Here are four smple steps you can follow to ensure successful communication:
Attention
The first step in the process of communication is to get the reciver's attention.To achieve this, you should aim to :
- overcome all distractions - such as noise,disturbing mannerisms,unusual attrie, personal or emotional problems and negative attitudes
- use an appropriate greeting
- demonstarte respect and
- show empathy for recipient
Appreciation
Getting the receiver's appreciation is a critical step.It is the communicator's job to make sure understanding takes place, so that there is a positive reception of the message.
Assimilation
Appreciation alone is not enough.A person may understand a message but not accept it fully.Assimitation usually leads to active participation, collaboration and harmony.
Action
This is final step drives theory into positive reality.Very often, good idea is met with superficial acceptance and is not translated into action.If full assimilation takes plac, action from the receiver should follow automatically.
The two-sided nature of communication comes into force here, too, as the originator of the message gives further follow-up, support and encouragement to the receiver.
- Stronger decision-making and problem -solving skills
- Upturn in productivity
- Convincing and compelling corporate materials
- Clearer, more streamlined workflow
- Enchanced professional image
- Sound bussiness relationship
- Successful response ensured.
Strategies to stay employed !
Here are some ways you can add more value to your organization:
- Go the extra mile for a customer or keep in touch with your customers as a way of building and maintaining relationships.
- Develop more ideas for saving money for the company.
- Spot a problem before it turns out into a catastrophe.
- Anticipate the needs of your boss.
- Teach someone a new skill
- Volunteer for leadership opportunities
- Develop and enchance your reputationfor reliability.
- Seek new skills and learning opportunities
- Be adaptable and embrace change.
- make your boss look good by helping him accomplish his/her performance objectives
Which service is best? You judge
By Oo Gin Lee
March 03, 2006
A FEW years ago, you basically had two choices of free web-mail and instant messaging, Microsoft's MSN or Yahoo!.
MSN Messenger 8 Beta version, Gmail with Google Talk integrated, Yahoo! Messenger and Skype.
Now things have become more complicated, with other features like voice calls, video conferencing, e-mail alerts, sexy emoticons and so much more.
Which is best - Google, MSN, Skype or Yahoo? The best way is to compare their different services.
FREE E-MAIL
For web-mail, Gmail is my top choice because it has the cleanest user interface, loads quickly, offers the largest mailbox at a free 2GB, allows e-mail to be sorted into multiple folders which it calls 'labels' and arranges e-mail by threads instead of individual e-mails.
You can view your Gmail using Microsoft Outlook or other e-mail software.
The only setback is that you need an existing Gmail user to send you an invitation to get an account.
Yahoo! Mail is in second place for its 1GB free e-mail space, decent loading speeds and clean interface.
The premium version sends your e-mail to other e-mail software too.
Hotmail lags too far behind, especially since you only get a measly 250MB of space in your mailbox.
It takes a while to load and the interface is messy with irritating ads.
And Skype doesn't have e-mail.
VOICE CALLS
While the four services let you make PC-to-PC calls to fellow users, only Skype and Yahoo offer the convenience of PC-to-phone calls at very low prices.
For PC-to-PC calls, I was surprised that Google Talk offered the best quality, beating even the better-known Skype, which was recently acquired by eBay.
MSN and Yahoo! unfortunately do not have as good PC-to-PC voice quality.
Both Skype and Yahoo's PC-to-phone calls have reasonably good voice quality.
Skype costs 3.5 cents per minute for calls to many popular destinations like Australia, China, US and 4 cents per minute to Malaysia.
Yahoo!Messenger with Voice has better rates - 2.9 cents per minute to China, Australia and Malaysia and just 1.9 cents per minute to the US.
INSTANT MESSAGING
All four services offer instant messaging (IM) or chat services.
I have to say that MSN Messenger is still my favourite, especially its current 7.5 version.
Most people that I come into contact with seem to be on MSN, probably because it's been around the longest.
MSN's user personalisation is very good and you can even tell the world what music is playing on your PC.
You can also add your own picture, or your toddler's, or dog's, or a slideshow of them all, if you prefer.
You can also have a multi-party chat session and save all your IM conversations on your hard drive, so you can refer to them later on.
Now, you can even copy emoticons sent by your contacts and add them to your own list!
We are currently testing the MSN Messenger's Beta 8 version, and it is more customisable with different coloured chat windows and enhanced file-sharing capabilities.
