Posts tagged ‘Skills’
Effective Business Communication Skills Course
So you want to build your business communications skills, but don’t know where to turn? Are Google searches barraging you with links to courses that promise you everything under the sun? Are you not even sure what to look for? Never fear.
Here are the four areas an effective business communications skills course must cover to be considered worth your while.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Any communication skills course worth its salt will devote a significant chunk of its time to teaching the intricacies of effective public speaking. Lessons on how to speak, where to look, keeping a good oratorical pace and projecting confidence are essential here. If a prospective business communications course does not address at least these topics, look elsewhere.
PRESENTATION SKILLS
Any reputable preparatory course walks you through the ins and outs of delivering information through presentation.
The focus of any such section must center on preparation of a presentation, effective and efficient use of visual aides (ideally with an entire subsection discussing the uses and abuses of PowerPoint), how to consider your audience when preparing your business presentation and coupling all of these with lessons learned from the public speaking program.
BUSINESS PROPOSAL/REPORT/EMAIL WRITING
Time is money in the business world, and effective communication starts with the written word. It is essential for a communications skills course to address the do’s and don’ts of writing email to clients and coworkers alike, how to distill what you need to communicate in a concise way, how to document negotiations and projects in timely reports, and how to pitch effective proposals with clarity. Business writing must be short, direct and clear.
If a business communications course doesn’t devote significant time to teaching you the nuts and bolts of business writing, find one that does. Nearly every client, every employer, and every prospect will come to know you first through your written words, and it’s imperative you learn to make use of this skill.
PURSUATION AND NEGOTIATION
Most of your career in business will boil down to persuading clients to trust you and your company, and negotiating the details of deals once you have successfully persuaded them. Though some of this skill tends to come naturally to many, it can easily be learned by anyone with the proper training.
When searching for business communication skills course, it is also important to evaluate any areas of weakness you may have in addition to these and look for a course that addresses those needs as well.
You can get more articles on business training like negotiation skills training from communication coach Joshua Uebergang.
Effective Business Communication Skills Make A Manager Successful
Article by John Michelcane
Any business establishments with well-organized and clearly-defined channels of communication have a higher success rate compared to one without. Hence, organizations having effective and coordinated business communication systems meet their business goals, and their incredibility increases. In a nutshell, the role of a manager becomes elaborate and critical given the labyrinth of communication flows that take place in a business organization.
Typically, a manager works in close coordination with colleagues, seniors, juniors or clients, that is why effective communication skill is one of the major qualities in order to become a successful manager.
There are two kinds of communication flow that exist in an organization- external and internal communication. Internal communication refers to the transfer of information, data and messages among employees of an organization whereas external communication is flow of information, data and official correspondences between employees and individuals outside the organization, in other words, the customers and business partners. Thus, communication plays a critical role in business development, operations and in retaining the client relationships.
In fact, building a good rapport with customers and clients increase the trust and reliability in business relationship, hence and making it a core business strategy will help a company grow immensely. In a way, the role of a manager is all the more important because attaining competitive advantage in formal and non-formal business contexts is directly in his hands. Listed below are some of the key qualities an MBA graduate or a manager must possess in order to perform successfully in any given business environments:
* Must possess excellent communication skills in order to supervise business discussions
* Must master the nuances of business writing in intercultural context
* Carry a strong business command through the use of appropriate body gestures and non-verbal communication cues.
* Know the techniques and the importance of effective business presentations.
* Possess high interpersonal skills, well-versed with corporate etiquettes and work ethics.
The degree of relevance of the skills mentioned above increases as one goes up the ladder-middle level managers of various public, private and MNCs (multinational companies) who are involved in core business operations, people management and business implementations are best complemented with these traits.
IMT Ghaziabad is a leading management institute which is ranked among the top-ten best Indian Business Schools in India, and it recognizes the critical importance of effective business communication in a business organization. According to the visionary and director of IMT group CDL, Dr Sherry, their management students are exposed to overall skill-developments and they are also well-trained in personality traits.
