Friday, August 7, 2009

Monday's Management Motivator: The Seven Laws

Monday, August 10th, 2009

The seven laws of productive listening

Adapted from “Listening: The Key to Productivity,”

The better your listening skills, the more you’ll understand and the more productive you’ll be.
Follow these tips to become an expert listener:

1. Motivate yourself. Ask yourself: “Why am I listening to this?” and “What will I gain?” to help keep your focus.

2. Listen with care. Remember facts such as the speaker’s birth date, hometown, the names of his/her children, etc., and use them in later conversations. That will help build instant rapport with the speaker.

3. Clarify assumptions. Ask questions if you’re not 100% sure what you’re hearing or what it means.

4. Be patient. Don’t rush to complete sentences or respond instantly when someone stops talking. Mentally count to three to see if the speaker has anything else to add.

5. Listen to learn. Make it a goal to learn at least one useful fact from every conversation you have.

6. Pace yourself. When listening to someone who speaks slowly, don’t fill in the spaces by drawing conclusions or thinking about your response.

7. Stop talking. Your task is to hear and learn from the speaker, not to dominate the conversation yourself.


Monday, August 3, 2009

Monday's Management Motivator: Rewards and Recognition

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

10 Ways to say "Well done"
Adapted from the The Fun Factor, Carolyn Greenwich. McGraw-Hill.

Sometimes, offering praise is harder than it should be. In a busy office, it's easy to forget to compliment and voice your appreciation.

But praise can really make a team member's day. Here are some reminders of how easy it really is to say, "Thanks, well done":

1. I'm proud you are on my team.
2. Congratulations on a terrific job.
3. You're so helpful. Thank you.
4. You keep improving. Well done.
5. Thanks so much for your consistent effort.
6. I really admire your perserverance.
7. Your mood always lifts the team's spirit.
8. You're a champion.
9. Wow, what an incredible accomplishment.
10. Great effort. You make us all look good.