Communication skills for the Leader and Manager

It causes them to think of an answer, either aloud, or mentally. Because asking questions triggers thought, intelligent questioning is the key to influencing others towards positive change.

Some people are not clear enough in thought or in language. They have muddled minds; therefore they become unsure and indecisive. If you want to help them, you should train yourself to be more aware of language, and to insist on clarity.

In order to help yourself and others be specific, try to:

Reduce ideas down to numerical values.
For example Rather than saying "We need better communication around here"
Say "We need to have a 20 minutes conversation every day to discuss what should be our top five priorities"

Ask for specific names rather than generalized names
For example: Rather than saying: "Somebody should do something about it"
Say "I will ask John what he intends to do about Mike".

Clarify abstract ideas by reference to concrete examples:
Rather than saying : "We need better leadership around here."
Say "We need a leader who can inspire like Churchill, or Martin Luther King or Gandhi!"

Affirmative language is talking and thinking about that which you do want, would like, and do believe in.
Negated language is talking and thinking about what you do not want, would not like, and do not believe in.
Too many people focus their minds on their troubles and the causes. That is, they are stuck in the mental habit of Negation. But continually thinking about what you do not want is not enough.
To help others, learn to have them focus their minds on what they do want.

Objective thinking is "the act of perceiving the facts without distortion from wish, whim, desire or prejudice"
If you want to help people, you will want to help them to distinguish fact from fantasy, fact from fears, the objective from the subjective. Many people confuse their "gut feelings" as proof, their opinions as Truth. Your role as a manager, is to help them think objectively, and to assist them to separate their facts from their opinions.

The focus of your conversation should be based in the future, not the past. The past is gone. It cannot be changed. The future is not yet here. It can be changed. Your task is to help people to make decisions today that will shape a better future.

People do things for one of two reasons; either to gain pleasurable outcomes or to avoid painful ones.
The problem is that many people do not consciously think though their associations. They link pleasure and pain to the wrong things. Right now, you may be linking emotional pleasure to things that are bad for you.
For example, name a food that you find pleasurable, that is in reality bad for you.

Can you name a habit that you often perform, because you find it pleasurable, even though you know you shouldn't?

Everyone can name at least one.
Your task as a manager is to have the person check their pleasure/pain associations.
Have them think carefully about what constitutes pleasure and what constitutes pain.

We live in a "now society". Many look for instant gratification. Wise decisions however are based, not on the short-term payoff, but on the long-term consequences.
So your job is to change their mental focus from the short-term effects of their current actions, to the long-term consequences.

When you are listening to people, you cannot remember everything unless you make written notes.
And one of the best ways to make written notes is to learn the mind-mapping technique. When you mind map what you are hearing from others, it improves listening, stimulates the next question and proves to the speaker you mean business.

The self-image is the idea that a person has of himself. People tend to act in accordance with their self-image. If a person has a bad self-image, they tend to be non productive. People with a good self-image are usually more productive. So to get the most out of people, always work to build up their self-image.
Conversely never attack the self-image.

We all have to manage others, and ourselves irrespective of our position. Corporate Coach Group provide management training programmes including:

• Leadership Training


• Personal Development Training


• Communication Skills Training


• Conflict Management Training


• Time Management Training


• Goal Setting Training


• Accelerated Learning

The emphasis is on helping you increase your confidence and develop your personal effectiveness.