Five Ways To Get Your Ideas Accepted (25-01-11, Mumbai Edition, Economic Times)

YOU’VE COME UP WITH A CRACKER OF an idea and now, the only thing left to do is to get it accepted and adopted. But before you take it to the people who matter, get your act together. For many a good idea has come a cropper for no other reason than poor presentation and bad marketing skills. Here’s how to do it right, says Sreeradha D Basu.

Make a business case for your That is paramount, if you have an idea worth pursuing, advises A Sudhakar, head, HR, Dabur India. Get your facts and data in place. And do your research thoroughly. Otherwise, your idea is just on paper. "For a new product, for instance, one needs to have background information, data about the market, the competitive scenario and such," says Sudhakar 


Pitch it to the right people Be clear about presenting your ideas to the right people, those who have the authority and the budget to sanction it. Says HR consultancy Ma Foi Randstad director and president E. Balaji: "Make sure you have the right audience. Sometimes people aren’t clear about who the relevant person is." If possible, meet with stakeholders before the formal presentation to generate interest and pre-sell them on the idea. 


Keep it Crisp Detailed and lengthy doesn’t cut it; crisp and concise does. "Sell the benefits first: the benefits to the organisation, even the person you are presenting it too," says Balaji. 


Don’t knock the old methods Salil A, who works in an ad agency, recalls how he once rubbed his seniors the wrong way while presenting the idea for a new campaign for a product that had been with the agency for a long time. "I was new to the organisation and found faults with the old campaign, forgetting that some of them had worked on it. They found plenty of reasons to turn me down." The next time, Sahil played it safe. "I presented it in a way that showed I was simply building on their old ideas. I just sailed through," he laughs. 


Discuss the limitations upfront Every idea is bound to have some shortcomings. Figure them out before someone else does and suggest ways to work around them. "That way you are fully prepared and won’t give your critics any chance to wear you down," says Sudhakar.

Five Ways To Work With A Hated Co-worker

AMIT GARG WAS GIVEN THE RESPONSIBILITY to head a team of 30 people in a Gurgaon-based consulting firm. Little did he know that within months of joining the new organisation, he would be one of its least liked co-workers. He was having a tough time handling his team, until someone made him aware that his short fuse was to blame. According to HR experts, the next time you start hating a colleague at your workplace, try and help him instead of avoiding him. Here’s how to make things work with someone you hate in the office, says Mahima Puri.

Help create buddies
It is the responsibility of the peer group to help fellow colleagues make friends, says Umesh Dhal, head of HR &MS at LG Electronics. HR can too play an important role in this if such feedback is received from a team. “Sit with the team and check acceptability status of the concerned person. Get help from some specially designed activities that can gauge if the person has problems with social behaviour,” he says.

Offer personal counselling
One of the ways to deal with the situation could also be to offer the colleague personal counselling. The HR department can do this job after receiving feedback from the irksome employee’s peers.

Find areas of mutual interest
As colleagues, one can identify areas of interest that you and the concerned person may share. For instance, if cricket is an area of mutual interest, colleagues can sit together and watch or discuss cricket. This helps in breaking the ice and making the person more acceptable at the workplace.

Give feedback
You have to make your colleague aware of his behaviour that is making him the least acceptable in the office environment. “Give positive feedback and try and explain things instead of complaining. Most of the time, colleagues can be rude or short-tempered but they may not realise this. Be gentle in your approach,” says Gagan Adlakha, founder of HR consulting firm Vyaktitva.

Talk to peers
Another solution could also be to send the person to an open programme, wherein management and behavioural training is provided. “Feedback from the peer group may not work always. Sometimes, it is advisable to get feedback from a third party. The person may be more open to this,” says Mr Adlakha. He adds that this helps the person see himself in new light, without feeling that his peer group is biased.

Five Ways To Pump Up Employee Morale (18-01-11,Economic Times, Mumbai

A RESURGENT ECONOMY AND WAR FOR talent has increased attrition beyond the normal level across sectors. While instances of mass exodus are yet to take place, HR experts say its high time that bosses take note to prevent such a crisis. Writankar Mukherjee spoke to a cross-section of seasoned HR professionals on how bosses can take guard and boost employee morale.

Make the office a learning ground
Research has shown people don’t change jobs just for money. It is the job profile and the ability to learn within a organisation which often becomes a deciding factor. More so, in case of today’s generation of professionals who want to learn and move up the ladder fast. “When bosses and organisations continuously help an employee develop their capabilities, they will not quit as they have a sense of enrichment. Bosses should give correct feedback to employees on their performance, help them learn on the job and build their capabilities,” says AkzoNobel India’s HR director Sangeeta Pandey.

Chart the employee’s growth
HR experts say employees who know in advance their growth plan within an organisation are much more motivated. “Even though youngsters tend to change jobs every two years, they do so for career growth. So, why not show employees their future career growth within the current organisation, which highlights their potential salary and future role?” says YV Verma, COO at LG Electronics India.