The institute is undergoing expansion of its centers in other parts of India, and currently IMT Hyderabad is the upcoming project besides the already functional IMT Dubai and IMT Nagpur.
Institute of Management Technology (IMT) is one of the best business school for doing full time MBA courses. Our top class MBA courses can be availed from different regions as we have our institute at different locations such as IMT Ghaziabad, IMT Dubai, IMT Nagpur and IMT Hyderabad. Enroll yourself for bright career.
Achieve USMLE Step 2 CS with Verbal Skills
Article by Gerald Faye Johnson
Communication forms a foundation for the human race’s way of life. There could be no easy way to establish a government, run a school, to enjoy most current entertainment or to practice the medical profession without communication; and you will be unable to practice medical professions without overcoming USMLE Step 2 CS too. Step 2 CS is an exhibition of both your clinical knowledge and skills since you cannot effectively deliver the skills without a good foundation of clinical knowledge.
It may seem superfluous to say that verbal skills are necessary to communicate effectively and during USMLE Step two CS. Yet, much verbal communication is lost when a few basic skills are overlooked. Some of those skills are as follows:
Be knowledgeable about the topic of conversation. The medical student should be familiar with any subject of conversation before discussing it with the patient.
Be clear and concise and state things as simply as possible. Patients are often anxious and will fail to receive your message unless you gear the conversation to a level the patient understands, clearly stays on one subject, and states things concisely.
Avoid words that are interpreted differently by people. The study of meaning of words is called semantics. Even when two persons speak the same language, some words such as love, hate, freedom, and liberty may have very different meanings.
Be truthful. The patient will soon distrust you and consider you unreliable if he or she learns you have given him or her false information. Admit not knowing and seek an answer rather than make a comment that is likely to be an error.
Keep an open mind. An attitude of “I know better than the patient” is quickly discerned by the patient. Patient can make valuable contributions to their own health care.
These basic skills are important to acquire in order for you to get the necessary data for an accurate medical history and present medical complaint of the patient, not just during the actual USMLE Step two CS but also when you are already at your medical residency training.
Gerald Faye Johnson is an Educational Content Consultant for various USMLE Reviews produced by Apollo Audiobooks, LLC and Premedical Solutions, LLC. You can find the source interview podcast for this USMLE Resource at our website.
This article written by Mr. Johnson is based on research, interviews, and experiences of real USMLE test takers, medical students, physicians, and professionals in US medical education. When students and educators share their experiences with us, some of their data is objective and some is subjective (i.e. opinion) and should be taken as such by the reader.
Verbal Skills of Self Defense
Article by Mark Dixon
Your aim with self defence should be to avoid confrontational situations altogether. Being aware of your surroundings and the people in it is key to this. However, there could be a time when you find yourself in a situation where someone is being verbally aggressive towards you.
Part of your training should include developing verbal skills to enable you to defuse this sort of aggressive behaviour before it escalates. Being able to successfully use these skills will help to prevent a potential aggressor from launching into a physical attack.
Generally a person being verbally aggressive towards you is doing so to “size you up”, they are trying to determine whether or not you are going to be easy prey. Their language is aimed to intimidate you and to try and get you to fall into their script.
They are looking to see if you become passive, fearful, timid and/or nervous. These signs show the aggressor that you are probably going to be an easy target.
Now there are times when you may want to use this type of behaviour as a deceptive strategy, however this carries a higher level of risk. The best course of action is to avoid showing these outward signs. Internally you may be fearful and afraid, but it is important that externally you appear focused, confident, relaxed and ready.
Some situations can start with as little as eye contact. You could be in a busy bar or club and inadvertently make eye contact with someone. Next thing you know they are right up in your face saying “What the f*** are you looking at ?”. It is important to remember you aim here is de-escalation. Do not get caught up emotionally on what is going on. Try using closed statements rather than questions or open sentences. Simply replying with “nothing”, or “I wasn’t looking at you” will probably lead to a continuation of this aggressive behaviour.
At Practical Self Protection we are committed to, and focus on, reality based self defence training. We focus on state of the art techniques and training methods that give you immediate results.
