Effective Communication Skills: Do You Agree Men Communicate Better Than Women in the Workplace?

Effective Communication Skills: Do You Agree Men Have Bigger Promotions And Paychecks Because Men Communicate Better Than Women?

In a TV interview on a leading news channel, a former Secretary of State, had admitted that men fared better than women in the communication skills.

Men are bolder in expressing their opinions. They assert their ideas in meetings. Women tend to be consensual and compromising. They tend to go along with other people's ideas. And, this has some significant influence on the fact that more men are promoted into the top jobs in the workplace. It is undeniable that women are catching up fast, but men still dominate the top jobs in the corporate world.

There are many women and men who lack in communication skills. It is said that the fear of public speaking is greater than death for most people. According to psychiatrists, the fear of public speaking is caused by the fear of ostracism, the fear of standing out, the fear of criticism, the fear of ridicule, the fear of being an outcast. The fear of being different prevents most people from seeking new ways to solve their problems.

This is where the great men are separated from the little men - the fear of public speaking. The great men conquer fear. The little men enslave themselves to fear.

Many people are fearful of public speaking. The fear is real. They speak eloquently in private circles. But stage fright eats up all the bright ideas. They get all worked up, speechless and make a fool of themselves in front of others.

However, management judges your potential based on your charisma and workplace communication skills. From your words they know how much knowledge and worth you are hiding behind your brains. However, at office presentations and meetings the right words just don't flow out. You have sound technical knowledge and practical ideas. Yet, your ideas lived and died with each project that came into being and gone. Yet, you wished the project could have performed better on your suggestion. Yet that never happened. Why? Blame it on the lack of confidence, courage and communication skills.

To improve communication skills in the workplace: Train yourself to speak up. Do mock presentations and video yourself. Then replay to review yourself critically. Or you could build up your confidence through speaking in a church or toastmasters club.

Your ability to speak up in front of others or make presentations on the flipchart, whiteboard, projector, rostrum or stage is a necessary evil for executives. You can no longer hide behind a quiet demeanor or make monosyllable statements but expected to lead the floor with your ideas and suggestions.

Professional Dress in the Workplace: Communicate Your Dress Code Policy

Shorts and flip flops. Sneakers and sandals. Denim jackets, halter dresses and t-shirts.

Sounds like the way people dress when they are taking a trip to the mall or the beach. These days, it is also the dress code for many an employee in the modern workplace.

Gone are the days when there seemed to be a very clear standard for workplace attire in the office.

The work culture has changed over the last several decades. Many businesses have relaxed their dress code standards. Suits and ties, blouses and skirts closed toe shoes and pantyhose seem almost archaic in some companies.

In the interest of adjusting to the mores of the times, the pendulum as swung completely in the opposite direction.

Most businesses do not even have an official dress code policy for employees or do not feel comfortable enforcing the dress code policies that are in place for fear of offending employees.

Not all companies need to institute a dress code policy that requires that their employees dress in suits, but it is important that staff understand what to wear to work.

A dress code policy should include the following:

A summary of your expectations related to work attire including whether the work attire to be worn should be business casual or business formal.

Guidelines on what is considered appropriate as well as what type of attire is inappropriate for the office Appropriate attire for business would include any of the following based on your work culture:

    Shirt, tie and business slacks
    Suits
    Day Dress
    Khaki's
    Sweaters,
    Sports Jackets
    Skirts
    Blouses

Inappropriate clothing may include:

    Tank or tube tops
    Leggings, spandex pants
    T-shirts
    Shorts
    Extremely short skirts or dresses
    Halter, spaghetti strap or sleeveless dresses, (worn without a jacket or a sweater)

Do not neglect to be clear about the types of footwear that is appropriate in the office. Sneakers, sandals, flip flops and other casual footwear are not appropriate office attire for the majority of companies.

Your dress code policy should also incorporate your standards related to excessive jewelry, cologne and perfume.

Certainly overly worn, ripped, or unclean clothes are unacceptable in the workplace as are clothes with language or images that may be considered repulsive to co-workers or customers.

Although some of your employees may beg to differ, the point of having a dress code standard is not to make your employee's lives miserable. All of your employees should be projecting a professional image whether it is through their interactions with customers, or by their choice of work attire.

Your customers and clients will rightly or wrongly, judge your business based on how your employees dress. First impressions do mean everything in business. When it comes to workplace attire, people do judge a book by its cover.

Workplace Communication - How to Assertively Approach a Difficult Conversation

Not all difficult workplace conversations are of the high-risk variety-like asking for a raise. Some are garden-variety prickly-stem types-please don't burn incense, please speak a little lower when you're on the phone or please don't comment on things that have nothing to do with you. Yet, when these conversations are handled poorly they can make a work environment unbearable. The key is to use thoughtful, assertive communication skills.

