How to be Considerate in Business Communication

As I stood outside of a restaurant last Friday night, I looked down and spotted some Japanese Koi swimming in a small pond. I noticed that in the far end of the pond, several of the fish seemed to be antagonizing the others and I imagined that it was due to the lack of swimming area in their domain. However, at the other end of the pond, there was a swift current. The fish in this end of the pond seemed to be more considerate of others because they were focused on swimming and minding their own business.

This observation brought up my opinions on what I’ve noticed lately while on the road and in public places like corporate offices and retail stores. There is a serious lack of consideration for others and a superiority attitude of I am first and you don’t matter. I am all for the idea of competition, as I am quite competitive, but I find that being overly aggressive due to self-perceived importance is certainly not the way to create healthy, effective relationships.

As such, let’s get back to the basics. Consideration begins with empathy, otherwise known as, walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. If you’d like to know how to be more considerate in the future, below are a handful of examples that you can take with you to use in your daily business activities:

In verbal communication, consider the feelings of the other party when choosing your tone of voice to deliver your message. It makes all the difference in the world.

With regard to business meetings, be considerate of the other party’s time by being punctual. If you’re late, your actions may compromise activities on their schedule. Even if you know the other person isn’t that busy, be on time anyway, as a matter of honor. If you can’t make the appointment, send someone else in your place.

Listen to others while they are communicating and treat everyone with dignity and respect, no matter what you think of them, how they dress, speak or otherwise.

When communicating in written form, consider how the other party might interpret your message, instead of focusing on what you want to say and how you want to deliver it.

When someone helps you in business, be genuinely appreciative of that help, even if it’s small in size or value. Gratitude is synonymous with the adage to love people and use things, not the other way around.

Being considerate simply leads to better communication and relationships in all areas of your life. It may take a little effort, some patience and discipline, but you can do it! You may not get it right every time, but with practice, you will reap the benefits of having healthy and effective relationships and so will those around you.

Perseverance – Obligation or Opportunity?

We’ve all heard the adage that, sometimes, life can throw us a curve ball. Similarly, business can also throw us curve balls and at times, it seems to be a relentless pelting of one after another that won’t ever cease. When this happens and the frustration begins to build, we have two choices. We can persevere with determination or we can give up. If we choose to forge ahead, there is a possibility that the difficulty may increase along the way. However, the reward in perseverance is found in the success that follows or we at least receive value in a lessons learned experience. We may even discover a new solution we hadn’t imagined possible before. On the other hand, if we quit, then we are denying ourselves an opportunity to experience success, which could be right around the corner.

Think of how Thomas Edison must’ve felt when he failed so many times, before finally succeeding with his famous creation, the light bulb. I imagine it was extremely frustrating for him to endure this process, just as it can be for all of us depending on the complexity of our own challenges. Consider the amount of time he spent on this project, the brainpower he used in developing theories and the energy he exerted in selecting a final thread that actually worked. If you knew success was a sure bet, would you push yourself that much harder, faster and with more passion because of that knowledge?

In general, I think we have a tendency to skew our perspectives when we’re frustrated that things aren’t working out the way we want them to or because they aren’t happening as fast as we think they should. I also think that when we focus on what doesn’t work, it not only drains our energy, but it also seems to make perseverance that much more arduous. Imagine if we took the energy we rise with each day and used it to our benefit, rather than our detriment.

Perseverance is not a shoulder-breaking obligation; it’s an opportunity to succeed. It allows us to pursue our dreams, interests and passions with actual meaning and it makes for a better success story in the end. I invite you to view perseverance as a rewarding journey, regardless of the time you spend or the setbacks you endure. Additionally, I think we could all benefit by encouraging each other to do the same because when we are frustrated, we may not realize just how big the prize is that’s waiting for us at the finish line.

The Power of Trust in Business

A wise man once taught me that trust is the foundation of any effective relationship and if trust isn’t present and mutual, then it isn’t much of a relationship. From that lesson, I was inclined to study business communication and observe how respect and integrity affected trust in companies. From these observations, I learned that trust is an ongoing process and must be earned continually. I’ll be the first to admit that it can be difficult to exercise trust at times, but the actual effort invested is really small in comparison to the value of creating new relationships and business opportunities. The benefits of demonstrating trust can also extend into experiencing open communication, increased productivity and a sense of unity to name a few. Conversely, I think a lack of trust is often what prevents companies from moving forward to their next level of development. A low/no trust environment often fosters anger, resentment and blame. Who wants to experience that?

When I first considered starting my own business, I decided to discuss my idea with several friends to get their opinions. These individuals expressed their belief in my abilities and gave me encouragement to go for it! Their support, plus the trust I had in myself helped me have the courage to move forward. Once I made this decision, I began renewing existing relationships and forming new ones based on trust, respect and integrity. Today, these relationships are the first cornerstone of my business.

