chances, Brockis advises picking one thing to work on at a time. ‘New synaptic connections are incredibly fragile when they first form, so you’ve got to nurture them and make sure they stay intact by going back to them and practising. It’s a bit like when you learn to drive a car for the first time – it’s clunky and horrible at first but with repetition and time it becomes much easier,’ Brockis says.

Don’t expect a one-off fix, however. Vigilance and discipline are required. ‘We don’t break habits, they just get weaker if we can replace them with a new, stronger habit. But when a bit pressure comes along, the stress levels go up and we default to the old ways. The brain’s hardwired to go back to the simplest route it knows best.’

WHAT IF YOU DON’T GET THE CHANCE TO PRACTISE YOUR NEW GOOD HABIT?

Rewiring how your brain responds to something that happens regularly (your nightmare morning commute, let’s say) is a lot easier than when the trigger happens less frequently.

Public speaking, for example, is something that for many people only comes along once or twice a year. It’s not impossible to use neuroplasticity to your advantage in these situations, however. Visualisation has been proven to activate the same parts of the brain as actual practice does while focusing on a positive past memory can help to improve your mindset.

ARE THERE LIMITS TO NEUROPLASTICITY?

The short answer is we don’t know. The research is still in its infancy. However, it would seem unlikely to expect you could transform yourself from, say, a numbers dunce to an arithmetical genius, just through a spot of practice. Some things are just hardwired.

But progress is possible where before we assumed it wasn’t. It’s a particularly relevant message for older workers, who might face the prospect of having to retrain mid or late career. ‘The more we use our brain to continue to learn new things the more plasticity we retain. That old saying of “use it or lose it” was right,’ says Brockis.

Old dogs can learn new tricks then, but only if they keep trying.

 

This article was originally posted on Management Today.

Contact us at info@brg.co.za to book Dr Tara Swart and achieve peak brain performance through neuroscience.