Reward and recognise
Like talent management should ideally be a year-round phenomena for every employee-friendly company, so should be reward and recognition. “Giving a pat at the back at the right time is important. Such rewards or recognition then becomes a kind of psychic income. It sends the message that employees come before customers,” says Max India Group director (human capital) P Dwarkanath, a veteran HR professional.

Make your company a dynamic one
The best way to boost employee morale is by constantly evolving their role and responsibilities. HR experts say organisations should be dynamic enough to offer that challenge to their employees. Top performers like new challenge and tends to get bored doing the same thing for a long time. Godrej Consumer Products VP (HR) Rahul Gama admits it is like walking on a tight rope when it comes to balancing a person’s tenure in a role and ensure he does not quit for delay in upward movement. “Rotation of professionals in different roles is a must to ensure equitable growth of the organisation and individual,” says Gama. Godrej tends to rotate an employee’s role every three years.

Identify the employee’s sweet spot
HR experts say bosses should identify an employee’s sweet spot, be it job security, faster growth, desire to work out of a particular location, or be part of a new business, and try to nurture it. “People work for themselves and not for an employer. Each boss should know the eco-system of an employee well enough. And then give him the ability to perform, which if he lives up to then compensate him adequately and nurture his emotional and sentimental well-being. These should be the responsibility of all bosses,” says Ajit Isaac, HR analyst and MD at Ikya Human Capital Solutions.

Five Ways To Help Your Employees Feel Secure (11-01-11, Mumbai Edition, Economic Times)

EMPLOYEES NEED EMOTIONAL security above everything else. Shreya Biswas shares a few tips on what a company/boss can do to overcome apathy at the workplace

Assign work according to ability Don’t make a fish run the marathon. A tweak of the KRAs and job rotation can work wonders. “Those who enjoy what they do, don’t have to work a single day of their life,” says A Sudhakar, executive VP, HR at Dabur. 


Stay in sync “All of us are social creatures. We want to know what is happening around us,” says Muralidhar Rao, CEO, Future Human Development. “If someone takes the trouble to let us know this, it sends a positive signal.” Aligning the employee's performance with the company’s, is important. 


Appreciate good work As a society, we are stingy about providing appreciation. Appreciation should be specific, timely and authentic — and should not contain a ‘but’ or ‘however’. “Give your employees a pat on their back when they deserve it and make them feel wanted,” says K Sudarshan. 


Give feedback Not necessarily positive. In fact, once the three points, above, are operationalised, it is critical to provide timely feedback. Be genuine; unnecessary praise or rebuke will not be appreciated. Pause before providing feedback to think how it will help the employee. “A formal, written feedback, as we provide at Dabur, might be better. That way, employees can chart future course of action,” adds Sudhakar. 


Apologise when wrong Employees expect their boss to be human. Owning up to your mistakes is perhaps the best way of connecting with employees. “The management can also ensure that senior employees don’t get away with mistakes, and ensure the rules are the same for everybody, irrespective of rank,” says Rao. This will help garner the most valued virtue for the company — the employees’ trust.

5 Effective Ways to Use Anger in the Office (Dave Logan, Tribal Leadership)

Now that we’re past the season New Year’s resolutions, here’s a commitment to take seriously in 2011: get angry, stay angry, and direct the anger to things that matter.

A little known secret to leadership is that great leaders tap into their dark side (thinkBill Clinton), while wimpy leaders don’t, or don’t have a dark side to tap into (thinkJimmy Carter).

The challenge is how to tap your dark side without being consumed by it (think Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer or Darth Vader).  Here are some ways to use your dark side to sharpen your leadership skills:

1.  Get mad at something that matters.

Martin Luther King, Jr. got mad.  So did Lincoln, and Churchill, and Reagan.  It’s worth taking a moment, right now, and surveying your company to see what irks you, and better yet, pisses you off.

2.  Think and get mad at the same time.

When people get white hot angry, the part of their brain that controls the fight-or-flight response has hijacked their ability to think rationally.  Anger is helpful, blind rage can be disastrous.  To avoid unthinking anger, ask yourself what value is being violated that is making you so upset.  This action forces in rational thought, and lessens the chance that you’ll say something you regret.  Dr. King got mad about the lack of justice and equality.  Lincoln got angry at people trying to break up national unity.  Churchill was upset with naïve politicians who ignored the truth about the Nazi’s actions.  When Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” you could see the passion that only comes from tapping anger about the violation of one of his core values–freedom.

3.     Direct anger, don’t wallow in it or intellectualize it.

There are two major pitfalls with anger: swimming it, and thinking about it.  Staying angry without directing it makes people passive aggressive over time.  Another way to say “passive aggressive” is “bad at leadership.”

President Obama spent much of 2010 showing us the other pitfall: getting angry and then explaining the source of the anger in webs of logic no one cares about.  Anger is powerful because it cuts through clutter.  So get to its source (the violated core value) and then use clarity in moving to a solution.

The most important way to channel feelings of being upset is in getting others to declare that they won’t accept the situation as it is, because it violates a value you and they share.

4.  Channel anger into a commitment to fix the problem.

You need a simple method of going from values to a robust plan to make a difference in a short period of time.  There are many free resources on how to do this.  One of the better ones comes from the research in Tribal Leadership: a 90 day strategy map.