Recently, my beloved decided to surprise me for my birthday. He made reservations at a new restaurant opened by a famous television chef we both enjoy watching. A few hours prior to the time we needed to leave M. called me from work and asked me to get the address and the directions. (Yes, he asked for directions.) A quick search online gave me what I was looking for but it also gave me access to several reviews. They weren't good. I searched again, read a few more reviews and they weren't good either. Twenty-five or thirty searches later I knew that if we honored our reservations we were both going to be disappointed.

Now I had a slight predicament. Do I keep quiet, go and hope for the best or call him and suggest we make alternate plans. This was his gift to me and I wanted him to know I appreciated the effort. It seems a minor conversation but mishandled it could result in bad feelings. Some of you are thinking-just go and have fun, it's not the place it's the company that matters. Others are shaking your heads crying out-no, don't be nuts just make different plans-it's your birthday. The less empathic might be thinking-what's the big deal?-tell your guy he got it wrong and make him fix it. And still, some overly sympathetic folks are taking on the bad feeling as their own, knowing how much thought M. put into picking just the right place for my birthday dinner.

Responses to this dilemma run from doormat to bulldog on the assertiveness scale-and this is a minor challenge. Imagine the response to a high-risk conversation. Do I opt for short term disappointment or the long-term sense of feeling ripped-off, foolish, or regret? I called and told M. what I discovered and made an alternate suggestion. A moment of silence followed by-"I'll call you back"-was his response. I made no assumptions about his emotionless reaction.

In the end, my birthday was delightful. M was happy I told him beforehand avoiding the long-term consequences previously mentioned.

Workplace Communication - 4 Beliefs That Create Conflict and Dismiss Collaboration

Understanding the underlying beliefs that create conflict can go a long way in improving workplace communication. Conflict is a natural part of human interaction and properly managed can lead to creative solutions, valuable insights, and personal growth.

Here a look at the four underlying beliefs that can lead to disagreements and poor communication:

1. The belief that the other side must understand your perspective so they will begin to think the same way you do. This leads to a battle to be first to explain your side of an issue. At first glance, it is easy to agree with this statement, but in reality the opposite-listening to the other side first-leads to faster resolution and the opportunity to learn something valuable that might shift the way you see things.

2. The belief that you are a good listener-and strive to understand differing points of view. The truth is that conscious and active listening is a difficult skill to master and requires the discipline of being fully aware in every conversation. As technology continues to take us further away from one-to-one conversations the less opportunity there is to practice the skill of conscious awareness. Real understanding and honest communication does not occur in 140 characters.

3. The belief that you hold no fear if you know you are right. The very idea that your sense of righteousness precludes fear is unreasonable. The real truth is that your belief stems from a place of fear-the loss of something-stature, face, authority or the shattering of your belief. Loss rather than the possibility of gain becomes the basis of your communication style setting the perfect stage for conflict.

4. The belief that resolution means triumph over another resulting in a winner and a loser. Unfortunately competition is highly regarded and often encouraged in the workplace making the possibility of collaboration all the more difficult. Collaboration conjures up compromise but that need not be the case. Collaboration can spur creativity and the generation of brand new ideas-that neither side previously considered. Think about it-we teach conflict resolution skills rather than collaboration skills! Imagine the mindset shift that would require-but imagine the possibilities it would foster.

Take a moment to consider your own limiting beliefs. What one belief, that if you shifted your thinking about, would make the most difference in the way you handle disagreements in your workplace? Replace the world conflict with collaboration and observe how your communication changes.

Workplace Communication: How to Deal With Workplace Complainers

It is really important that workplace communication be positive even if you have problems that have to be solved. This article will teach you how to deal with negative complainers in your workplace.

Do you have on staff, or as a colleague, someone who could aptly be nicknamed Eeyore?..You know the donkey character from A.A. Milne's, "Winnie the Pooh" story... the one that's always down?

In the story, no matter what the situation is, he always finds something to complain about.

Why should this matter?

Eeyore the Complainer

People like Eeyore can have a drastic effect on employee morale. Have you ever noticed that when you or your staff are around people who complain constantly, you start to feel negative as well?

Complainers are fearful people who have little faith in themselves or others. They believe the world is a hostile place. They believe that things are going to be bad and get worse because of the way things work.

They do not expect to be able to come up with solutions themselves for issues that come up - they would rather just complain about the problems and expect someone else to eventually come along and try to fix them. Meanwhile, they have the chance to complain and express negativity to anyone around who is forced to listen to them.

Resist Engaging With a Complainer

Most people feel compelled to either uplift this person's spirits or to avoid them. That's natural, because most people want to feel good and they want others to feel the same.

It is natural for people to want to try to argue with and convince complainers that things are better than they seem, or that they can work together to make things better. They believe that this will help alleviate the complaining.

Unfortunately, you can't argue a complainer out of his or her negativity. All you can do is respond with your own positive expectations... and leave, if possible.

People can be strongly affected by other people in their environment. If they are with other positive people who communicate positive thoughts, they will tend to have the same outlook.

