Communication Skills and an Attitude for Success

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Communication Skills and an Attitude for Success

• Human Resources
• Training and Education

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Purpose

• To provide you with information to propel your
  daily communication skills and attitude to new
  levels of success.

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Learning Objectives

• Identify the importance of a positive attitude
• Identify methods to maintain a positive attitude
• Recognize the importance of positive communication

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Agenda

• Introduction
• Attitude toward others
• Developing and maintaining a positive attitude
• Tips for a positive attitude
• The importance of communication
• The keys to communication
• Summary

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Introduction

• Good communication skills are fundamental to
  all relationships and your key to business
  success.
• A positive attitude can enrich your personal
  life, career, and relationships.
• Experts estimate that success is 80 percent
  attitude and 20 percent aptitude.

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Positive Attitude

• Why is it important to have a positive attitude?
• What are some benefits of having a positive
  attitude?

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What is Your Attitude Toward Your.?

• Co-workers
• Employees
• Supervisor

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Attitude Assessment

• In your workbook, assess your attitude by
  reading each statement and circling the number
  that you feel is an accurate description of your
  current attitude.

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Co-workers

• Avoid comparing yourself with co-workers.
• Develop a positive relationship with your
  co-workers.
• Look for opportunities to make work fun.
• Utilize them as sounding boards.
• Accept and understand differences.

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Employees

• Be complimentary
• Maintain a positive attitude
• Offer support
• Be sincere
• Remain open minded and fair
• Share ideas

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Supervisors

• Follow their lead
• Be accepting
• Make yourself clear
• Check your timing

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Tips Improving Your Attitude Toward Others

• Be understanding
• Feel good about yourself
• Accept others
• Be enthusiastic
• Remain optimistic
• Be cautious of negative and pessimistic people

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The Power of a Positive Attitude
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A Positive Attitude Triggers Your Enthusiasm

• Two months ago, John made an expensive
  mistake on one of his project budgets, and his
  manager became annoyed. Even though John
  corrected the problem and made up most of the
  deficit the next month, it was a visible blunder,
  and everyone in the department knew about it.
  John came down hard on himself and lost his
  self-confidence.
• What do you think is going to happen?
• What should John do?

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A Positive Attitude Triggers Your Enthusiasm
(cont.)

• In short, John allowed one negative experience to
  change his focus on life. He plodded around the
  office looking weary, and burned out. Johns
  boss, who had forgotten all about the incident,
  worried that John might be physically ill.
• Today, John is back on track and views his career
  with enthusiasm. His friends and colleagues have
  reconnected with him now that hes optimistic and
  self-confident. Through counseling, John
  concluded it was inappropriate to shackle himself
  with a negative attitude because of one mistake.

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A Positive Attitude Enhances Your Creativity

• Pete is a copywriter for a medium-sized ad
  agency. He has been an important contributor and
  his ideas have reduced overhead, however, a few
  months ago, Pete had a tough setback in his
  personal life that affected his overall attitude.
  Its negative he knows it and so does everyone
  else.
• What do you think is going to happen?
• What should Pete do?

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A Positive Attitude Enhances Your Creativity
(cont.)

• If Pete can find a way to adjust his attitude
  back to positive, hell probably regain his
  ability to come up with creative, bid-winning
  ways to do the work. The approaches that are both
  realistic for the client and profitable to the
  agency.
• Being positive helps your mind think about
  opportunities and solutions more freely. One
  positive idea often leads to another. On the
  other hand, a negative attitude has a stifling
  effect. One doomsday forecast often leads to
  another, and creative thinking about solutions is
  crowded out.

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A Positive Attitude Makes Good Things Happen

• Many people with a positive attitude wake up
  most mornings thinking Something good is
  probably going to happen to me today.
• The flip side is that people who have a negative
  attitude tend to make troublesome or negative
  discoveries by accident. It often seems that when
  the sky falls, theyre under it.

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How Do I Develop a Positive Attitude?
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Developing and Maintaining a Positive Attitude

• Self talk
• Changing negative self talk into positive self
  talk
• Visualize the positives
• Look on the bright side
• Attack problems head on
• Avoid procrastination
• Smile
• Make work fun
• Be open minded

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Tips Developing and Maintaining a Positive
Attitude

• Identify roadblocks
• Identify the worst case scenario
• Avoid negative thoughts
• Dress the part
• Maintain a well balanced life
• Dont dwell on the past or worry about the future
• Dont take rejection personally
• Avoid mind reading
• Show interest in others

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Keeping Your Attitude at Peak Power
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Actions Flow From Your Attitude

• Once you develop a positive attitude, it makes
  sense to take steps to safeguard it and every
  now and then, to also give it a tune-up.

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Safeguarding Your Attitude

• What are some of your most important assets?
• When you think of your positive attitude as an
  asset, does it occur to you that your attitude
  can be stolen?

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1 Solve Personal Conflicts Quickly

• The tension that accompanies an unresolved
  conflict can eat away at your positive attitude,
  and the longer it eats away, the more you stand
  to lose.

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2 Take the High Road

• When people behave unreasonably or unfairly, take
  the high road dont drop to their level.
• When someone behaves unreasonably or unfairly,
  stop for a moment and remember you have a
  choice.

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3 Insulate or Distance Yourself

• When you have repeated conflicts with someone,
  insulate or distance yourself.
• Focus on the work.
• Change your traffic pattern.