5.    Form a trusted relationship so you don’t get lost in the dark side.

Anger is a useful place to visit, but you don’t want to live there.  People who fly off the handle aren’t trusted, just as people who always respond in a Vulcan manner aren’t respected.  It’s worth noting that Obama spent months in 2010 coming across as calm and collected when people were outraged, over the BP spill, the lack of new jobs, and the souring deficit.  He showed directed anger when he bucked his own party late in the year and compromised on tax cuts to get an extension of unemployment benefits, and the result was progress on legislation and an uptick in his popularity.  Make sure you have trusted friends to make sure you don’t get mad too often, or stay mad without a sense of direction.  Just as important, make sure you have friends who don’t let you stay a Vulcan too long.

About the Author

Dave Logan is a USC faculty member, management consultant, and the best-selling author of four books including Tribal Leadership and The Three Laws of Performance. He has served on the USC faculty since 1996, and teaches leadership and management at the Marshall School of Business. From 2001-2004, he was Associate Dean of Executive Education. He is also Senior Partner of CultureSync, a management consulting firm, which he co-founded in 1997. The firm consults with dozens of Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits, and governments worldwide. He has a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School at USC.
Learn more about Tribal Leadership
Follow Dave on Twitter @davelogan1

source - http://www.bnet.com/blog/tribal/5-effective-ways-to-use-anger-in-the-office/384?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

Five Ways To Get In The Good Books Of The Boss (07-01-11, Mumbai, Economic Times)

JUST ABOUT EVERYONE WANTS TO LOOK good in the eyes of the boss. But it’s not about being a yes-man as much as it is about working hard, says Sreeradha D Basu

Exceed your boss’ expectations The easiest way to impress your boss is to be competent in the area where you work. “Be disciplined, be proactive, and help your boss in all situations, especially the more challenging assignments. Making sure you have your facts right, being well-prepared, delivering and then communicating to your boss about the good work you've done. “Always be around to take responsibility and go beyond his/her expectations,” says Rahul Kulkarni, head — HR, Kale Consultants.

Punctuality goes a long way Another no-brainer, but it’s often ignored. “Whether it’s attending meetings on schedule, finishing projects on time or meeting timelines and time commitments, this is something that gets you into your boss’ good books,” says TeamLease Services MD Ashok Reddy.

Give credit and earn goodwill When you complete a project, thank your boss for his inputs and support. At the same time, show that you genuinely value them, rather than just trying to massage his ego. If your boss gives you an assignment, treat it as top priority, even if it means pushing yourself to complete it. “It’ll earn you loads of brownie points,” says Ritesh Bhatia, who put in late nights at work for over a month to complete a job. At the end of the year, it bagged him a substantial bonus.

Show initiative “Take ownership and responsibility of your own tasks. Put timelines and find solutions,” says Team-Lease’s Reddy. “The use of initiative is very important for a boss to realise your full potential,” he adds.

Never bad-mouth your boss Don’t talk behind your boss’ back. If you have something you don’t like about him/her, keep it to yourself. Otherwise, it might end up reaching his/her ears one day. So save your criticisms, and say good things about your boss.

Five Ways To Effectively Manage Your Time At The Office

We've all heard that old saying, "time is money." When it comes to time spent at work, it couldn't be more true. Managing your time at the office as efficiently as possible makes a big difference in your effectiveness-and your bottom line. Here, we'll go over a few tips on how to streamline your time management at work.

Organize your desk. If you can barely see the surface of your desk for all the paper, you need to reorganize. Many people with messy desks will insist that they "know where everything is"-but this is in fact rarely true, especially if it's documentation for a project that's been on the back burner for a while. Over time, you'll waste hours just looking for things that should be easy to locate.

To get back in shape, set aside an hour to a day-or even more, depending on how chaotic your desk is-to sorting, filing, and organizing your office. You'll need a filing system that works for you. Put everything within easy reach-you should never have to spend more than thirty seconds locating a single piece of paper. Even though you may feel like you don't have the time to pay attention to organization, this investment of time will pay you back over the long run.

Delegate when you can. High-achieving business owners and managers often hate to delegate, because they feel out of control when they're not doing everything themselves. However, strong and effective leaders know the strengths of their employees-and how to rely on those strengths to best advantage. If you feel overloaded in your tasks, delegate to trusted employees when you can. Choose someone who's eager to prove herself, but who also isn't too inexperienced to do a good job-and when you can, choose employees who have talents to match the task.

Schedule e-mail time. Constantly checking email is just another way of procrastinating on other things. Turn off the automatic notification feature on your email-it kills concentration-and only check your email two or three times per day. That way, you won't feel like e-mail is taking up all your time at work.

Get rid of your paper in-box. If a document crosses your desk that you have to take care of, handle it now-don't set it in a "to-do" pile. We all tend to procrastinate with paperwork-but the more quickly you get it done, the less you'll feel like it's controlling your life. Don't let paperwork sit on your desk for more than a day if you can possibly help it.

