10 Tools to Rev Up Your Business and Personal Communication

If you are a manager in your organization, there's most likely a reason for that – people trust you, think you do quality work, and respect you as a leader. But if you're not an effective communicator, you'll lose that reverence and you won't retain employees.

A study in 2001 involving some 20,000 exit interviews found that the number one reason people leave jobs is "poor supervisory behavior." In other words, bad bosses.

And one of the biggest factors cited in the findings was poor communication skills. Discussing communication mechanics can be a monstrous proposition, so let's boil things down. Utilize the following basic communication tips, applicable to both business and personal life, and watch your network of friends, colleagues, and valued employees expand.

1. If there's a problem with someone, have a meeting NOW. Talk things out one-on-one. If silence ensues, do something to promote dialogue. But be careful; if emotions are running high, put point-of-sale aside and wait for things to calm down.

2. Be accessible. Give people an opportunity to leave a message if you are not available. Can those people who are important to you reach you readily, or are there mechanical and bureaucratic barriers?

3. Make communication tools available to your staff — cell phones, digital recorders, voice mail, e-mail, and various meeting places for one-on-one, in-person dialog. Scheduled group meetings are prime tools that provide everyone a forum for communicating. Keep meetings brief (training classes excepted).

4. Can your staff, clients, and potential clients find out more about you through a Web site, hard copy, or other medium, or do you remain a mystery? Do you talk about your world to the people around you or do you keep to yourself? Mysterious people typically don't do well in business or friendship.

5. Yes, it's important to keep lines of communication open, but are you going back and forth with a person who consistently works against you? This could be in a personal relationship or with an employee or client. If the other side's intentions are consistently malevolent, it's irrational to continue to communicate. End the relationship. You are not in the business of being coerced. Do you have a close family member who is on the attack? If so, I sympathize. That's a tough one.

6. Be concise. Get to the point. Unless you are at a barbecue on a Saturday afternoon, do yourself and those around you a favor by getting on with things.

7. Be cordial and friendly, but don't overdo it.

8. Never bash others behind their backs. It's low-class and any employee, client, or relative who has any degree of personal sophistication will devalue you.

9. Talk up to people if that is the context. Your client — who is paying you — wants the bottom line and your personal friendship is not part of his or her expectation. Likewise, with your boss. These people expect you to listen to them and not to give orders, although they want you to provide them advice. Again, while you take direction and provide information, be cordial, but not too cordial.

10. Speak authoritatively to the people you direct. They want respect, concise direction, and they expect their paychecks to be on time.

Help! In Need Of A New Name For Blogging

I'm working with a sharp group of Communication majors from the University of New Hampshire right now. Honestly, their enthusiasm each week for the assignments I've given them as part of the unpaid internship they're participating in has been fantastic. So, imagine my surprise at a recent team meeting where I had asked them to research, compile and come prepared to discuss a list of popular blogs read by their peers. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Okay, so what are the top blogs college students are reading?"

Them: Silence.

Me: "What's up? Did you have trouble with the exercise?"

Them: "No. We just couldn't find any blogs that they read."

Me: "What? Why?"

Them: "Well, everyone we asked said they don't read blogs because they are just silly rantings by people about their personal lives."

Me: "Are you kidding? But we're planning to create a blog as part of this internship project."

Them: "We know, we needed to talk to you about that J.T. – Can we call it something else? Because all our friends said they won't read a blog and it's kind of embarrassing to say that's what we are working on."

I was shell-shocked. You see, I only stumbled across the power of reading and writing for blogs in the last year. The truth is, it was actually Ryan and Ryan from EmployeeEvolution.com who got me hooked. Thus, while I can see how blogging isn't fully embraced by the older generations yet (Gen X and above), I never considered that the younger generations might actually be AVOIDING them.

The session with my team turned into an hour-long tutorial on the upsides of reading and contributing to blogs. By the time we were done I was convinced they had 'seen the light' and would be ready move forward, but instead, they said something to this effect:

"Okay J.T., we see how the blog we're creating is going to benefit students and recent grads, but that makes us even more certain we'll have to call it something else. Trust us."