However, if they are surrounded with negative individuals who complain about everything, they will likely eventually take on negative outlooks as well, in spite of their positive demeanor.

Boost Employee Morale to Negate Complaining

This is a major reason why it is so important to have strong employee morale programs in place at your company. It is virtually impossible for employees to avoid all of the complainers, but with employee morale boosters being given on a regular basis, the effects of the complaining can be negated.

That is because morale boosters are positive and energizing, and people cannot think negative thoughts and positive thoughts at the same time. Therefore, if you fill the workplace with positive thoughts and activities, there will be a lot less time for negativity and complaining.

That is why...
Employee morale boosters can be a very effective way to deal with the negativity of Eeyores in the workplace, and improve workplace communication.

Ways to Enhance the Effectiveness of Workplace Communication

What factors contribute to making communication at the workplace effective? Many organizations and training companies are constantly grappling with this question. Organizations ask this question in order to ensure that these competencies are enhanced in the workforce; training companies ask the same question in order to decide what needs to be done differently in their communication training workshops. To ensure effectiveness in workplace communication, the focus on training ought to be on these intangibles apart from the basic process of communication and its elements. Training often focuses on the basic process but the more critical question is, "Do the programs address the plethora of intangibles in communication that contribute to its effectiveness?"

Enhancing Effectiveness by Augmenting the Intangibles in Communication:

    Conviction & Passion: In a business environment there are ample situations with the need to communicate strong feelings and attitude. For example: In a crisis situation when the leader decides not to follow the process to avert the possible loss of a large account or a high value customer, mere words do not make the cut. A tone of voice that conveys his emotional state with exaggerated body language persuades the staff to follow his instructions more than just words.Reflecting on Albert Mehrebian's communication model will help us in understanding the need for expressing conviction and passion in your communication. According to this model only 7% of people's understanding of the emotional content of communication is through the actual words used. Another 38% of understanding is from the tone of voice and 55% from body language. This simply means that 93% of communication during high-stress situations, is a result of factors that are beyond mere words. For the receiver to believe your message they need to be convinced that you believe in it in the first place.

Check for effectiveness during training:

    What is the appropriate emotion/feeling that I need to express?
    What are those non-verbal cues that contribute to expressing these emotions?

    Enabling Receiver to Visualize your Message: Effective communication is strongly impacted by the tactful use of metaphors. Metaphors gives a reference point for the receiver to understand the message effectively. In fact, using metaphors can help THE sender to influence the receiver's perception of the message. Metaphors can take three different forms:

    Allegory is the representation of abstract ideas or principles through characters, figures or pictures
    Hyperbole is primarily an exaggeration of events with the objective of conveying strong feelings and intent. For example: "Learning that process is like learning rocket science" or "that file weighs a ton"
    Simile is nothing but comparing two objects through some connective word such as like, as, so, than, or a verb such as resembles. For example: "That man on the negotiation table was as mean as a bull"

Check for effectiveness during training:

    Will using a metaphor enhance the message I intend communicating?
    Will it give me the desired result?

    Communicating from the Receiver's Perspective: Finally, the effectiveness of communication is dependent on whether the message was structured to elicit a positive response from the receiver. In other words, the effectiveness of your message lies in your knowledge of the receiver - your knowledge about what the receiver understands and what they do not.

Check for effectiveness during training:

    Do you share any of the communication barriers with the receiver?
    Are there any cultural, language, emotional or psychological barriers?

How Communication Training Addresses these Intangibles

In order to address these intangibles, communication training needs to focus more on how the message is expressed than the content of the message itself. In other words, the mental PICTURE created by how the message is conveyed results in enhancing the message itself.

P - Pitch & Pauses: Pitch is a musical term that refers to the highness or lowness of our voice. Every speaker has an optimal pitch to speak. It is the range you are most comfortable speaking in. You may inadvertently use a higher pitch if you are nervous and a lower pitch while trying to sound authoritative. Understanding the pitch that needs to be used to persuade and show conviction and passion is critical here. Learning to use pauses in your communication can enrich your communication. A meaningful pause builds anticipation and keeps the audience interested.

I - Inflection: Inflection is the emphasis that is laid on certain words or phrases in a sentence to convey the message. The following exercise will give you a better understanding of what inflection means. Read aloud the following sentences by emphasizing the word in red color and experience how the message changes when the word that is being emphasized changes.

    I didn't say he stole my purse
    I didn't say he stole my purse
    I didn't say he stole my purse
    I didn't say he stole my purse
    I didn't say he stole my purse
    I didn't say he stole my purse
    I didn't say he stole my purse

C - Courtesy: According to a study conducted by the University of North Carolina on 1400 workers, 52 percent of people interviewed said they "lost work time worrying about incidents of rudeness." Courtesy involves using the right words (in written communication) and tone to convey respect (spoken communication). In Business Communication, it is possible to be courteous while being direct and business-oriented. Imagine the increase in productivity if everyone was a little more courteous.