Communication is more than just your words. Your voice also adds to the meaning of your words. The message the sound of your voice sends is so powerful it may override your actual words.
Consider the words, “everything’s okay.” This phrase can mean a variety of things depending on how you say it:
“Everything’s okay.” Reassuring or soothing.
“Everything’s O-KAAY.” Sarcastic. As in, ” I told you already!”
“Uh…everything’s uh…okayyyyy.” Unsure or still checking.
Everything okay? a question.
What makes each statement be perceived differently are the three characteristics of the voice: pitch, volume and quality. Maximizing these will make you a more powerful and confident communicator.
You can learn to control all three voice characteristics. Here are a few tips:
Pitch: How high or low your voice is. Talk in a high pitched voice, as if you are speaking to an infant, and you’ll notice your voice is a bit hollow and thin. This happens because you are speaking from inside your mouth. Drop to a low voice and you can feel the sound coming from deeper in your throat. The best pitch for normal conversation is the sound that comes when you breathe fully from abdomen causing your diaphragm to expand. When you are nervous or fearful your voice may sound high or pinched because you’re breathing from the top of the lungs. Take a breath.
Volume: This is how loud your voice is. Again, the volume must come from your diaphragm and not your throat. Throat volume sounds like shouting not confidence. If people continuously ask you to speak up you’ll want to increase your volume, otherwise you may notice others ignoring you. You can practice increasing your volume by “pushing” someone across the room by the volume of your voice. Your practice partner can only move backward if they feel your voice moving them. Try it. You’ll begin to hear what a powerful voice sounds like even though it may sound too loud at first.
Quality: This is the richness, emotion and meaning your voice sends. Pitch and volume adds to the quality but so does your feelings and overall health. Notice the difference the quality of your voice has when you’re feeling sad as opposed to when you’re feeling on top of the world. This is why it is so important to smile when you are talking on the phone–people can tell!
Don’t forget to get instant access to The Power of Effective Communication your FREE 6-part Audio Series by entering your name and email in the box to your upper right.
One comment I often hear when it comes to misunderstandings in the workplace is, “If you can just fix my (boss, coworker or customer) then I wouldn’t have any problem communicating.”
Maybe you’re even agreeing with that statement. If you are you have some work to do…inner work.
There are 4 key beliefs you might hold that lead to conflict:
1. I must explain my side first. If you believe this you fail at a fundamental principle of communication. Dr. Stephen Covey put it best, “Seek first to understand before seeking to be understood.”
2. I am a good listener. Hate to break it to you but the odds are not in your favor. Most of us fail miserably as listeners while believing the opposite. Listening is not waiting to speak. It’s actually engaging to understand what is being communicated. This, unfortunately, takes some effort.
3. I’m not afraid.Really? Think again. Fear is the underlying issue of all conflict. Fear you won’t get heard, fear of losing face, fear that you might not get your way or fear that the truth about you will be revealed. It’s difficult to get to the truth when you’re operating from a place of fear.
4. I lose if they win.Communication is not a competitive, contact sport. Switch to cooperation mode if you want to manage workplace misunderstandings.
Good communication requires healthy self-esteem, self-awareness and an attitude of cooperation not competition. Approach conflicting communication styles with this intention and you’ll decrease conflict and misunderstandings.
To learn more about managing conflict in your workplace, pick up a copy of this 60 minute teleseminar:
Okay, it’s not the nicest title but I bet it got your attention. More so, I bet it brought to mind a very specific person that would benefit from reading this post. Am I right?
If the person that came to mind is you–congratulations! You’ve just taken the first step to making a change.
Why is it so difficult for some people to say only what’s needed and no more?
Well, some people …
…fail to stop talking because they can’t handle silence.
… think more words will sell whatever it is they are selling including themselves.
… think they are so interesting and feel compelled to tell it all and then some.
… have no self-awareness. Yes, this is a big one.
… have little confidence in their abilities so talking covers up the fear of being asked a question he can’t answer.
You get the point, I could go on and on.
So, when do you shut up and how do you stop yourself once you’re on a rant? Read More→
When I was a kid I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. I loved to color and sketch and make things from the big “Make It!” book my mom always had on hand. That book satisfied my curiosity about how things were made and it sparked my creativity…not to mention saving my mother’s sanity!
My curiosity about how things were made probably accounts for my passion for the act of sewing…the how-to part. (Some people sew but only because they like the end result not the process–but I loved both.)
I loved figuring out how I could use the least amount of fabric when laying out a pattern often getting a better yield than the suggested layout.
For me the “fun” part would be figuring out how to cut an “uneven” plaid so every seam of a pleated skirt would match perfectly. That’s just how my brain works.
This obsession with “figuring things out” showed up in my life in the oddest moments. I remember sitting in my office on the 34th floor looking north up 7th Avenue (in Manhattan) and watching an office building being built a few blocks uptown.
I was fascinated by how quickly progress was made and each day I walked into my office with great anticipation as to what would happen next.
But the one thing I couldn’t figure out was how the construction elevator rose above the floor that was being constructed before there even was a floor! It was like watching magic.
Finally, I could stand it no longer and broke down and called my father, a retired electrician. I said, “Pop, how do they get the elevator up when the floor isn’t even completed?”
He told me they build it as they go and explained the process.
“They build it as they go.” Seems like the same process we use to build a business. Build and add a new floor as you get a little further along. I know that’s what I have been doing.
You might have noticed these recent additions to my services: hand analysis and new coaching programs. It’s the build as you go philosophy.
I love hand analysis the same way I loved figuring out how to lay out a pattern or sew a besom pocket. There is a certain “eureka” at the end. The light bulb goes on and everything is “illuminated” as though you’ve never seen the very thing you’re looking at before.
