Thanksgiving

With this week being Thanksgiving I thought it would be interesting to talk a bit about it.  Everyone knows that the first Thanksgiving was when the pilgrims and indians finally came together and had a meal together. With that said there was obviously some bit of a communication barrier between them.  They over came this barrier and were able to sit and have a meal together and share each others traditions and cultures while also accepting each other for who they are.

Business Communication

As class is beginning to wrap up and we are all finishing these blogs its hard not to notice how much we have come together and became better communicators.  At the beginning of the semester you could tell everyone didn't like to speak in front of the class and now as class comes to an end we are having more discussions among the class and more feedback from fellow students.  This interaction I believe has helped everyone of us in becoming better communicators, as well as prepare us to be better communicators once we leave school to start our careers.

Asking Questions

Types of Questions

Most people tend to avoid asking questions when they have a guest speaker of any kind.  This is because most people don't know how to word their questions in order to get a good response to the question.  This link list various techniques to asking questions such as, closed and open ended questions.  Knowing how to ask questions effectively will help you succeed in the communication process.

Poor Communication

The lack of communication between Gary and his boss has lead to Gary thinking that he is being fired, but really is just receiving a new desk.  When you fail to communicate properly it can lead to mistakes and miscommunications amongst multiple people.  Always having a good flow of communication from top down, bottom up, and horizontal is the best way to have effective communication.

Focused

Keeping focused on what you are trying to achieve is very important.  As I approach the end of my schooling it has occurred to me that I never lost focus on what I was striving for.  I believe that if you focus on being successful you are going to end up being successful.  Everyone measures success in different ways so depending on how you do so it could take awhile but just remember to stay focused and always give your best.

Positive Messages

Giving positive messages is a lot better than having to send a negative message.  Also giving yourself positive messages is a good thing to stay in a good mood.  These short little notes is just a few thing that you can do to send yourself positive messages.  Something that I have always done is write positive thing on sticky notes and place them throughout my apartment so I never forget what I'm trying to do.

Negative Messages

Have you ever had to write a negative message for anything? They can be hard to write sometimes, for the simple fact of not wanting to hurt someones feelings or put them in a bad place.  Here are three situations for writing a negative message.  I think the majority of us have received a rejection letter from and employer in which we were seeking a job that decided to go with another candidate. There are many situations in which to write negative messages and the format you choose, direct or indirect, can really effect the way the message is perceived by the reader.

Noise

Canceling noise in communication is a difficult thing to do.  Like my post from earlier when you communicate down a line and it gets back to you and its totally different. Well one of the causes for this is noise.  When listening you have noise which makes it hard to receive the message being given. So when listening you end up catching bits and pieces of what is being said and connecting the together using the context of what you actually heard.  Therefore when you relay the message to the next person it could be slightly changed, and the ever more slightly change from the next person to the next. Eventually coming full circle and being something totally different than the original message that you had intended.

5 Tips For Giving A Presentation

As we get closer to having to give our presentations on our business plans, I thought it be fitting to research some tips that can help in the process of giving a good presentation.  I know a lot of people have a fear of presenting in front of others, as i do. These 5 simple tips really help put into perspective what you have to do in order to give a good presentation. One thing i found interesting is that it says to use media only to enhance your presentation.  I think people like to put video clips into their presentations just so they can avoid having to talk and just let the listener watch a video describing what they're talking about.

Take the time to go over these step i think it will really benefit everyone.

5 TIPS

Presenting

This says "every manager" but it should say everyone needs to know the secret to presenting well. People have trouble speaking in front of a group, I know I do.  I think the secret to presenting well is being well prepared and have an understand of what it is you're presenting.  I would really like to get some feedback from others as to what they believe is the secret to presenting well.

Communicating

When you were a kid did you ever play the game were you had to send a message through a chain of people that ended up back at you?  Well I did and I never received back the message that was originally sent.  Everyone one interprets messages differently and communicates a message differently.  So the message therefore get changed and swathed around multiple times and ends up being totally different than the first message.

