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Real conversation - the 'Super Tool'
 This summer, I had the great good fortune to speak at the annual Ragan Corporate Communications Conference, in Chicago. My topic? Workplace conversation. I spoke about ways to get managers and leaders to pay closer attention to conversation with employees.
Since people found my presentation useful, I thought I'd share some of it with my regular readers. So here, in two instalments, is the 'Reader's Digest version' of my talk.
Real Conversation - Part 1
Real Conversation - Part 2
You can also see a brief TV interview recorded after my session.
My next speaking gig is in beautiful, historic St. John's, Newfoundland, at the IABC Canada East Regional Conference, 'Blast Of Fresh Air,' November 18-20. My topic? Transforming the people around you into communication champions. Maybe I'll see you there.
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Don't sweat when a reporter call
 On
a list of the average person's worst fears, speaking in public is at the
top. Talking to a reporter takes public speaking,
enlarges the audience and increases the accompanying
anxiety.
It doesn't have to be that way. Reporters are people, too. (I know, since
I was one for many years!)
I've recently joined Eric Bergman, of Bergman & Associates, in leading his
practical, one-day training sessions Presenting With Ease and At Ease
With The Media. He's been teaching on these topics since the '80s
and has eased the fears of thousands of people. What I love about Eric's
programs is that they use principles of basic human communication and hel
p learners see the presentation or interview as a conversation. It's questions,
answers and people in thoughtful dialogue - not robots prattling rehearsed
messages.
As a professional coach, I watch anxiety dissolve when people take their
focus off themselves and place it on the task at h= and. The same thing happens
in our training when people shift their thinking from, "I'm presenting," to "Here's
a person who wants to know something."
We videotape the learners throughout the day and I'm always excited as
I watch them witness their own improvement. It's not magic - it just looks
like it.
Please contact me (through the e-mail link at the bottom) if you, your
team or your organization can benefit from presentation or spokesperson
training.
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Illumination - New Ideas
 What's up Doc?
Doctors are now being taught how to talk with patients. The
Journal of the American Medical Association just published a Canadian
Study of 3,424 physicians who had taken a standardized test of clinical skills
in which people pose as patients with varied ailments. The docs are assessed
on their performance, which includes their skill discussing difficult patient
situations. You won't be surprised to learn that those who scored poorly on the
communication portion of the test were more likely to have patients register
complaints with regulatory bodies. The prescription is no surprise - communication
training.
Think you can't get smarter?
Stanford University professor Carol Dweck, author of M
indset: The New Psychology of Success, suggests there are two ways people
think about intelligence. Some people think intelligence is fixed, while others
believe it can grow. Those who believe it's unchanging avoid risks for fear of
criticism. Those who believe their intelligence can expand challenge themselves
more. In my recent reading of how the brain works, I've noticed neurological
studies are starting to refute the old notion that IQ is fixed at birth. It
seems that, true or not, if we believe we can get smarter, we can.
Wasting an hour a day
Every once in a while I hear about a Gallup Poll and wonder, "Who wants to know
that?" Gallup's annual Work and Education poll asked full- and part-time workers
to estimate how much time they're unproductive at work. On average, US workers
report they waste about an hour a day. Not too bad, they say. They figure all
the folks around them are wasting about an hour and a half.
Life=
lessons in language learning
One of this week's French lessons provided a lesson for life as well as language.
I was struggling with mental gymnastics as I tried to describe events in the
future and things I might have done in the past. "Stop!" said my tutor. "Live
in the present. It is much simpler for you." As a coach I see the mess people
get into when they attach themselves to the future or the past. Their 'what
ifs' and 'shoulda/wouldas' keep them from doing anything in the here and now. "Live
in the present," is wise advice, in any language.
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