If you are considering learning self defence why settle for anything other than the best. Here at Practical Self Protection you will train in a proven and tested system that is effective, realistic and relevant to the world we live in.
Take your training to the next level and keep your training real.
To learn more about the other areas of this system and the step by step approach visit our website here.
Mark Dixon is a senior instructor at www.practicalselfprotection.com specialising in self defense training. For more information on learning self defense please visit the website.
Public Speaking Skills: Public Speaking Fear Comes from Perceived Failure
Article by Doug Staneart
Public speaking skill is just like any other skill in that the more success that you have, the more self-confidence in public speaking that you develop. The more failures, or perceived failures, that you experience, the more public speaking fear that you are going to experience. The nervousness or anxiety that you feel when you present is normal, but experiencing that public speaking fear for the rest of your life definitely isn’t.
Where does Public Speaking Fear Come From?
Think about any skill that you have developed in your life. For instance, you didnt come out of the womb knowing how to ride a bike, drive a car, play a musical instrument, or work your iPhone. The first time that you tried any of these activities, you probably experienced some type of discomfort or nervousness. The key to gaining self-confidence in these, or any skill, is to have some type of success where you grow. If the early stages of the skill development are wrought with failures, though, the self-confidence will diminish. For instance, if someone who had never driven a car before gets behind the wheel of a car all by himself or herself (no teacher or coach), then there is a good chance that this first experience is not going to go very well. If the first attempt to drive is on a freeway, then that fear, just like public speaking fear, is going to be huge. At the end of the drive, the person might say something like,
How To Master Basic Communication Skills
Article by Peter Murphy
I have a problem with the term ‘basic communication skills’; my problem is that this term implies that these skills are very simple and that you are somehow lacking and weak if you don’t have them. Certain communication skills are certainly ‘basic’ to the extent that they are very necessary and that a lot of the success of communication has to be built upon these foundations.
But it is by no means true to say that everyone should somehow naturally possess these skills, which is a slur on those who find communication difficult. Communication skills can be earned.
In every situation and every occupation in adult life, it helps to have certain communication skills.
Verbal Communication:
1. You should be able to speak clearly and concisely to either report factual information or convey an opinion. This is quite a straightforward skill to practice and you can even start by practising on your friends; they will be glad to hear your opinions.
2. Practice speaking to groups as well as individuals; that is quite a different skill to ensure that everyone is included and that everyone gets your message.
3. When you are thinking of improving your verbal communication skills, is it your choice of language, your style of delivery or the way you speak which needs to be worked on? You could ask the advice of a friend or trusted colleague on that as it is sometimes difficult to judge for yourself.
4. You might want to consider taking an acting class or a course on diction to help you to improve your communication skills; local colleges often offer a variety of these courses. You may also find courses in specific areas of communications skills such as customer services, hospitality and conflict management.
Written Communication:
1. Written communication is a different skill to verbal communication; getting your ideas of paper is something that a lot of people find difficult, whether they are an aspiring novelist or someone who finds it difficult to write a concise, understandable e-mail.
2. Learning how to use grammar properly is often the key to clearer written communication. Most jobs and most purposes of writing will require you to have an adequate grasp of grammar. Grammar is definitely something in which you should easily be able to find a course offered at your local college. You could improve your grammar through a business writing course or one aimed at creative writing, whichever you would prefer.
Alternatively, you can find self-help books and workbooks to learn the skills of grammar at your own pace, in your own home. You can also find online writing courses to help you a lot in this area.
Listening:
1. The ability to listen well is the key to understanding communication; in order to do that, you need to fully focus your attention on the speaker to begin with.
2. You can develop your knowledge along with your listening skills by checking out audio tapes and video tapes, perhaps ones loaned from the local library, and practicing fully attending to what is being said on them. You will soon realize that we very often only listen with part of our attention in normal life, but once you have practiced your listening skills you will be able to discern much more from what is being said to you.
Practising these speaking and listening skills will enable you to much more effectively share your opinions with others and defend what you think against their opposing ideas.