That’s what hand analysis does. It “highlights” your innate talents and purpose. It adds a whole new layer of information that colors and adds definition and detail to an individual that may not have been “visible” before. Like holding a letter written in lemon juice over a heat source.
The message was always there…you just couldn’t see it until you had “the secret.”
Hand analysis reveals your purpose and the pattern that keeps showing up for you as a “stall” or a “wall” in front of your success. It’s the “secret” without actually being a clandestine process.
What I mean by that is that hand analysis is a repeatable process. It is not a predictive tool but a tool to help you understand yourself in the moment.
Couldn’t you use a little more light on your life purpose and your life lesson? Certainly it helped me.
Unclear communication and workplace misunderstandings can lead to a loss of productivity, money, clients or worse. Clear communication is the benchmark of a good office and tops the lists of best business practices with a capital “C”.
The clear communication implementation process begins when a new hire joins your team. As a manager, it is your job to make the person feels at ease and that he or she becomes a productive member of the company and your team.
Start by making sure that your new hire is aware of all of the functions your team provides. Clearly communicate what is expected of him or her. A small list of to-dos and reminders, managers can use with each new hire, are listed below. You, as a manager, should have this in your left pocket at all times.
Step 1. Introduction. Introduce your new hire to the tasks verbally. Let the worker know what is expected of him and how he can be a potential star in the company by doing the X-Y-Z list of things. Let him hear you – loud and clear- but don’t forget to connect your head to your heart during your communication and open up a place in the conversation for questions.
Step 2. Create a master list of the job function. Take time and create a written charter of duties. Make a list of to-dos which would be required of the new team member. A generic framework of what is desired and where he/she fits in the office. This is a good time to review job descriptions with your whole team–you’ll be surprised at the misunderstandings.
Step3. Make a detailed description of your wants as a manager. The new team member needs to know how your team functions and what is expected of him or her as a member. As a manager, you need to educate the newest member on the processes and procedures of the company. Make sure they are aligned with the ways of the company by means of a detailed description of the tasks, the expected time-lines and reporting channels. Be clear and describe the expectations in detail – yours and the company’s.
Step 4. Describe the role outside the team. Let the person know his or her role outside the team as well. Describe what is expected of him as a company employee who represents the company on whole with every encounter. Be clear and be concise. Cite facts.
Step 5. Ask for a feedback. Remember communication is a two way process…. You need to ask for feedback and remove noise from the system. Clarify all the issues you feel are still in the gray and make sure that they are fed back into the communication loop. Observe and correct by reverting back to steps 1 to 4, if needed.
Step 6. Make the person create a summary of the tasks at hand. This is perhaps a yearly process, but its advised to initiate this practice after the new team member is apparently comfortable in the job. An analysis of this will illustrate the difference between your explanation and the resource’s understanding. Clear the communication deficit now for greater productivity and profits later.
Want to use this article on your website or your own ezine? Share the knowledge but you MUST include the following: Allie Casey , Reinvention Specialist & Chief Communicator at Casey Communications can help you and your team how to ramp up your communication for more productivity and fewer headaches. To get your F.R.E.E. audio course, more communication articles and information visit www.alliecasey.com.
As a manager you must have faced resistance to new ideas, initiatives and change to procedures at some point in time. Good managers learn to deal with these minor push-backs and move ahead. Better ones, however, turn that into an opportunity and gain in strength from it – they create a persona for themselves and turn it to their advantage. Some simple managerial and conversational recommendations that make managers turn into leaders, in spite of resistance from a group of people, are discussed below. They would assist a good manager turn into a better leader.
State your Aim Clearly. For a task to be done well, it needs to be clearly stated. Be direct but be positive and use plain tones. State facts as facts and mention requirements in an unambiguous manner. Clear instructions, without an iota of threat works wonders in any situation. Above all, keep a neutral tone and add no negative emotion to the conversation. Half your job is done.
Let People Gripe – Its their Birthright. You have to appear as a very patient listener. You need to listen to the protests people have, but limit it to a logical time span. It need not be unending and you need to make them understand that though occasional bouts of complaints might work – noncompliance does not. Limit the gripe time.
Understand the Real Concern. Often the real cause of the resistance to a new idea is not what is overtly stated. Some undercurrents – not so obvious ones, do not emerge while you speak to people. Good managers learn to keep a tap on these undercurrents and actual reasons to resistance. Prod a little more and get to the bottom of every opposition.
Aim to Resolve in One Sitting. Try and resolve the concerns in one round of interaction. Try not to lead conversations which deal with opposition to your ideas to a round two. Round two are normally bad news and is likely to hound you later.
Accept Logical Suggestions. Be open in your approach to new suggestions. There might be something that you really have missed regardless of all planning and experience. Be candid if you feel that the other side has valid concerns and be open about the ways you intend to address these. There is nothing like making the other person feel happy that the point he or she gave has been accepted.
Fail Safe Solution. If all else fails, don’t be afraid to read the riot act – once in a while. Make the people who resent change aware of the consequences of disobedience to the company, loss of profitability and issues of management moving ahead.
The aim of a manager is to run a team with least resistance. Cooperation and team work in a team are results of clear understanding of the aim and some good management practices. A good leader accepts suggestions that are new and path breaking, but knows when to put a stop to these and move ahead. To be a good manager learn to effectively deal with resistance. The secret lies in good communication.
Now get your 6-Part Audio Series –The Power of Effective Communication-FREE. Be a leader and implement this information. Go ahead. Just put your first name and email in the boxes on the right and the information will be yours instantly.
Information Contact Allie at 407-313-4967
or Ask Your Questions on the Contact Page