Yahoo!Messenger has most of the features that MSN offers but somehow, MSN just does it better.
I consider Google Talk as second best, mainly because of its clean interface and good integration with Gmail.
All your chat sessions are automatically saved in a chat folder in Gmail and you can initiate chat sessions from the same Gmail interface.
The only thing you can't do is to have a voice chat on Gmail.
You need to open up a separate Google Talk interface for that.
Google Talk, however, lacks the cutesy stuff like emoticons and sexy user personalisations.
Worse, you can't have a chat conference with multiple users.
Skype is too basic although it can do multi-party conferencing.
If you can't decide which is best, just do what I do.
Use them all.
Email: darla@outofstress.com
It's a great morning, you wake up feeling energized. You immediately get into your routine of exercise, shower, coffee and a healthy breakfast. Then you get dressed and ready to take on the day and all the challenges that come your way via your career. You jump into your vehicle turn the radio to your favorite station and head down the road. It's great, you feel good, you can handle the harrowing traffic, you are prepared! You get on the freeway and it's a parking lot. Suddenly you feel anxious, you feel angry, your mood is disheartened. Your heart rate paces faster and harder. You find yourself yelling out some obscenities, hitting the steering wheel and basically just freaking out. You arrive to work 10 minutes late, you rush in, frantic inside. Someone at work approaches you and makes a comment or asks a question and you simply put "go off on them". The entire day is this way and then 5:00 comes along and you find yourself back in the same siuation. When you finally make it home, home sweet home, the kids meet you at the door and instantly begin making demands or asking when dinner will be ready. You have had it!!!Does any of this sound familiar? The best intentions will not keep you from the distess of the traffic and commute. Here are some suggestions for relieving the stress and making your commute more enjoyable.
1. Preparation Mental preparation is essential! Make meditation part of your morning routine. 5-10 minutes in the morning can have high returns on the time invested.
2. Listen to music/self help tapes etc...Find a soothing radio station or cd that you enjoy. If you are listening to metal, rap or rock you could be heightening your own stress levels. A good radio talk station, books on tape, soft jazz, easy listening are great choices. This keeps your mind active and focused rather than reative and anxious.
3. Take care of hygiene, makeup, hair at home!!! So many people get out of bed late then they attempt to ready themselves in the car. Not only is this dangerous it adds to the stress because you are getting ready in a sort of frantic on the run state of mind. You really aren't helping yourself by attempting to save time by choosing to ready yourself during the commute. Do yourself and everyone else a favor...get ready for your day at home!
4. Use the time for planning or setting goals. A pocket recorder is great! I have used this quiet time to create ideas, plan certain aspects of my life and set some tangible goals. I have written many a song while on the road with the help of my pocket recorder. Most cell phones today have a recording device, use it to your advantage.
5. Limit cell phone usage on the road. If you absolutely must use your cell phone while commuting make sure you have a hands free, speaker phone system. Using a cell phone on the road is not only dangerous for you, it's dangerous for those driving around you. Limit your time, let the caller or recipient know you are on the road and set a time to communicate once you arrive at your destination. I have missed turn off ramps and had to take extra time to get to my destination because even though I thought I was alert...I still didn't see the sign.
6. Deep Breathing Exercises This is a fantastic opportunity to make the most of your time driving to increase your blood oxygen levels. Studies have shown that daily deep breathing has health benefits! Not only does it relieve stress, it improves our health. The cells need oxygen to fucntion properly. Oxygen is carried through out our blood stream and feeds the body so to speak. Shallow breathing is not helpful. Use this time effectively and start your deep breathing exercises today!
7. Try a different route Break up your routine, try a driving a different route. You may need to leave a little earlier, however, the benefits can be immeasurable! Try the more scenic route as opposed to the same old parking lot on the freeway. Many times we read these tips and they sound great, however, just the idea of attempting to implement such tips can be stressful. Don't attempt to implement all these ideas at one. Take one at a time; once it becomes routine then add another. Remember to be happy, when we are in a happy state of mind the body relaxes endorphins that relax the mind, the muscles, and increases your oxygen effectiveness. Endorphins simply put...are healing to the mind, body, and soul! Whatever you do....do something soon! I hope you will improve your state of mind and take the agony of your daily commutes!
Darla G. Dawalddarla@outofstress.com
The Job is yours, if you have the:
- background
- enthusiam
- education
- personality
- experience
- qualifications
