How to Communicate Effectively

Communication makes the world go round. On a smaller level, communication, or being able to communicate effectively, is what gets you through each day, in both your career and personal life. Here's how to make sure someone understands what you say. Please note that this article does not address the listening side of communication which is just as important as the speaking side.

1. Organize and clarify ideas in your mind before you attempt to communicate them.
2. Stay on-topic. Make sure all facts, stories, allusions, etc, add to the conversation/debate.
3. Be clear about the purpose of the communication. For example, your purpose could be to inform others, to obtain information or to initiate action.
4. Articulate. Do not mumble. Look into the other person's eyes if possible.
5. Ask the other person to repeat what you have said, in his or her own words.
6. Thank the person for his or her time, and for listening.

• Do not beat around the bush when you are trying to get a point across. State what you want in a clear voice.
• To maximize the effectiveness of your communication make sure the person has time to devote solely to you. If the person is otherwise occupied it might be better to save your thoughts for a better time.
• To talk without purpose is to ramble. If you want to be taken lightly, ramble.
• If you are someone who keeps your emotions repressed and your body muscles take the full brunt, it is important to exercise and stretch those muscles to stop this. You will stand taller, breathe better and feel stronger if you do this and exercise helps to free your emotions.
• If the conversation becomes too heated, ask for time-out or a break. Explain that it has nothing to do with the other person, it is just that you feel confused, tired or need time to reflect and that you will resume the conversation later.
• Don't yell or say things you'll regret later. This may seem like an easy option at the time but memories linger and it achieves nothing more than agitating and angering both parties. Assertiveness is about conveying your wants and needs without raising your voice.

Choose your next training course carefully

Takeaway: Future career success can hinge on making wise decisions about what skills to add or polish. Here are some considerations you need to take into account when choosing which course of action fits your current and future needs.

There seems to be no end in sight for the shaky current economy. Companies are still cutting and trimming back when it comes to salaries and staff. Growth is stagnating while workloads are increasing.

Job stress and career worries, obviously, are elevated by all these conditions. But, while it may not seem appropriate, it’s actually a great time for IT professionals to home in on the basics and strive to improve skills. Anything you can do to set yourself apart from the crowd or better direct your career path is worthwhile. When unemployment hits or layoffs loom large, you might as well make the best of a bad situation by gearing up for a major job hunt by adding something helpful to your resume.

The big question, however, is whether you should learn new skills in your current area, move in a totally different tech direction and learn something entirely new, or focus on necessary, but nontechnical, business skills.

Consider the goals
Realize, upfront, that there is no one road to take, as each professional’s career situation is unique. Nonetheless, training for any career path is always important.

How to approach this training—or, more often, retraining for the management level—depends on an individual’s goals.

“My advice is to first determine how happy they are doing what they are doing,” said Gina Schiller, VP of technology recruitment for the executive search firm JB Homer Associates. “It’s obviously a different answer for somebody in a good position who is doing well than for somebody who is not doing well.”

Those who are unsure should take an assessment test that can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses and help recognize job aspirations that would otherwise remain hidden. Assessment tests are often available via a company’s in-house HR unit or can be found at third-party organizations, such as the MAPP career assessment test offered by WetFeet.

Implementing a self-driven training plan can be a critical factor for those employees whose jobs are in danger of being cut or professionals who have limited career opportunities in their region.

“If you happen to be in one of those environments where the array of tech jobs is relatively small—say outside a major metropolitan area—you better be flexible and have a wider than average set of tech job skills,” said Dennis Dickens, the chief generalist of Dickens Design Development, a professional IT services firm. “If you don’t, and the organization you are with is forced to make cuts, you may find that getting your next job is tough.”

Mike Jones, a network analyst at Placon Corp., a packaging company in Madison, WI, is taking career enhancement courses through SmartCertify Direct. Jones wants to develop a specialty in security and, perhaps, gain CISSP certification. He said that this could help him gain a promotion in the future.

He said that SmartCertify offered him unlimited access to all programs for a year, so he took the plunge. He believes that IT professionals should consider becoming generalists, as it expands potential employment opportunities. IT workers seldom get called on only in their specialized area, he noted. In many more cases, an IT professional has to do everything from network security to PC and printer networking, especially at small companies. Continuing training is key in this and can open new career paths, he said.

Training doesn't have to be tech related
One interesting new trend is the belief by experts that today’s training efforts don’t have to involve technology.

Folks who may be looking for a new job—either willingly or not—are advised to think of training in “soft” skills. The idea is that many employers look for things beyond the programming languages or types of networks workers are qualified in and similar narrow skill sets.

Important skills include the ability to effectively communicate, a good understanding of business in general, and the ability to see where in the corporate landscape IT resides.

“One of the biggest problems—in IT particularly—is that people are looking for the next technology but don’t have communications skills, and can’t write a memo that conveys a clear idea,” said Matthew Moran, an IT consultant and author of The I.T. Career Builder’s Toolkit. “It’s difficult because in their personal networking, they stay in their peer group.”