Make sure you have the right software. If your business management involves a lot of software-spreadsheets, documents, data management systems-you could be wasting a lot of time just transitioning from one program to the next. Look for a software solution that combines mutually compatible programs that take care of all your data management needs. The best ones include tracking features that will let you keep track of time, efficiency, defects, financial information, and other information crucial to your business's effectiveness. That way, you'll be able to manage all relevant data, track your time, and make sure you're running your business as efficiently as possible.

Crucial time management is crucial to your bottom line and to your work-life balance. Get it right, and you'll work efficiently and have time left over for your family and yourself. Get it wrong, and you can start to feel like your work is taking over your life. Follow these tips, and you should be able to get it all done-with time to spare.

About the author

About the Author:
This article was written by ArtifactSoftware.com, creators of a free time management software program that was built for software developers. Please visit www.artifactsoftware.com

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/five-ways-to-effectively-manage-your-time-at-the-office-81239.html#ixzz19wvsdtve
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

5 Ways to Get More Time: Time Management Techniques for Super-Busy People (Susan Ward, About.com Guide)

Who hasn't wished at some point that there were more hours in a day? It sometimes seems that we spend so much time rushing from place to place or task to task that we don't actually accomplish anything except feeling more frustrated.
But we can accomplish what we want to each day if we put some basic time management principles in place and follow them. Be warned: these are not all easy things to do. You might have to struggle and work at these time management techniques. But the time you invest in learning how to do these things and practicing them will be paid back a thousand-fold. Use these five time management techniques consistently and you'll have more time, accomplish more, and feel better.

Time Management Technique #1: Recognize you can't do it all.

Too many of us are stretched too thin because we've bought into the myth that everyone can (and should) do it all. We should all work full-time, spend quality time with our children and spouses and pets, spend time with our friends, do volunteer and committee work, get involved in causes, work at staying fit and healthy, and spend time relaxing and rejuvenating ourselves.
This kind of balancing act is best left to the Flying Wallendas. And you know what? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are healthy and happy with how you’re spending your time. Decide what roles and activities are important to you and live your life accordingly.

Time Management Technique #2: Prioritize.

The other part of the myth that we all can and should do it all is that everything is equally important. It's not. Just look at your daily calendar on any given day. Is picking up the dry cleaning really as important as that meeting with a client? No. So if you have to choose between them, it's easy to decide to leave the day cleaning pickup for another day.
Don't just rush from task to task throughout the day. Review the list of what you have to do that day at the day's start and then pick out the things that you 'must do' that day. (Try to keep these 'must-dos' to three or less for starters.) Then focus on getting those things done. At the end of the day, you'll have a feeling of accomplishment, no matter what else got messed up or went wrong.

Time Management Technique #3: Learn to say "Yes" and "No".

The inability to say "No" is the cause of an incredible amount of misunderstanding and frustration. Instead of saying "No," people say "Maybe" or "I might be able to do that" or "I'll see", creating the expectation that they will do whatever it is on the part of the listener and the pressure on themselves to do it. Then when they don’t do it, the person they said "Maybe" to instead of "No" is disappointed/annoyed/hurt.
Make it a general rule not to say "Maybe" at all when you're asked to commit to something. Learn to make quick decisions and say "Yes" or "No" instead. And don't get hung up on elaborating. You don’t have to give extensive reasons for your decision. A simple "No, I can’t do that" is enough. The person you're speaking to will appreciate your honesty and your disinclination to waste their time. And you'll be without the pressure to fit in yet another activity or event you weren't that interested in anyhow.

Time Management Technique #4: Unplug.

Another modern myth that you have to disregard if you want to manage your time effectively is the idiotic idea that we all have to be reachable and 'connected' all the time. We don't, and in fact, there are times when it's important or useful to be unreachable to everyone or everything except the person or the task immediately in front of us.
For instance, if your child is telling you about a traumatic thing that happened to him at school that day or you're doing an estimate for a potential customer, you need to be listening to/communicating with the people right in front of you, not the ones calling or sending you email.
So recognize this and 'unplug' yourself when appropriate. And make yourself the manager of your technology rather than being managed by it. Do not read every piece of email as soon as it comes in, for example, or feel that you have to personally answer every phone call. Don't let incoming texts or Twitters interrupt you when you're working. Set aside particular times of day to read or listen and respond to email and phone calls.

Time Management Technique #5: Take time off.

Many business people in particular fall into the seven day trap. They feel that the more time they pour into their business, the more successful their business will be. Before you know it, they're working seven days a week every week and wondering why they feel so tired and frazzled all the time!
And is their business more successful? Maybe. Maybe not. You see, the success of their business depends on what they do, not on how much time they spend doing it.
Consider this analogy: if you want to learn golf and you spend eight hours a day seven days a week golfing but are holding the club wrong every time so that every ball you hit has a pronounced swing to the left, what happens to your golf game? It doesn't matter how much time you put into doing something if you're not doing it right.
So incorporate time off into your schedule. When you take time off, whether it's an afternoon or a weekend or a week, you return to your work refreshed and more productive, able to accomplish so much more in the amount of time available.

