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Greetings!
Welcome to the latest issue of Be Understood a
discussion of Emotionally Intelligent Communication. It's
a regular roundup of ideas that touch on the
communication challenges we face in the 21st century.
In the many weeks since the last edition, I've
participated in workshops in emotional intelligence,
appreciative inquiry, and communication measurement.
I've attended some excellent conferences for coaches
and communicators. I've also learned from my amazing
clients.
Bits and pieces of my learning are
included in these articles. I hope they provide an
interesting launching pad for your own ideas about
communication.
| Communicating Bad News |
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As a manager, no communication draws on your
emotional intelligence more than communicating bad
news to your employees. On the
scale of badness, "no raise" doesn't rank as high as "no
job," but the conversation is still difficult.
In this article, we look at some of the ways a manager
can prepare to deliver bad news, and how s/he can
help employees deal with it.
Read the whole story. »
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| Talking To Yourself |
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I'll admit it. I talk to myself. I, you, and billions of other
humans, have lively internal dialogues taking place
nearly all the time. It's as if we have invisible
companions whispering in our ears in all our waking
moments.
When we talk to ourselves, repeating and re-repeating
messages, we are like hypnotists making suggestions to
our subconscious minds. What are you programming
your mind to believe?
The most important conversations in your life are those
you have with yourself.
Read the whole story. »
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| Illumination - New Ideas |
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Living without TV
I'm living without television. Have done for several
months. Now, a fairly shocking statistic may keep me
tube-less forever. See why in Related Links.
Context and Sound Bites
For professional communicators, one of the year's
highlights was the annual conference of the
International Association of Business Communicators, in
Washington, DC. Among the keynote presenters were
Washington's most famous political strategists, the
husband-and-wife team of Mary Matalin and James
Carville. Left and right, pro and con, the two provided
contrasting insight into the context of mass
communication. See Related Links.
Appreciative Inquiry
What would happen in the world if, instead of focusing
on what's going wrong, we focused on what's going
right and what might be. That's an oversimplified
explanation of the field of communication known
as "appreciative inquiry." It's growing through the work
of Dr. David Cooperrider, who has worked with
organizations as diverse as the US Army, the Dalai
Lama, and the UN.
AI is based on the
deceptively simple premise that
organizations grow towards what they
ask questions about and focus attention on.
It's as if our words create our world and we get more of
what
we look at.
The techniques work with small or
very
large groups, which makes them useful in community
building. You can participate in a large group meeting
September 14, 2005, in Toronto, Canada, when David
Cooperrider
hosts a public summit. To learn
more, see Related Links.
Breaking Out - Survey
Are you someone who's left or is thinking about leaving
paid employment to work on something you
love (or love more) out on your own? If so, please help
with some research I and a friend are doing for our
next book. We're trying to identify some of the things
that are on people's minds as they contemplate taking
the leap into solopreneurship. Please take part in our
Breaking Out Survey in Related Links.
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| Want to use articles from Be Understood? |
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The contents of this E-zine
may be copied, reproduced, or freely distributed for all
nonprofit purposes without the consent of the author
as
long as the following information is attached:
Reproduced with permission from Be Understood,
a regular publication of It's Understood Communication.
http://www.itsunderstood.com
See other articles at our web site . . . »
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| Great and powerful? Moi? Yes, and you, too! |
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A couple of years ago, I would never think of reading a
self-help book. Today, I write them. Life is full of
surprises.
This spring, I contributed a chapter
to Become Your Own Great and Powerful: A
Woman's Guide to Leading Your Real, Big Life. This
anthology, coordinated by coach and author
Barbara Bellissimo, uses the stories of members of
her network to help other women find the power to
take charge of their lives. It has received some
excellent publicity and super feedback from reviewers
and interviewers. (If you want to read the book,
there's an Amazon link below.)
When I was invited to participate in the project, I had
serious reservations. I had never imagined myself
as "powerful." And "great" is for other people -
Catherine the Great, Alexander the Great, Wayne
Gretsky, Tiger Woods, The Great and Powerful
Wizard of Oz - but not regular folk like me.
I knew that if I didn't participate, I'd regret it. So I
added my case history to the book along with the
others. Examining my own story began an exploration
of how power and greatness show up in ordinary
people. It's been a fascinating journey that's not over
yet.
Read Sue's recent thoughts about greatness here.
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