And I do trust them, so we decided to all separately brainstorm alternative terms for blogging about career development. The problem is, I'm coming up short. I reached out to friends and family, but nobody's given me squat to work with. As I mentioned, these interns are really talented, so you know they are going to show up with some great terms when they get back from Spring Break in Acapulco next week. (They promised they'd work on this while they were there – I should believe them, right?)

So, can you all help me? I'd be grateful for some ideas so I don't go to our next meeting without at least one decent term.

Anyone?

Twentysomething Life is Hard, Don't Blame Corporate America

Most of us end up hating our entry-level jobs. But I sometimes wonder, is it really the job that we hate or something else?

It was only a year ago when I first stepped into the corporate world. Like any optimistic twentysomething, I walked into my first day and gave my new responsibilities undivided focus and attention, trying to learn the ropes and taking every chance to prove myself.

As the weeks went by, my frustrations grew. I became not such a go-getter. I just got through the days. I came to the only conclusion I could–my job sucked.

But all of my friends were complaining about their jobs, too. It was definitely the job–not just me. So I started searching online for better career options, while plugging away from 9 to 5 every day.

Right before I gave up on finding another job, in came the offer to start Brazen Careerist. After considering my options – either stay at a job I hated or try something new – I decided to take a leap. It's been a rollercoaster ride that's taught me the most valuable lesson of all: I never really hated my corporate job. Instead, I now know that I just hated the transition I was making into the real world.

What I've learned is that entrepreneurship is hard, more stressful than cubicle life ever was, and a hell of a lot more emotionally trying than anything I've ever experienced. So despite layoffs and all the offbeat training sessions, the corporate world is a pretty comfortable place. You get to go to a place every day and get told exactly what it is you need to get done. If you want to do more, you can. But if you don't, that's pretty much alright too.

A steady paycheck, paid vacations, health insurance – so easy to take for granted when you don't know what it's like to not have them. All the BS you put up with might be worth it when you're looking at things from the outside in.

Don't get me wrong, I'd never encourage someone to stay in the corporate world who has always dreamed of something more. And I'm glad I decided to leave. But before you make a decision you might someday regret, decide whether you really hate your current situation or if it might be just the transition that we all go through that's got you down.

More often than not, I think it's just the transition that eats at us. So make sure you're putting the blame exactly where it belongs and don't make a decision based on the fact that we're all finally growing up.

Thinking Inside the Box: The Great Escape

Ever since the dawn of the soul-wrenching cubicle, we working peons have had little recourse against the corporate monolith that runs our everyday life. So in an act of rebellion, I recently plotted the most nefarious act I could think of, leaving at 4:55.

I know what you're thinking. "This guy is a rebel. I bet he's the type who drinks his coffee straight, no cream or sugar." Hang on tight while I blow your mind… I don't even drink coffee.

So before you stop reading because you just can't keep up with this craziness, hang tight, and follow me on this white-knuckle ride. This is the sort of wild act of rebellion you may try yourself one day.

The first thing to do when plotting such a daring escape is to plan an exit strategy. In my case, I had two options: a door near my cube or one on the other end of the office suite. Logic dictates that I should take the nearest exit so as to escape danger as quickly as possible, but that wasn't going to work. That route would have taken me right past the boss's office, the office manager and the reception area. That's a suicide run, and even I'm not that nuts.

As fate dictates, I was going to have to run the length of the office to make my getaway, which is going to take me right past two stool-pigeon employees who will be more than happy to blow the whistle on me. But I had no other options. I was going to do this… or die trying.

4:55…Showtime.

I gathered my things and shut down my computer, the first move to make was going to be the most dangerous. I needed to pop my head out of my cube and see if the coast was clear. And as any war vet can tell you, poking your head out of the foxhole is the easiest way to get bit. So I put my hat on a stick and dangle it over the top or my cube, no shots rang out, so I decided to have a look around.