5 Time Management Techniques Equals More Time?

No. You won’t physically magically get more hours in a day when you put these time management principles into action. But you will be able to more effectively manage the time you have. And in terms or what you get done and how you feel, that will make all the difference.

About the author

Susan Ward and her partner run Cypress Technologies, an IT Consulting business, providing services such as software and database development.

Source - http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/timemanagement/a/getmoretime.htm

Five Ways To Tread with caution on Twitter or FB (01-01-11, Mumbai Edition, Economic Times)

LAST WEEK, A BANGALORE-BASED SOFTWARE engineer got into big trouble over a tweet, which said: “Because of the whims and fancies of XYZ company, my long-awaited weekend party has gone for a toss. Feel like suing them.” His frustration had the client that his IT company services, take quick notice, and he was on the verge of losing his job. 

Companies are increasingly securing channels of information, believing every piece of information that appears on a public domain to hurt business interests. All the more reason for an employee to be careful about what they post on Facebook, Twitter, blogs or social media platforms, says Shreya Biswas.

Don’t identify your employer 

It might be great to flaunt that your employer as the world’s ‘biggest software company’, the best bank in the world or the best car manufacturer amongst your friends or family but don’t put it up on any of your social network accounts. It might welcome trouble.

Don’t link it all up Differentiate between social and professional networks. “It is not great for your professional contacts or prospective employers to know what you do in your personal life,” says Delhi-based Gautam Ghosh, an enterprise 2.0 expert and management consultant. Let them be unaware of your booze parties, a troubled relationship, if any, your friend from the rival company or people you hate the most in office. It might expose you to scrutiny and bias. 
Check your privacy settings Social networking sites are a great platform to share your life with friends but be sure you know exactly who are the people with whom you do not want to share the details of everything you put up there. Check privacy settings to keep certain people off the content.

Don’t get personal Avoid picking and choosing, name-calling and being abusive on such media, specially about your office staff. Even if you have a strong urge to vent your frustration, be discreet and keep people anonymous. You would not want to chew your words when you later face up to them or are pulled up by your function head for indecent behaviour. 

Comply with the rules “If you can’t share information on email you can’t share it on social media either,” says Asim Handa, country manager, Futurestep, a division of Korn/Ferry International. If you are a blogger, have a disclaimer that your views are personal and not those of your employer. Having opinions is fine till the time it gets you into trouble or people take it for someone else’s views and react accordingly.

5 Ways to Communicate Your Message on LinkedIn (Sean Nelson)

When I first joined LinkedIn my thought was that this would be a good place to network and connect to other business professionals.  What I’ve learned since is that LinkedIn is a great place to communicate your message to millions of business professionals.  Most often through indirect methods.

Most people think in term of communicating directly, but that’s a traditional perspective.  Social networking/media has its own rules in regards to sales related activites and most often using a direct sales pitch will fail and potentially cause damage to your brand.

There are a few ways to communicate directly on LinkedIn.  The most obvious is to send a direct message to your first degree connections.  Personally when I receive a direct sales message I immediately archive it.  Most often it’s from someone I’m connected to but do not personally know.  If I receive several I simply remove the connection.

If you want to sell to me you have to first introduce yourself and then start a conversation.  It all starts with the three requirements necessary for someone to choose to do business with you.  First they have to know you, second they need to like you, and finally they need to trust you.

Connecting or interacting within LinkedIn groups can accomplish the “getting to know you” requirement.  Moving to like and trust requires time and interaction.  You’re going to have to share value over time for this to occur.

Here are some of the ways that I communicate my message to tens of thousands of LinkedIn members each week.

1. I have replaced my title with a tag line… from “social media consultant” to “Showing businesses how to leverage Social Media to Build Communities and Monetize their Business”.  Now everytime my mini profile is displayed I’m indirectly telling people how I can help them rather than what I am.
   
   Action Step: Modify your elevator speech to 160 characters and replace your title with it.
   .
2. I’ve used my status update to communicate to my direct network.  Most often I use it to share success stories…”Sean just helped a client create a social media strategy and implement it”.  With the new Twitter integration now I can simply Tweet my message and it’s displayed in my status.  Be sure to only integrate your business related tweets.
   
   Action Step: Either update you status manuall or use the Twitter integration.  Keep your integrated tweets business related.  You have two choices:  Post only business related messages or use the #in hashtag for messages you want to display on LinkedIn.
   .
3. I’ve written the Social Media Sonar blog for two years now to help others more effectively utilize LinkedIn.  I share a lot of value in my posts.  I add each post as a news article in the 50 groups that I belong to.This drives traffic to my blog and helps people get to know me.  If they like the information they will normally grow to having a favorable opinion of me (Like).Over time this consistent sharing of value leads to building trust.At this point if they have an issue that I can help them with there is a high likelyhood that they will contact me.
   
   Action Step: If you write a blog or articles join the groups where the information will be relevant and post these as news articles.
   .
4. Another great way to share value is to engage inconversations in group discussions.  You can add your own discussion topic or join a conversation someone else has started.  Participate enough consistently and over time you will go from know to like to trust.  The key is in how you interact and the value you provide through your comments.Also if you add value be sure to share a link to your blog or website.
   