Recently, I made the decision to trust in my lifelong passion for writing and believed that others would benefit from sharing my experiences and perspective publicly. As a result of taking this first step in trust, I’ve had the privilege of engaging in business communication with like-minded individuals from around the world. I’ve also had the honor in understanding their perspectives on subjects I’ve chosen to address thus far. Additionally, I’ve realized that exchanging perspectives helps us all grow as individuals, but more importantly, it helps further our understanding of one another a little more every day.

To the skeptics in this audience, I promise you it is possible to trust again. Sometimes, all it takes is a simple shift in attitude to allow us the ability to once again welcome new people, experiences and opportunities into our lives. Sometimes, it’s much deeper and involves a sincere willingness to forgive. In any case, we owe it to ourselves and those we collaborate with to engage in the process of trust more often. If we focus on the benefits of what this process has to offer instead of reminding ourselves of the hurt it has caused us in the past, we may just find it to be a rewarding experience after all. What benefits have you received from demonstrating trust in business?

Is Fear Holding You Back?

There are times in our lives when we are faced with decisions that involve what-if’s, who knows and fear of the unknown. Decisions that not only challenge, but sometimes, shake the very foundations of our core belief systems. What is the best way to handle these situations? Well, we can play it safe inside our comfort zones, secure in the knowledge that we’ve accumulated from many years of experience. However, playing it safe allows us room to easily deny new opportunities because of our perception of what may or may not happen. This way typically leads to making decisions that are often based in fear, it can also lead to complacency and the scenery never changes.

To make things worse, we add to the problem by holding ourselves back through skewed perceptions and overactive imaginations. Of all the emotions we possess, it’s hard to believe how we can even allow an emotion like fear to capture us and keep us from thinking outside the box and from coloring outside the lines.

Conversely, we also have the ability to step outside of our comfort zones where we get the opportunity to challenge our methods of thinking and the ways we choose to conduct business. We get to break through fears that have, at times, held us back for years and move forward with projects that we wouldn’t have otherwise considered. On top of that, when we demonstrate courage, others tend to feel empowered in overcoming their fears as well.

Additionally, we have a lot to learn from children and their countless displays of courage. For example, I recently noticed a young boy drop a penny on the floor in a restaurant. As I watched him, I expected his next move to be the standard act of standing up to place it in his pocket. Much to my surprise, he squatted down, balanced the penny on its edge and rolled it across the concrete floor. I laughed, partially because I was in the midst of writing this post, but more importantly, because I was glad that he was brave in taking a risk on an action that could’ve yielded a minor scolding.

While I realize that this child and his coin could never realistically compare with complex business decisions, nor the accompanying variables that must carefully be evaluated, I still think we owe it to ourselves to abandon fear in favor of courage when possible. Embracing this powerful emotion allows us to be better decision makers, encourages us to be helpful to others and a change of scenery is always nice.

Compassion – It’s Your Choice

For a little more than a year now, I’ve grown from several opportunities to be compassionate and would like to share them with you in this post. One of these has been to sponsor an impoverished child in El Salvador. I was motivated to make a difference in this child’s life partly because I felt blessed to be able to start a business in the midst of a recession and felt compelled to give something back to the world as a token of my gratitude.

In this time, I’ve also had in several conversations with one of our local homeless in Fort Lauderdale. During two of our chats, Anthony boldly asked me to marry him and each time, I answered yes, without hesitation. Although we were joking around, I wanted him to understand that I had no fear of him because he looks different. I also wanted to treat him with the same amount of dignity and respect as I give everyone else – civilized or not. Each time, I could’ve easily ignored him or clutched my purse, but I chose to interact with him and show compassion for those few moments in time.

I know we all get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, but shouldn’t it just as important to help others understand that their lives matter just as much as ours, no matter what their circumstances? I mean, how is it that we, as a human race, have forgotten or just don’t care enough to show compassion anymore?

Another opportunity I’ve been blessed with is to help my wonderful neighbor across the hall. She is an elderly lady with whom I’ve enjoyed spending some of my leisure time. There are occasions when she can’t do certain things for herself anymore, so I help her when I am able to. While I am in her home, she tells me story after story, so out of respect I sit and listen, even when I know there are things I need to be doing for myself. I think that if I ever reach her age, I hope that someone will be kind enough to be there for me.

The simple act of genuinely listening to someone is another great approach to demonstrating compassion and it can go a long way in achieving project success, building relationships, discovering new opportunities and making better decisions in business, and in our personal lives.

We all have an inner need to be heard, to be appreciated and to be honored. Please take some time from your busy day to show compassion for someone in your life while you have the ability to do so. Give what you can, lend an ear or provide encouragement to someone you know is in need. You’ll be amazed at the benefits you reap just from knowing that you’re doing what matters most. You may even receive some good karma as a result of your actions. Most importantly, you will be doing your part in paying it forward and making our world a better place to live.