Practise your writing and you can express what you want to whomever you wish. When you have practise communicating for a while you will be able to communicate clearly and concisely and be assertive without appearing rude.
A really fun way to become good at such a skill it to listen to radio phone-ins or chat show; you can do this easily, listening to the radio on your drive into work, for instance. Listen out for how people articulate their views and how others receive the messages, depending on how they are expressed.
You will find it fun and quite easy to develop your basic communication skills once you begin to look for opportunities like this.
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. This report reveals the secret strategies all high achievers use to communicate with charm and impact. Apply now because it is available for a limited time only at:
http://www.howtotalkwithconfidence.com/blog
Board Games That Require Verbal Skills
Article by Victor Epand
There are a number of board games available to the public that focus much attention on both words and vocabulary. Playing one of these games is easier for someone with a large vocabulary, yes, but should be recommended to anyone, for they have been shown to help improve verbal skills for people of all ages and educations. Some of the games available focus specifically on the verbal, speaking side of a good vocabulary. The better one can speak and enunciate their language, the better they will perform. Other games focus more on the words and the knowledge of a vocabulary, testing and helping players with this area of words.
Taboo and Mad Gab are two games that focus more on the speaking side of a good vocabulary. Taboo functions under making teammates guess a specific word without using a list of certain banned words. These certain words are considered “taboo.” If a player can think of enough specific words or terms to use in order to lead teammates to the conclusion of the highlighted word in question, points are earned. Knowing a large number of alternate words which can communicate similar ideas is a great help to any players participating in the round. Taboo requires a lot of quick thinking in order to accomplish its goals. Mad Gab, on the other hand, focuses its energy on enunciation skills. Players are given a phrase that, in actuality, is written out phoenetically. Figuring out exactly what the phrase reads, however, can be quite tricky and the player who knows how to use enunciation skills the best will do well in this game.
Other games, however, are more concerned with the words actually required for a good vocabulary. The more of these words which are known, the better a player can do. Speed Scrabble, for example, is an exciting variation on the classic game of Scrabble that allows players to think and act quickly while still giving the chance for creativity that players of the classic game have come to love. The concept behind the game is simple and its execution is quick. Players are never forced to wait for another to finish their turn and never have to deal adjusting their strategy because someone stole the spot they had in mind for their next turn.
The game begins with a basic Scrabble set. The board for the game is placed to the side and ignored. All 100 of the letter tiles are placed, face down, in the center of the table and shuffled around. Each player then randomly chooses 7 tiles and places them in front of themselves, still face down. A player is then designated as the first “Go-sayer” and when every player is ready, this person will shout, “Go!” All players then flip their 7 tiles and proceed to use all of the tiles to make words in the form of a basic crossword. All the tiles must be used and all of the words must intersect each other, much as one would find on a classic Scrabble game with the exception that the player builds only on their own words. Players are challenged with this game to think creatively, outside the box, building on their own vocabularies to benefit more than other players. All of these games, however, help to encourage verbal skills in any player interested in learning.
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for board games, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures. You will find all these things and more if you visit board games using verbal skills, chess boards, and dungeons and dragons miniatures.
Communication skills training
Developing your personality and communication skills can help you successfully achieve any of your goals. The quality of leadership is enhanced with improved communication skills. Dynamic Presenting helps you in developing all the above qualities. Dynamic Presenting is a London based consultancy firm that aims to perfect training of the above skills to senior executives. Improved communication skills and presentation skills both increase your confidence level and can work to convince and persuade people with whom you interact. If you normally speak in public then Dynamic Presenting can assist you in enhancing your presentation skills and your audience convinced. Dynamic Presenting adopt best practice for training senior executives by amongst other elements, including theatre training principles. Dynamic Presenting tailor programmes specifically to your business needs and conduct them along the same principles.