To Moran, the ability to communicate and be an advocate for the department, the company, or even the industry is a better training goal than learning new tech skills. The tech skills, Moran pointed out, will likely become obsolete within a couple of years anyway—if the employee doesn’t grow out of using them first.

Another important aspect of any training today is incorporating real-world experience. Simply adding skills via classes is not the most efficient course of action, according to Moran. He said that IT professionals who expand their horizons solely in classroom or online learning settings are often ill prepared for real-world positions that utilize those new skills. The only way to really grow, he stressed, is to put the new skills to work.

Paying Attention To Details - How Important

“The magic behind every outstanding performance is always found in the smallest of details.”

If you long to accomplish great and noble tasks, you first must learn to approach every task as though it were great and noble. Even the biggest project depends on the success of the smallest components.

Many people downplay small details, dismissing them as minutia—the “small stuff,” that we’re encouraged to ignore. But, in fact, our whole environment is simply an accumulation of tiny details.

Although we measure our lives in years, we live them in days, hours, minutes and seconds. Every action—every detail of our lives--has bottom-line repercussions, and it’s dangerous and derogatory to think of any of those details as trivial, unimportant or inconsequential.

Successful people, in many walks of life, understand the importance of detail:

· Crime scene investigators know that it's often the smallest, most obscure detail that results in the arrest and prosecution of criminals.

· Athletes and coaches are all too aware that one minor misjudgment can swing momentum to their competitor and result in a loss rather than a win.

· Doctors and nurses understand that the slightest mistake or loss of focus can result in a tragic situation that carries massive liability.

· Business people carefully oversee the details of their products and services, knowing that one simple slip up can cause a series of events that negatively impacts the bottom line, brand integrity, and public perception.

· Engineers and architects know that the stability of the most gigantic structure depends on the integrity of its smallest element; a failed bolt or a misplaced pin can have huge consequences.

· Fireman, first aid responders, and other emergency personnel are trained to focus on details even as a tragedy unfolds, as every second can make the difference between life and death in an emergency situation.

· Amusement parks know that the safety and physical well-being of their guests—and the financial viability of the company—require consistent and meticulous attention to the minute mechanical details of rides and attractions.

· Computer programmers spend their careers tightly focused on detail, as one incorrect digit in a code of millions can create an operational nightmare for the end user.

· Automotive detailers make their living by restoring a car to showroom condition. This requires the removal of every last piece of lint, dirt, and grime, and the tool of their trade is the simple q-tip.

Ultimately, the key to quality in every aspect of our lives is doing little things correctly, all the time, every time, so that each action produces a quality result. When every detail is lovingly attended to, and each step in the process is given complete and careful attention, the end result inevitably will be of the highest quality.

Passion for your work, a pervasive commitment to quality, and relentless attention to details are essential markers of excellence. Quality work and an appreciation for the importance of details benefit not just the clients a business serves; these attitudes and habits also bring joy and peace of mind to the person who delivers the work. To know how to do something exceptionally well is to enjoy it.

The magic behind every outstanding performance, exceptional meal, fine piece of furniture, jewelry, or clothing is always found in the smallest of details. Those who enjoy the greatest success understand that it takes hundreds of small, seemingly insignificant details repeated perfectly day in and day out to create an unforgettably excellent experience.

The people who deliver superior results are not simply doing more of the same things everyone else does; they are doing better things. Very small differences, consistently practiced, produce superior results.

In business, it is the attention to the little things—the details—that create and build long-term customer loyalty.

From the training of employees and the quality of products and services, to the type of stationary used in correspondence and the music customers hear when placed on hold, a successful company knows that every detail counts. The thread count of a sheet, the font style for a product’s label, the lighting of a room, the welcoming smile, the floral display in the lobby, the polish and shine of a doorknob, are all small details that leave big impressions. In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.

If you believe you are too busy to focus on details, or that attending to the ‘minutia’ of your business would make you less effective in delivering your services, I encourage you to re-examine your thinking.

Further, I can tell you this with confidence: No matter what business or personal activities you are engaged in, you will be continuously challenged by larger problems that could have been prevented if you had paid closer attention to the details at the beginning.

The details of your work affect your company’s ability to compete and prosper. A careless or cavalier approach to details is the kiss of death to progress. Those committed to excellence know that the real threat to success isn't the Armageddon of some huge and horrible slip-up; it's the much more insidious danger of being nibbled to death by the smallest of mistakes or oversights. No lapse of judgment, taste, or quality can be shrugged off by a true professional. Successful people know that everything counts.

It's not that the devil is in the details, but that every detail contains a seed that can potentially make the difference between success and failure. Therefore, if the benefits of hard work are to be maximized attention to detail is a must.

Excellence in any endeavor is a production in which every little detail tells a story about one's intention, commitment, and character. Pay attention to the small stuff. Consistent attention to details produces excellence—that's why every detail counts!