Tips to Manage Stress

http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management

For people like me that have two test and the report to write this week I can feel your pain.  With such high stress levels it can be hard to manage everything and put forth your best work.  WebMD offers some great tips for managing stress.  Such as staying positive, be assertive instead of aggressive, eat healthy and well balanced meals, etc.  Personally I am the type of person that look at the glass half full and recognize the bright side of things, such as once I have completed the task for the week I will be able to take a vacation and just relax after a high stress week. For those of you that do need some tips to help you out I strongly recommend take a look at the website posted above.

Poor Communication

I think this is a perfect example of what happens when you have poor communication.  Even when sending an email there are certain types of formats you should follow when sending one in a business setting and even when you're sending a personal email.  Knowing how to properly communicate with people is one of the hardest toughest things to do.  There are so many different types of cultures that if you don't know about their customs you run the chance of offending them or just not getting a response from the person like in this comic.

Communication

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships/effective-communication.htm

This website offers a lot of insight as to what it means to be an effective communicator in business and in your own personal life.  Being able to communicate effectively means everything, if you can't effectively get the message across things can get misinterpreted.  Ultimately everything comes down to being an effective communicator.

If you have poor communication you are never going to truly make it in the business world.  Communication is such a large part of the business environment, and communicating poorly will cause problems.

Communication Quote

"Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life."

Brian Tracy

This to me has a lot of meaning. No one was born and was good at communicating.  Everyone has had to learn to communicate, from the first word we have spoken. Not everyone gets it right all the time but just as Brain says its like riding a bike, if you are willing to put forth the effort and try you will begin to see a steady improvement.

Types of Communication

There are many different types of communication and understanding all of them takes time.  Four of the main types of communication are verbal, nonverbal, visual, and written.  Some people for instance in education learn better from either visual, written, or verbal teaching.  But there are others such as myself that learn better when it is tactile. This means that we learn better when we are hand on doing the tasks that are being communicated.  Teachers are a very good example of excellent communicators because they have to be well versed in every one of these forms in order to provide the highest level of education and help to the students they're teaching.

Listening

Do you ever feel like you're talking to a brick wall while having a conversation with someone.  A lot of people tend to be good communicators but poor listeners.  I for one know that I am a poor listener, if something the person is talking about doesn't spike my interest I tend to zone of and focus on things of higher importance. Communication goes both ways in order to be an effective communicator you have to be and effective listener as well. You can't have one without the other.

"Bright Outlook for the Class of 2015

Wall Street Journal

Good new for graduates who are getting a bachelors degree in 2015 (Yay for me!!) you will have the highest chance of getting a job in almost a decade.  Six sectors have reported growth in hiring a few I noticed were business and scientific services (24%); finance and insurance (31%); and information services (51%).

Procrastination

Just face the truth we all have some sort of things that we procrastinate on.  Personally I am the type of person that waits until the night before a test or paper to even begin to think about what it is i need to do to accomplish the task.  Some people think that the added pressure helps them preform better.  But it actually doesn't because you are in such a rush to finish what you're working on you can over look simple mistakes and errors.

Writing Skills

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/writing-skills.html

As you all know we are now in the portion of class were we have to start writing some pretty length papers.  I thought that this website offers some good skills to keep in mind while you are doing the individual report and when you are looking to begin writing the group report.  Also you can use this to help with any other paper you are having to write in other classes.

Interviews

As we are doing our interviews it is key to remember some basic things that can make the interview a successful interview.  Following the key things in the picture will ensure that you are well prepared and presentable for the interview you are seeking.

Noise

Because of the crowd noise in the Super Bowl the center couldn't hear Manning and was unable to recognize that he was coming to the line to make a switch in the play.  Instead he snapped the ball resulting in a Broncos safety.  This can be related to any type of communication because noise is any outside factor that is disrupting the follow of information.