They work in depth to find the nucleus of the message and prepare custom made content and presentation styles. As presentation training consultancy Dynamic Presenting also help in developing posture during presentations and correcting certain bodily expressions. They go to the extent of video taping the performance and rectify them further for the greatest improvement on personality and communication skills of the speaker. The approach is different for separate people as no two people will present the same. The presentation skill in Dynamic Presenting include development of physical posture, the relevance of pausing during speech, the fineness in expression and projection, and preparing you to accept difficult questions from the audience comfortably. These developments improve both your personal skills and communication skills. Executive training programmes in London are conducted to enable executives to present and communicate properly and confidently. Training can be undertaken in locations suitable to you. Dynamic Presenting consultancy was created by Sartaj Garewal in 2010 and he has years of personal experience in developing personality skills and communicating skills. He has mastered the art while working with several theater productions such as the Royal Exchange Manchester, Royal Court and Bush Theater and also in feature films and TV shows. He contributes his experience by training people from various work of life and various level of seniority. With business experience as well, Sartaj can confidently say that he has encountered multiple sides of presentations and communication. Many London based businesses have benefited from the communication and presentation skills training provided by Sartaj and Dynamic Presenting, and for executives in London, the training has provided a fresh way of learning new skills. The training results in a more polished approach to communication – both presentation and otherwise, and is something that anyone can benefit from. Improving personal and communication skills is something that should never cease, and everyone has room for further improvement
To find out more about the various consultancy programmes for presentation skills training in London and communication skills training in London visit the website dynamic-presenting.co.uk
Communication Skills
Communication skills simply do not refer to the way in which we communicate with another person. It includes many other things – the way in which we respond to the person we are speaking, body gestures including the facial ones, pitch and tone of our voice and a lot of other things. And the importance of communication skills is not just limited to the management world, since effective communication skills are now required in each and every aspect of our life.
First, let us concentrate on the importance of communication in business. We can measure the importance of communication skills in the business sector when we take a look at job advertisements. Perhaps this is the only criteria which create a positive impact when a person goes for a job interview. This is because technical qualifications are likely to be more or less the same for the candidates.
Without effective communication skills, a person may find it impossible to climb up the corporate ladder. Promotions come to those who can communicate effectively at all levels, from senior management level to the lowest employee.
As for communication within relationships, it should be remembered that maintaining good relationships is a way to a healthy lifestyle, and a good relationship can only be maintained by maintaining healthy communication with our near and dear ones. They are the ones we stay with on a regular basis. They are also the ones who see us at our best as well as our worst. Good communication skills help the relationships to develop along good lines, and ensure that arguments and disagreements are kept to a minimum.
Good communication will avoid arguments and insults.
Another important part of communication in relationships is taking the initiative yourself. Do not wait for your best friend to call you after a long break. Instead take the phone and also take initiative to start the conversation. Often people have this problem while communicating, which comes from fear. They always think a thousand times whether to approach a person or not. But a person with good communication skills is always the first to start a conversation.
Given the importance of communication skills in both the personal and the corporate world, any individual who want to make progress with their life should develop this important skill.
Hi I am Piyush Bhatia the Founder and CEO of BM English Speaking Institute Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India. Come and learn English with us. Along with English training we also, enhance people’s confidence, public speaking, presentations, business English, grammar practice email drafting and group discussion skills.
Assertive Communication Skills
Article by Michael Logan
We talk a lot, and those conversations, if we use assertive communication skills, can make a big difference in how our relationships go. If I have anything to add to the assertive communication skills dialogue, it is an awareness of how rapidly we change internally based on our perception of and interpretation of nonverbal communications.
Mihalyi Csikzsentmihalyi in his book Flow (1993) estimated that we process seven bits of sensory data in parallel, and that the shortest amount of time between sets of seven bits is 1/18th second. Remember, it takes 1/10th second to blink your eyes.
Michael Merzenich,Ph.D., one of the world’s leading researchers on neuroplasticity, says that Senior drivers need to be prepared to process changes in driving conditions in 1/45th second.
Paul Ekman,Ph.D. says we respond to facial expressions in 1/25th second, and my stress response to a look of contempt from a boss, a mate, or a child, may happen faster than I can create words. I had better be on my assertive communication game plan if I am to sustain assertiveness.