   Action Steps: First make sure you have joined as many relevant groups as you can find.  These can be location, alumni, industry, or topic specific groups.  These should be groups where you prospect belong.  Once a member join the conversations and participate.  Just be sure to conduct every conversation as you would if you were speaking in person.
   .
5. Answering questions is a great way to share value and communicate your message.  This is your opportunity to provide value by answering another person’s question and to demonstrate expertise if the questions is related to what you do for a living.You can also ask questions.  Both the questions you ask and answer will be viewable to your profile visitors.
   
   Action Step: Be sure to periodically look to answer questions in your field.  You can set up a RSS feed to see new questions or integrate them into your LinkedIn home page.  Take your time and provide well thought out answers.  Remember every answer either adds to your brand or subtracts from it.

These are only some of the opportunities to communicate your message on LinkedIn.  You should explore the various features to see how you can put these to use.  Utilizing the various means to communicating my message has led to my receiving from 3 to 5 inquiries a week from fellow members needing help with the services I provide.

What are some of the ways not listed that you have used to communicate your message to your fellow business professionals on LinkedIn?

Source - http://socialmediasonar.com/5-ways-to-communicate-your-message-on-linkedin-part-8-of-10

Workplace Communication - 5 Ways to Avoid Misunderstandings and Communicate Your Message (Allie Q Casey)

Communicating your message while avoiding or decreasing misunderstandings is an issue in most workplaces. Poor communication and listening skills, lack of leadership and conflicting values are just a few reasons misunderstandings have become a workplace expectation rather than an exception.

Challenge yourself to avoid misunderstandings and communicate to be heard with these 5 strategies:

1. Model your expectations. Become a leader. No matter your position or role at work, exhibit courtesy, kindness and assertive behavior. At first glance, courtesy and assertiveness may appear as opposing behaviors but respectfulness is their common bond. Respect others while respecting yourself is behavior that allows for self-expression and the opportunity to ask for clarification to avoid misunderstandings.

2. Listen attentively. Indicate that you are listening with eye connections, gestures and encouraging phrases. Be fully present to the speaker rather than blindly nodding while you formulate your response. If you speak your message in response to what you have heard rather than spout a pre-determined comment your likelihood of getting your message across goes up. Active listening takes practice but your listeners will support and respect your ideas.

3. Take your time. Why is there always time to do it over but never time to do it right? No one appreciates a doctor that rushes through an examination and gives a diagnosis without ever asking for your input. When you are communicating your message take the time to convey it with thought, clarity, and organization and then ask questions to confirm what your listener heard. Take the time on the front end to communicate clearly and you'll decrease the number of times work has to be duplicated.

4. Communicate values and priorities. Not everyone thinks the same way you do when it comes to values, priorities or goals. Unless you indicate what is important to you, your listener will naturally prioritize and interpret your message according to what they value.

For example, the assistant that values getting work done in an orderly sequence and checking things off a list may put her manager's request for information on the bottom of her task list unless the manager indicates a specific deadline or priority. Be specific.

5. Make excellent communication a priority. Consciously put communicating clearly into your daily awareness. Few people think about the act of communicating any more than they think about breathing. Put "communicate clearly today" on the top of your to-do list.

Communicating clearly takes awareness and the willingness to become a better, more effective communicator.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allie Casey, speaker, trainer, coach, helps businesses, organizations and mere mortals have fewer misunderstandings.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allie_Q_Casey

link - http://ezinearticles.com/?Workplace-Communication---5-Ways-to-Avoid-Misunderstandings-and-Communicate-Your-Message&id=3249191

Five ways communication skills can help your software project

Why do software projects fail? It’s an interesting question because fail they do, and with disturbing frequency. Over the years I have seen projects fail for lack of hardware, because the technology just wasn’t ready, or because a supplier didn’t deliver. But the single most common thing that all of the software disasters that I have been involved in (other than me I suppose) was a failure of communication. Fred just couldn’t get his objections to this or that design across to Sally, who when ahead with it anyway. Sally couldn’t manage to convince George that the installation was just not going to work. And nobody thought that that bug was their problem.
As techies we tend to think that communication is someone else’s problem—just tell me what to code and get out of the way. Maybe in some world that will work out, but in this one the best way to ensure that your hard work will turn into a large black smoking hole in the ground is to think of communications as the manager’s problem. Part of your responsibility when you are
a member of a software project is to help with the driving and the only way you can do that is to get your ideas and opinions across to others along with really listening to them. If you ignore that responsibility then you shouldn’t be surprised if your project ends up wrapped around a tree.
With that happy picture firmly in mind, let me suggest five ways that you might ease the journey of your brilliant thoughts out to the rest of your team—and perhaps insure that other people’s ideas occasionally find their way to you.