Communication – How to Avoid Conflict

The power of communication, whether written or spoken, profoundly affects our lives in many different ways and on various levels. When we communicate, we have the opportunity to create cooperation or conflict with the words and tones we use to express ourselves. My experience has been that cooperative communication is a much more effective use of time than countless hours lost on conflict resolution, relationship mending and damage control. These activities spawn from a lack of cooperation, and often times, a lack of consideration. See below for a few ways to avoid conflict like the plague:

Listen to Others Effectively
I think we can agree that the skill of effective listening takes continual practice and no one is perfect, but the point is that we remain considerate by listening with genuine intent (nodding, repeating part of the message, asking questions to reaffirm the message). It also helps to resist the urge to formulate our next response while we are listening to others. Sometimes it seems as if we can’t even afford to carve time out of our busy schedules to listen, but if we just take the opportunity to encourage a person to engage in communication, we may just be surprised at what we learn from the experience.

Treat Others with Respect
When we treat others with respect, we treat ourselves likewise and we also honor both parties in the process. Our approach to cooperative communication should begin with a mindset of giving others more respect than they deserve as a courtesy. Each exchange we participate in is a chance to give our best to meet and hopefully, exceed others’ needs and expectations. It doesn’t guarantee that everything will go exactly as planned every time, but at least we can rest easy knowing that we gave it our all to make it happen.

Create Value and Synergy with Others
When we put diligent effort in listening to and respecting one another, it creates a space for even bigger ideas to be born. By using cooperative communication, we create value and synergy in our relationships as we build them together. Value stems from a willingness to take a risk in collaborating with each other to develop powerful strategies, solutions and concepts. Synergy allows us to feel at ease in expressing ourselves by sharing our knowledge, experience and resources for the betterment of all involved.

The next time you communicate, remember the power in your words, the tone in which you will use them and how your audience may perceive them. Cooperative communication benefits us all in that it simply leads to effective relationships, increased productivity and ultimately, revenue. How does your communication style affect your interactions with others?

How to Reconnect with Your Creative Side

Although some of you may not believe that you even have a creative bone in your bodies, I believe that we are all born creative and how far we go depends on our level of passion, enthusiasm and the interests that we pursue. When I was a kid, I spent much of my leisure time on the living room floor watching creative teachers like Bob Ross and Fred Rogers while drawing and sometimes, (watercolor) painting my own pictures. I was completely enamored by their on-screen presence and was excited to see them each time I had the privilege.

At the time, I had no idea just how much these individuals were teaching me and how much I would benefit as a result. All I knew was that I loved watching how the colors blended together on the palette, hearing the sound of the knife scraping against the canvas and the images that seemed to magically emerge once the colors were applied to it. I was also inspired through the power of caring words and songs that helped teach me the concepts of trust, confidence, gratitude and kindness. And when my Mother wasn’t looking, I also got as close as possible to the television because I wanted to examine the tiny pixels of color and how they worked. I was absolutely fascinated by it, but my wonder only got me into trouble. My Mother often yelled for me to “move back”, but I was driven to know how those moving pixels constituted the big picture.

In addition to being glued to these wonderful PBS programs (plus Sesame Street, of course), I also spent many hours using crayons, watercolors, my trusty Etch A Sketch and many Kaleidoscopes. I can’t imagine that my life would be complete today without having experienced all of these incredible creativity tools.

Reconnecting with your creative side is easier than you think. Remember what it was like to be a child? Think back if only just for a moment. As children, we were all very curious. We asked so many questions and were amazed by virtually everything that crossed our paths. We observed so much under the sun. We had boundless energy, had the ability to fantasize and even engaged our friends into pretending along with us in our own realm of imagination!

As adults and in business, maybe some things have changed over time, but several facts still remain the same. We still have a childlike curiosity, even if it’s buried deep inside some of us. We are still able to ask questions of ourselves and others. We still have the capability to engage our team by brainstorming to create a synergy that produces the best creative ideas possible. Don’t you agree?

3 Benefits of Spelling Accuracy

I know, I know…some of you may already be cringing from the title of this post. That’s understandable, but this post is focused on the benefits that go beyond classroom lessons to show us ways of increasing respect, connection and revenue. I hope these ideas will inspire you to embrace the art of spelling more than ever before, even if it’s your first time.

Gain More Respect – Readers award more respect to those who take the time to spell their words accurately, especially in business communication. This effort not only helps to effectively convey your message, but it also shows that you care about your audience’s experience and the quality of your subject matter.

Connect with Your Audience – It is much easier to connect with your audience when you make the effort to spell accurately. You will not only increase the impact of your message, but also ensure your chances of making a great first impression and demonstrate that you have a genuine interest in producing effective communication for your audience.

Earn More Business – Your audience is more likely to fully engage themselves when they clearly understand your message. Their level of interest is dependent upon several factors, one of which is spelling accuracy. Audiences tend to give up quickly because of frustration with errors, so you owe it yourself to do your best for your audience’s sake. As a result, you will get noticed more often and inevitably earn more business.

Of course, we all know perfection is impossible, but if we honestly strive to overcome our excuses as to why we can’t spell accurately, then we stand to gain more respect from our audience while connecting with them and earning their business at the same time!

With resources at our fingertips such as:  dictionary.com, merriam-webster.com and spell check, don’t we owe it to our readers to add value to their experience by practicing our spelling accuracy?