How Do You Use Effective Communication and Consultation Techniques

When you are starting a new project you will need to be able to use all of your communication and consultation techniques to get it done. You may not have to use them all, but you should be ready to. The easiest thing you can do at this stage is to set up a plan for how the project is going to go ahead and what things you will need to do as a manager in order to proceed as the project moves forward. The more complicated the project is the more in depth the plan needs to become, and the more people need to see the plan. If it becomes very complicated your team may all want to work on plans for each of their parts in the project so that everyone knows what needs to happen. These will change as problems come up in the project, but that is one of the roles of communication.

As the project is being planned it may become obvious that you will need to consult with someone outside of the team to let them know what is happening and how it is going to happen. When you do this you should identify for them the scope of your project, how it will affect them, anything they may need to do or provide you with in order for you to continue, set out the appropriate methods for this to occur with an option for feedback from both sides on how this is working out. This kind of consultations usually happens in the workplace where there is a sensitive project and a share holder, or a client will need to be notified and kept up to date on the progress of the project.

When problems occur, because there are few projects that can go off without a hitch here or there, the most important thing is to let the appropriate people be aware of what changes are being made without sounding like it is a question or a decision you can change. Stay cool, calm, and answer any questions they may have. If you have a hard time having these kinds of conversations, look for someone on your team with customer service training who can help with the discussion. Allow them to give you feedback as part of the discussion and you may decide to change something based on ideas that are presented to you.

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Dale Carnegie Principle #23: Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.

Dale Carnegie Principle #22: Begin with praise and honest appreciation

5 Tips for Conducting a Successful Team Presentation

Now more than ever, business professionals are being asked to give presentations with teams. Everyone on your team must hone their presentation and preparation skills for these types of team presentations to be effective. Professional team presentations involve thorough planning, smooth transitions, logical sequencing of subject material, and the ability to create a coherent professional message. Here are 5 steps your team should follow in order to have a successful presentation.

1) Powerful Opening - Open up with a bang. You want to immediately engage your listeners and set the tone for the presentation. Make sure to plan your statement carefully and deliver a startling statement (statistic or fact) that you can drive home with sincere appreciation.

2) Introduction - After your opening, you should always briefly overview your agenda for the presentation and introduce all the members of the team. There are two different ways you can go about your introductions. The team leader can briefly introduce each member of the team and their respective role in the project, or each person can briefly state their own name and what their role will be in the project.

3) Handoffs - Part of your preparation for the presentation should go towards planning your handoffs. A poor handoff may slow down the flow of your presentation and confuse the audience. To help ease the transition, you should keep to a strict time frame for each speaker and use verbal cues to indicate that the next speaker is coming up: "In a minute, Bob will tell us how the timeline will work." As a presenter, make sure you are listening so that you hear your cue.

4) Team Question and Answer Session - An effectively facilitated question and answer session will leave a lasting and positive impression on your listeners. It is important in a team presentation to plan and prepare for this session. Take some time to predetermine which questions/subjects of questions will be answered by which team member. Also, determine a cue that will let your team members know to add on to your point.

5) Close with an Impact - It is important that you end your presentation on a high note. The closing of your presentation will reinforce the message you want your audience to take away with them. You want to have one person, typically the leader, close for the team. At the conclusion of the closing, make sure that you efficiently gather any materials and equipment that you used.

Dale Carnegie Principle #21: Throw down a challenge

Management Training Myths: What Doesn't Work

The history of management training and various work ethic philosophies that have gone along with it and evolved through time demonstrate various perspectives and approaches to training management staff. In addition, they demonstrate the changing orientations toward dealing with employees that have occurred in recent decades. Interestingly, the greatest changes have occurred in the last couple to few decades and represent an increase in respect and support for various staff levels. Years ago there was an extreme power differential between management and support staff, however recent trends demonstrate that eliminating these hierarchies in attitude creates a more positive work environment.

With this and other discoveries, there have been great changes in management training program philosophies. Certain myths and historic beliefs about how to appropriately train management and consequently treat staff have been uncovered and are no longer in place. These earlier beliefs are now considered to be destructive to the well being and success potential of a company, and changes in approach to training and staff treatment have demonstrated strong growth in the companies that affect it.

Micromanaging may be appropriate in certain, though uncommon, contextual situations, though as a general rule is ineffective and results in a frustrated and stagnant workforce. In addition, training management to engage in insulting correctional behavior is also counter to productivity. A supportive and communicative manager has been seen as weakness and ineffective leadership in the past, though this was based on stereotypes that are not comical. It is important to train management in positive communication and delegation skills, and the attitudes and practices of early 20th century training are recognized as destructive and sometimes in appropriate. One of the most noticeable of the beliefs that has been eliminated is the myth that men are smarter and more capable managers than women. There are many others that are similar in pattern and intent.

Dale Carnegie Principle #20: Dramatize your ideas