Effective Communication

I thought that this is a good video that really puts into perspective how well people listen and communicate with one another.  Two of the animals could have avoided being eaten had they just listened and then tried to resolve the issue with the bear, such as the rabbit does at the end of the video.

Importance of an Interview

5 Reasons Informational Interviews are Important

I thought since we are all starting to get into our interview in class that this would be a good insight as to why they are truly important.  Many people dread doing interviews, trust me I am one of them.  The thought of sitting in front of someone trying to get valuable information or even make a good impression is frightening.  This article gives 5 reasons as to why we do interviews and if you think about it the things stated really do make a difference.

Missing out

CEO quits job at trillion dollar company

Its amazing that so much of or time is devoted to doing things for our jobs. With that said since we do spend so much time focusing on our work we tend to lose sight and communication with what is necessarily important in our lives. The man in this article realized after is 10 year old daughter made a list of 22 things he had missed out that he had lost touch with his daughter and they hadn't been communicating very well.

Face-to-Face

Face-To-Face

I find it interesting that even with all the technology we have to people still tend to buy more and interact more when they finally have that face-to-face meeting.  Face-to-face meeting are seen as a thing of the past but this article proves that you can generate more revenue with them, and money spent on travel to get to those interactions is beneficial.

Business Card

The way we give out business cards around the world is different.  This has a lot to do with cultural differences.  For instance when in Japan you hold the card with two hand facing the person whom it is intended for.  They do this so that you may have the chance to read it first to determine who will bow first, which symbolizes that the person who isn't bowing has a higher standing.  I thought this was interesting, coming from America we don't really have a well understanding of what other countries do when handing out business cards.

Communication

I thought this was interesting since it lists blog and we are having to do a blog for our communications class.  This is only just a few ways that we communicate in every day life as well work life.  

Importance of Team Communication Skills

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-team-communication-skills-3079.html

In order to have a good team and work together you have to have good communication.  Without communication throughout the team the team would never come together and give the best effort possible.  The more communication you have the more cohesive your team is going to be.  Also once you start becoming more cohesive you are more likely to share ideas with the team to build on the project or task.

5 C's in Communication

The five things that are discussed in this video explain exactly how communication should be done.  Without any of these C's communication would just be raw information in my opinion and hard to understand and respond to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtEc8VgF7kI

Communication Styles

Video conferences is starting to become more popular now with they advancements in technology rather than the conventional face-to-face conference.  I think this technology is really starting to have a bigger impact in business because you can be connected with people around the world. Also its can be easier to just connect to the video conference when you have multiple other requirement rather than taking the time to schedule a face-to-face meeting with a person/group.

Four Steps to Effective Sales Management Communication

Four Steps to Effective Sales Management Communication

I think this is very insightful and surprising to learn that most sales managers actually admit to having poor communication skills.  The four steps that are discussed in the article go back to everything that we have been learning throughout the class and even in our lives. Also seeing that if you follow these steps there is proof showing that you can improve on being a better sales manager.

Listening

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html

This has a very good insight as to the differences between what listening and hearing actually is.  Also it shows that we spend more time listening than we do anything else in the communication process.  Which for people like me whom are inspiring to become future managers this shows that you must listen more than anything else as well as understand what you are listening to.

First Impressions

In business and everyday living shaking hands is one of the biggest impressions that we get from a person.  Some people think shaking hands strongly can be viewed as a sign of aggression or very controlling.  Also when you shake hand you don't always know what to expect when you put your hand out there. What do you all have to think about shaking hand and the impression that this gesture has?

Virtual Choir

Virtual Choir

I think this is really interesting because unlike regular communication these people are speaking to one another online and they all share a common interest which is to perform and sing in a choir.  Some of these people would have never been chosen to perform in a usual choir setting but i think thats the point of the virtual choir.  People are coming from all places of the world and work together to complete this.