A quick glance revealed a cadre of workers in the receptionist area, ironically all gabbing about what they were going to do when they go home that night. The only good news was that both the stool pigeons were among the group. If I could find a way to get them looking the other direction I was all but home free. I chucked a stack of Post-Its over their heads to draw attention away from my escape route. They turned, and I darted out of my cube, down the hall and out the door.

4:57

I made it to the stairway, but there was a sudden emergency. Someone was coming down the stairs, and if I didn't hide quickly they'd see me and likely engage me in mindless conversation well beyond quitting time. I had a split second so I dove under the stairs and balled myself up as tightly as possible.

The stairs are finally clear. I make the mad dash up and out the door to my car. Sweet freedom is fifty yards away.

I pulled out to the end of the parking lot, and now a left turn is all that stands between me and my emancipation. I looked to the left, all clear. Looked to the right, blast! A line of cars, led by a semi, and too close for me to jump out front. I'll have to wait it out.

The cars pass, but now there's a line of vehicles coming from the other direction. I can't win!

"Wait!" I thought. "An opening, I'm going for it." And I'm out.

As I revel in my success, I take a look at my watch to see just how perfectly my plan worked. But time itself laughs at me and the hands on my watch tell the story perfectly…

It's 5:01…failure.

Oh well, I guess this is a lesson to be learned. Next time, I'll leave at 4:50.

Pre-Internet Days Shed Light on E-mail Etiquette

Life before electronic communication is a foggy memory for the oldest millennials. For the youngest members of Generation Y it's basically an incomprehensible reality. E-mail has been a routine part of communication for most millennials.

But despite its familiarity, e-mail blunders are all too common. There are a number of books and articles that have been written to help people communicate more effectively over e-mail (in fact, I've linked to one such item at the end of this post).

But navigating the immediacy and accessibility that e-mail offers is tricky. This is particularly true for people who have little awareness of what communication was like before such efficient means existed, and this obliviousness can lead to trouble in the workplace.

Although most e-mail oversights turn out to be little more than an embarrassing faux pas, serious electronic misconduct can lead to an employee's dismissal. A study from the ePolicy Institute and the American Management Association found that 25 percent of surveyed employers have fired an employee for violating e-mail policy, according to an article about dismissals related to e-mail issues.

For millennials, e-mail problems can first crop up in college. "To: Professor @ University .edu Subject: Why It's All About Me," a 2006 New York Times article examined how the issue plays out on campus. According to the article, professors complain that "students seem to view them as available around the clock, sending a steady stream of e-mail messages — from 10 a week to 10 after every class — that are too informal or downright inappropriate." Although students' experience in college might help them improve some aspects of their e-mail etiquette, the mistakes don't magically disappear after they leave the Ivory Tower.

Millennials can learn a lot about appropriate electronic conduct by consulting older coworkers who have a greater awareness about how e-mail has changed communication in the office. Understanding the context can make for more effective communication.

Rick Holton, 56 — the founder of Holton, a communications consulting company — says that apart from speeding up the process of communication in business, e-mail and other tools have made marketing cheaper and easier and have contributed to work-life balance because it makes working from home a lot easier. But it's important to be aware of the drawbacks.

"E-mail has reduced the amount of personal contact we get… It can keep us out of the loop at the companies we work for, and managers can forget who we are if they never see us. Electronic communication also contributes to America's growing solipsism. Baby boomers are self-absorbed, no question, but their children (and now grandchildren) are far worse, all of which may have some troubling implications for American society," Holton says.

"Young people who have grown up with electronic communications should learn that communication isn't in the volume, it's in the content," according to Holton. He adds, "…the volume of information is far less important than having it be the right information."

Holton recommends considering what your communication goals are and then determining what your approach should be. Audience is important too. "Many older people don't care much for e-mail, even if they have access to it. Businesspeople in the South, I've often found, send handwritten thank you notes and expect to get handwritten notes in return," he says.

Holton's six tips for writing more effective business e-mails are available here. Author Judith Kallos operates the Business E-mail Etiquette blog, which has some great posts about things to be aware of when using e-mail at work.