5) Optimize

I am often called upon to speed up code. Over the years I have revved up printer drivers, database software and, most recently, web services. And I have learned that everyone loves a good optimization project. Get involved in one and you will be the most popular guy (or gal) on the hallway. I’ve had people stop me in on my way to lunch to explain how I can save TWELVE, many even THIRTEEN bytes by completely rewriting the caching system. Or make the code run 0.000353 milliseconds faster by going around the OS. Lately they want me to write my own (presumably faster) web services stack.
So why is it that we are so enthusiastic about writing efficient code and so lazy about writing efficient English? Why do we have specifications that could be written up in 20 pages struggling to escape from 200 page tomes? Why do we use big words:

"Fred, could you memorialize the stakeholders' inputs?"

When little ones ones will do:

"Fred, could you write down the customer requirements?"

Part of it is that nobody wants to look dumb or lazy and memorializing something in a 200 page document just seems to be harder and more intellectually demanding than simply jotting it down in an email.
Well here is some good news: if you consistently use small, simple words for the concepts that fit well into small, simple words, you will rapidly gain a reputation as an articulate person. And if you manage to boil that 200 page document down to an email you will be beloved by the people who hate reading 200 page documents. Which is everyone.

4) Email is only good for the things that email is good for

Another way that we sometimes communicate badly is by overusing email. Email has a subtle attraction for the mostly introverted folks that make up software projects. With email, I can send this message out and I don’t have to actually interact the other person. I send an email to Fred and with luck he won’t even see it before I’ve gone home for the day. That way I don’t really have to deal with old Fred, who makes me nervous anyway.
The trouble with email is that it is a very narrow communications pipe. Think about it: an email is a static bit of text that you write and send out. The text is all that goes out. Left behind is your facial expression – the big smile that telegraphs that this is a JOKE – and your body language – the tapping foot that says NOW – as well the crack in your voice that says HELP ME! Email also disconnects you from your correspondent in time: you send the message and your recipient will read it some time, perhaps much, later.
Instant messaging is much better for getting across a subtle, confusing or sensitive point. You still can’t see the person at the other end but at least you can interact with him or her in real time. Next in line of immediacy is the phone—I still can’t see you but not only can we interact but I can hear your voice, know if you are laughing or crying, angry or bored. And then there is the oldest person to person technology of all — commonly referred to as ‘talking’ —it involves getting up off your butt and going to
see Fred.
So, if you need to say that you will attend the regularly scheduled meeting, send an email. Got a 200 page spec? Email it. And if you need to leave a paper (or rather electron) trail, then nothing beats email. But if you have something delicate to say, if you need to ask a question that will require a subtle answer, if you need to negotiate anything, then email should be your last choice. Like most things in life, the choice of mediums for your message is a trade-off. You can choose the disconnected but narrow pipe of email. Or you can go for the high bandwidth of an in-person chat at the cost of breaking up your afternoon.
Think about that the next time your fire up Outlook.

3) Don’t clog the channel

One of my current coworkers is a car enthusiast. Whenever the conversation turns to the subject of automobiles you can see him just struggling to hold back a tidal wave of facts and opinions and advice. Sometimes he even manages to keep his enthusiasm in check for up to a full minute before it all comes bursting out. We geeks have a reputation for being shy and reserved, but for most of us our introverted shell can barely contain a roiling, bubbling enthusiasm for AJAX or web services or micro formats whatever the technology or technique of the day is. Anyone who manages to pierce that outer shell had better be wearing eye protection because all of that enthusiasm is liable to come gushing out, broken water main style.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love this kind of enthusiasm. In fact I think that that it is responsible for much of the progress of human civilization. The problem with all of this bubbling enthusiasm is that it tends to have a denial of service kind of effect on other conversations. If you have a tendency towards this kind of verbal explosion, do try to keep yourself in check. At least make sure other people and other subjects can get a word in edgewise. Now speaking of that telescope that I’m building…

2) Make sure you know what you agree on

Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State and erstwhile college professor once said that academic disputes were so vicious ”… because the stakes are so small.” I’m not sure if the same is true of software projects, but having some severe nastiness break out on a development project is not really all that unusual.
One of the best ways to prevent a difference of opinion from melting down into a team shattering nuclear accident is to step back and note the things that everyone agrees on. If the argument is over how exactly to optimize that pesky algorithm, see if you can’t get all sides to realize that everyone does really want it to run faster or smaller. If it is one of those “who will do what” kind of disputes, try to get everyone to agree on exactly what needs to be done.
The idea is not to paper over differences but rather to focus all of the attention on the actual difference. When a disagreement does breaks out, people, software folks included, tend to stop listening, to fortify their positions and proceed on the basis that the opposing folks are morons. Since it turns out that morons are actually less common than you might think, it helps to probe around and see where the boundaries of the disagreement are. More times than not you will discover that the argument is over less than you thought. But no matter if your disagreement is over the big picture or the pixels, it is your job to make sure that the argument is as productive as possible. And that means not wasting time yelling about things that no one disputes.