Assertive communication skills begin in my head, with a thought or a commitment to use them.
My commitment revolves around “I” statements, awareness of my feelings, heart beat by heart beat relaxation, playfulness, reflective listening, and the offering of choice.
In my domestic violence groups, I really use the reflective listening and the relaxation skills.
Every person who comes to my group has a story to tell, which will be told using their current level of assertiveness training.
More than likely, their story will be told using aggressive or passive-aggressive communication skills.
In those early moments of building our relationship, reflective listening will be a key part of helping my court ordered student to settle in.
So I will begin my comments with the phrase, “Here is what I hear you saying….” and repeat back to them a summary of the story.
In order to summarize the story, I need to listen closely, and I make an effort to repeat the client’s story verbatim in my head,which keeps me from preparing my “very knowledgeable” retort.
My goal in using the reflective listening is to begin teaching by example what assertive communication skills are. I often ask clients how they feel when someone pays attention to them, and the usual reply is, “good”.
In fact, when I use reflective listening skills, I can watch an agitated person calm down.
I may even begin to teach my clients at this point the HeartMath process, which always intrigues them, because I ask some provocative questions leading into it.
Then I may even hook them up, so they get a sense at this early part of the process that it is their thinking about the external world that brings on physical changes, and how fast that happens.
By the way HeartMath is a biofeedback tool that gives very accurate information to a client via a computer screen about the time between heart beats and how to make that time more consistent, which is called coherence, by breathing deeply and regularly, and managing thoughts. HeartMath is a feel good experience, and once learned, (took me six 1/2 hour practices), I can cue the physiology on demand by repeating a thought.
The heart has a very sophisticated nervous system, and sends a lot of data to the brain about emotions, much more than the brain sends to the heart. This brain in the heart is affiliative and cooperative, so cuing the HeartMath physiology has a huge impact on assertive communication skills.
I also like to teach the assertive communication skills that are part of the John Gottman,Ph.D., model called The Art and Science of Love, especially for my domesitic violence and anger management clients.
Gottman has studied couples for 30 years, and has teased out of his work the skills that the Masters of Marriage use.
Those skills apply to assertive communication skills. After discovering your partner’s Love Map, you begin to Turn Towards Each Other During Everyday Events by honoring what Gottman calls invitations to turn toward.
Those invitations can be very subtly communicated, so one has to pay attention and make quick decisions about how to respond.
Most of Our Communication is Nonverbal
I teach quite a bit about how we respond nonverbally to facial expressions, based on the work of Paul Ekman,Ph.D. Ekman says that we can respond to a subtle expression of contempt with anger in 1/25th second which is about 2.5 times as fast as I can blink my eyes.
So assertive communication skills have got to come online fast, along with my HeartMath skills to give me a chance to respond to contempt assertively rather than aggressively or passive-aggressively.
In any communication, I will respond to facial expressions and body posture before the words that are spoken.
If the speaker is not congruent in verbal and nonverbal communication, the listener may create an stress response faster than they can create reflective listening words.
Daniel Goleman calls that an amygdala high jack, and it floods us with stress hormones, making assertive communication very hard, if not impossible.
The Gottman’s address what they call ‘flooding’ in their work. They recommend for men that a minimum of 20 minutes be taken to calm down.
Next comes the use of ‘repair phrases’ that the Gottman’s supply examples of.
So as you can see, assertive communication skills are dynamic and must be applicable to a huge number of situations and responses.
They can be learned, and relationships built using them, and relationships can be repaired when there are breakdowns in communications.
The basic assertiveness training skills are remaining committed in my head to using assertive communication skills, no matter the response they get, using reflective listening, maintaining my heart intelligence, and offering choice, if I am communication with a peer. If I am communicating i a hierarchical relationship, then I need to either listen to feedback, or offer it, and be prepared to accept consequences for delivering a command, or accepting one.
In all cases, awareness of my physiology gives me choices.
Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and a licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing.
http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com