Communicating Your Way to Success - Tikor Consulting

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11106

Communicating Your Way to Success

Apr 08 4:30 PM

Brandi McCullough Jen ZamoraTikor Consulting

Top 10 skillsInformation Technology employers seek:

• Communication skills• Writing• Organizational Skills• Problem Solving• Planning• Comp Skills + Typing• Research• Word + Office• Customer Service• Microsoft Excel

Career Crushing Communication

Weaknesses

Career Crushing Communication Weaknesses:• 1. Having a poor handshake.• 2. Poor written communication skills.• 3. Inability to adapt your communication style to different audiences, including people of different

generations.• 4. Nonverbal communication that conveys weakness or negativity, such as slouching, leaning away

from a speaker, mumbling, speaking too softly, and vocalized pauses (uhs and ums) to name a few.• 5. Inability to maintain eye contact, especially when confronted by an aggressive, angry, or

powerful person.• 6. Being a poor listener.• 7. Saying, “I’m sorry” too much, especially when something isn’t your fault.• 8. Using qualifiers, hedges, and hesitations. “I uh, sort of think we maybe should start the meeting,

don’t you?”• 9. Failing to praise or thank people for their good work.• 10. Being late to meetings, thereby communicating that you don’t care, or that you think your time is

more valuable than other people’s.• 11. Not planning for difficult conversations BEFORE you have them.

Successful Communication

Methods

Successful Communication Methods• Use Non-Verbal Communication: The majority of meaning in conversation comes from facial expressions and gestures. This is often why emails get misconstrued or misinterpreted.

– Touch (hand-shake, hug, pat on the head)– Eye contact– Posture and body movement– Facial expressions– Gestures– Space– Voice (timing and pace, volume, tone)

Successful Communication Methods• Know Your Audience: Adapt your communication to your audience

– Type of Communicators– Generation or age– Do they have background knowledge?– What are some of their challenges?– What are strengths?– Preferred method of communication– Communicate clearly in verbiage that the audience knows– Culture of group– Language barriers

Successful Communication Methods• Actively Listen: How well you listen has a major impact on your job effectiveness, and quality of relationships with others.

– Most people do not possess this skill– Use body language to reassure you are listening (head nod, smile, react)– Ask ?s to clarify-don’t assume you know– Paraphrase to verify accuracy– Don’t interrupt– Make mental checklist of important points– Pretend like there is a quiz at end– Respond kindly and appropriately (How you would want to be treated)

Successful Communication Methods• Offer Positive Feedback: Positive feedback is a great way to improve workplace communication and relationships.

– If a co-worker does a job well---tell them!– Be genuine and positive – Be specific with feedback– People will view you more favorably– Encourages open communication– Be timely about feedback- sooner the better– Make it regular- people then know where they stand– Purpose of feedback is to improve behavior, skills, and workplace

communication and relationships– Follow up to make sure everything is going okay, any questions, need help?

Successful Communication Methods• Set aside ego: It’s important to set aside personal preferences and ego in order to lead team when a directive has been given

– Check your ego at the door– Have a collaborative mindset- communication is

key when working especially when remotely– Put aside ego and follow processes to achieve end goal– Many IT people think they KNOW all the answers– Few will admit there is no way possible to know all of the answers– You don’t need to know all the answers, just where to find them

Successful Communication Methods• Salesmanship: Whether we know it or not, we are all in sales

– Selling yourself or confidence in your skills– Selling the value and features of a product/software– Selling your company’s project idea to others– You must have communication skills to sell anything– Your confidence, knowledge, and communication skills

will be a key influencer on whether you will be successful

Successful Communication Methods• The ability to translate tech jargon: You need the ability to translate technical verbiage sothat consumers and business people in other departmentscan understand

– Imagine: Imagine you are explaining over a casual “coffee shop” discussion.– Describe: what technology can and cannot do- what are the limits– Compare: Compare the new project or technology to something already in place– Summary paragraph: Write a summary paragraph to quickly describe project– Spouse/partner/best friend: Explain it to one of these people to see if they understand it– Do not assume: instead of looking stupid, people will just be silent. Don’t use acronyms

Understanding Your Communication Type

Which Type of Communicator Are You?

Analytical: Prefers real data and numbers Unemotional communication Logical Can appear to be cold and unfeeling (especially to personal

communicators)

Intuitive: Big picture thinker Get bogged down with too many details Quick and to the point discussion May lack patience in conversations that require details Difficult to work with Functional Communicators that thrive with step-by-step

Which Type of Communicator Are You?

Functional: Prefers process, detail, timelines Complete projects step-by-step Usually nothing gets missed so you get voted to be the implementer Can lose the attention of your audience, especially intuitive

communicators

Personal: Value communication and emotional language Concerned with how group members feel A good listener and build strong relationships Others may see you as too “touchy feely” You may be easily upset by others such as analytical communicators only concerned with data & numbers

What type of communicator are you?

Take Communication Type Survey

On your Smart Device

Go to www.menti.com

Enter in ACCESS CODE:

Take Communication Type Survey• Analytical Prefers real data and numbers Unemotional communication Logical

• Intuitive Big picture thinker Get bogged down with too many details Quick and to the point discussion

• Functional Prefers process, detail, timelines Complete projects step-by-step

• Personal Value communication and emotional language Concerned with how group members feel

Communication Skills=

Customer Service Skills

IT Customer Service: Does Your Team Have the Right Mindset?

Five crucial ways for CIOs to develop a service mindset, which is essential for launching a successful service strategy.

1. Know what "good service" looks like.2. Develop a "we" mindset3. Learn to love complaints. 4. Make every interaction count.5. See service as a strategy

Resources for Building Your Skill set• Courses Available

– Dale Carnegie• How to Communicate with Diplomacy and Tact• Communicate Effectively

– American Management Association (AMA)• Communication and Interpersonal Skills for Technical Professionals• Assertiveness Training for Women in Business• Communication Across Generation: Bridging the Gap

– Customer Service for IT Professionals• https://www.bakercommunications.com/IT_customer_service.htm• https://www.doncrawley.com/customer-service-training-for-i-t-staff/

• Ted Talks– 10 Ways to Have Better Conversation – Celeste Headlee– Secret Structure of Great Talks – Nancy Duarte– The Power of Vulnerability – Brene Brown

Resources for Building Your Skill set• Podcasts

– Lewis Howes• THE ART OF LISTENING: HOW TO MASTER RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH

COMMUNICATION– Jenn Swanson

• Careers by Jen• https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/80-cd-podcast-episode-

listening/id489253572?i=1000169445616&mt=2– Jennifer Sneeden

• Increase the Effectiveness of Your Communication• https://thrivingtherapypractice.com/podcast-23-effective-communication-for-therapists/

– Jeff Shirk• High Performance Leadership• https://www.hpleadershippodcast.com/-Baker Communications, Inc.

Resources for Building Your Skill set• Books

Session ID:

Remember to complete your evaluation for this session within the app!

11106

[email protected]@tikorconsulting.com