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Putting a Twist on a Negative Attitude

• Take a time out
• Determine what is making you feel negative
• Develop a plan
• Focus on the existing positives
• Look ahead
• Develop relationships with positive individuals
• Surround yourself with things that make you smile

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In a Rut?

• Isolate the problem
• View options and solutions
• Keep things in perspective
• Be flexible
• Consider a change
• Seek new friends
• Join an organization
• Change your appearance
• Get involved in activities

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Your Attitude Belongs to You

• Remember that your attitude belongs to you and to
  you alone.
• No one can steal your positive attitude unless
  you are an accomplice.

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The Importance of Communication

• Good communication skills are the key to all
  relationships and success.
• First, we must accept differences, and then
  learn the keys of communication.

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Accepting Differences

• Generations
• Cultures
• Gender

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Accepting Generational Differences

• Speak with respect.
• Be specific, avoid being vague.
• Avoid generational jargon.
• Speak clearly.
• Be aware of what you say, and how you say it.
• Be aware of your tone.

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Accepting Cultural Differences

• Respect differences.
• Be flexible.
• Avoid making assumptions and judgments.
• Be willingly to see other persons point of view.
• Be patient.

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Accepting Gender Differences

• For communication to be effective between
  different genders, we must recognize the
  differences between male and female communication
  styles.
• Men are more likely to define themselves through
  their achievements.
• Women are more likely to define themselves
  through their connection with others.

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The Keys of Communication

• Find a common ground
• Listen
• Send a strong message
• Be open and responsive

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Find a Common Ground

• Look for common ground instead of focusing
  solely on differences.
• What might you both be interested in?
• One way to begin discovering commonality is to
  share.

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Listen

• Let the person speak
• Get rid of all distractions
• Avoid making assumptions
• Be aware of your non-verbal forms of
  communication
• Listen for main points and supporting evidence
• Don't refute every point you disagree with
• Do not make "silent" mental arguments
• Do not interrupt
• Ask questions to enhance clarification

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Send a Strong Message

• Your words and behaviors tell people who you
  are.
• Assertive behavior is self-enhancing. You are
  able to express yourself with integrity and
  respect.

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Be Open and Responsive

• Responsive communication means speaking or acting
  in a way that responds to the wants and needs of
  the other person in a clear way. 
• Be open minded.
• Respond after the person is through talking.

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Improve Your Communication Skills
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Improve Your Image with Communication Skills

• Understand non-verbals
• Be assertive
• Apologize like a pro
• Accept compliments
• Criticize appropriately
• Do not argue
• Avoid put downs and name calling

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1. Understand Non-Verbals

• 65 of communication is expressed non-verbally
• Facial Expressions
• Eye Contact
• Body Posturing
• Gestures
• Tone and pitch

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2. Be Assertive

• Skillful assertiveness goes hand in hand with
  a person's confidence, good judgment, decision
  making, performance, and overall effectiveness.
• Be specific
• Be objective, not judgmental
• Communicate the real issues
• Communicate to the right person
• Be on good terms with individuals
• Use I messages

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Assertive Communication

• Inappropriate message
• Youve ruined another Monday for me.

• Appropriate message
• I feel frustrated when you are late to an
  appointment because it throws off my schedule for
  the rest of the day. I would prefer that we move
  our meetings from 830 am to 900 am.

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3. Apologize Like a Pro

• Don't attempt an apology until you've truly
  realized the fault of your actions.
• Don't ever cop out and blame your actions on
  something or someone else.
• You need to validate the person's feelings.
• Make it crystal clear what you are sorry about.

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4. Accept Compliments

• Look at the person
• Use a pleasant voice
• Say Thank you
• Acknowledge the compliment
• Dont look away, mumble, or deny the compliment
• Do not disagree with the compliment

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5. Criticize Appropriately

• Speak respectfully
• Identify the behavior that you want to criticize
• Direct your criticism at the action, not the
  person
• Be sure the behavior you're criticizing can be
  changed
• Use "I" and "we" to stress that you want to work
  out the problems together
• Make sure the other person understands the reason
  for your criticism
• Be concise and specific
• Don't set a tone of anger or sarcasm
• At the end, affirm your support

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6. Do Not Argue

• Arguing is not an effective form of
  communication. Neither party will be satisfied
  with the interaction and future relations may be
  strained.
• Clear your mind of all distractions and
  concentrate on information that you don't already
  have.
• Nod your head occasionally to affirm that you are
  listening.
• Wait till the other person has finished talking.
• Place your need to understand, before your desire
  to be understood.
• Avoid adding fuel to the fire.

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7. Avoid Put Downs or Name Calling

• Put downs and name calling are very degrading,
  hurtful, and unprofessional. It is difficult to
  re-establish these relationships.
• Allow the emotion to dissipate
• Take a time out
• Admit when you are wrong

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Tips to Encourage Communication

• Circulating
• Brainstorming sessions
• Suggestion boxes
• Meetings
• Communicate Frequently

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Summary

• A positive attitude and good communication
  skills are essential in todays workplace.
• Look for opportunities to improve your
  attitude and communication skills.

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Resources

• Chapman, Elwood N. Attitude Your Most Priceless
  Possession. Thompson Learning, 2002.
• McKenna, Colleen. Powerful Communication Skills
  How to Communicate with Confidence. National
  Press Publications, 1998.
• Thomas, Marian. A New Attitude. National Press
  Publications, 1998.
• Communication Skills That Build Winning
  Relationships, BusinessTrainingMedia.com