1) Remember that everyone is different

The civilians lump us all together: to the outside would we are all geeks. The thing that the non-geek world misses is is how many different kind of geeks there are. Yes we all share a love of technology, of making things work, of just plain wanting to find out. But there are almost as many ways of being a geek as there are geeks. I’m as much a geek as anyone who ever owned a slide rule but I am the kind of geek that tends to read a technical book from the middle out towards either end. I am a big picture, let me get the outline before you bore me with the details kind of guy.
By contrast, I have a coworker, a certifiable geek who walks around with more technology on his belt than most people will own in a lifetime, who I am sure reads books by starting with the copyright statement and finishing with the price in Canadian dollars on the back cover. We are both geeks, both software engineers, but we have two entirely different operating systems running between our ears.
I have learned that I cannot explain things to my friend the way I need them explained to me. He needs things put to him in enormous and exacting detail, right from the start. Conversely, when he tries to explain things to me I have to keep reminding
him that he needs to give me a feeling for the big picture before diving into the details of subsection 1.1.1.A.i.a.
The point is not that I am some kind of brilliant holistic thinker (though I’m willing to entertain the idea) nor is it that my friend is detail obsessed (though he is, God bless him). The point is that you need to go about explaining things differently to me than to my buddy. When you are talking to him you need to do it in a way that works for him. And whatever that is, it probably won’t work me me.
So there you have it, five ways you can make your project run a little smoother by taking advantage of all of the brainpower. Cause that is what communication is all about.

---

Russ Olsen is a software architect and writer whose work has been featured on JavaLobby, O’Reilly’s On Java, and the Java Developer Journal website. He writes the Technology As If People Matter blog and is the author of Design Patterns in Ruby which will be published by Addison-Wesley in December, 2007.

(original link - http://geeketiquette.com/archives/2007/09/24/five-ways-communication-skills-can-help-your-software-project/)

Five Ways to Make Your Body Speak (By Lenny Laskowski)

Dr. Ralph C. Smeadly, the founder of Toastmasters International, wrote, "The speaker who stands and talks at ease is the one who can be heard without weariness. If his posture and gestures are so graceful and unobtrusive, that no one notices them, he may be counted as truly successful." When your actions are wedded to your words, the impact of your speech will be strengthened. If your platform behavior includes mannerisms unrelated to your spoken message, those actions will call attention to themselves and away from your speech. Below I have provided 5 ways you can rid yoursel of your distracting mannerisms.

1. Rid Yourself of Distracting Mannerisms
Eliminate vocal and visual impediments.
Some common faults of inexperienced or in-effective speakers are:

• Gripping or leaning on the lectern
• Finger tapping
• Lip biting or licking
• Toying with coins or jewelry
• Frowning
• Adjusting hair or clothing
• Head wagging
• These have two things in common:
• They are physical manifestations of simple nervousness.
• They are performed unconsciously.

When you make a verbal mistake, you can easily correct it, because you can hear your own words, but you can't see yourself, so most distracting mannerisms go uncorrected. You can't eliminate them unless you know they exist.
Videotape yourself.
The first step in eliminating any superfluous behavior is to obtain an accurate perception of your body's image. This should include:

• Posture
• Gestures
• Body movement
• Facial expressions
• Eye contact

The next step is to free yourself of physical behaviors that do not add to your speech. This can be accomplished by simply becoming aware of your problem areas. After you have videotaped yourself speaking, review the tape several times and make a list of all the distracting mannerisms you notice.

First review. Review your tape the first time without looking for mannerisms. Just listen to the presentation as if you were hearing it for the first time and evaluate the overall impact you experience from watching the tape.

Second review. Review your tape a second time (with the volume turned down) and look for visual distractions. Take notes on what you observe.

Third review. During this review, have the picture turned off and listen only to your voice. Many people have never even heard a taping of their own voice before. Become accustomed to listening to your voice. Get to know it as others hear it. Note what you like and what you don't like. Pay attention to the speed, the volume, and the tone of your voice.
Fourth review. Once you have made lists both of your distracting mannerisms and your more positive points, you are ready to have one or two family members watch the tape with you. Get their initial impression. Ask them to be honest.
Once you have completed these reviews, go over the list of all the distracting mannerisms you saw and heard. The next time you are having a conversation with someone you know well, try to notice whether you use any of these distracting mannerisms even in casual circumstances. Tackle each of your negative points one at a time.

2. Build Self-confidence by Being Yourself
The most important rule for making your body communicate effectively is to be yourself. The emphasis should be on the sharing of ideas, not on the performance.
Strive to be as genuine and natural as you are when you speak to family members and friends.
Large vs. small audiences. Many people say, "I'm okay in a small group, but when I get in front of a larger group I freeze." The only difference between speaking to a small informal group and to a sizable audience is the number of listeners. To compensate for this, you need only to amplify your natural behavior. Be authentically yourself, but amplify your movements and expressions just enough so that the audience can see them.

3. Let Your Body Mirror Your Feelings
If you are interested in your subject, truly believe what you are saying, and want to share your message with others, your physical movements will come from within you and will be appropriate to what you are saying.
By involving yourself in your message, you'll be natural and spontaneous without having to consciously think about what you are doing or saying. For many of us, this isn't as easy as it sounds because it requires us to drop the mask that shields the "real self" in public.
To become an effective speaker, it is essential that you get rid of your mask and share your true feelings with your audience. Your audience wants to know how you feel about your subject. If you want to convince others, you must convey your convictions.
Speak from the heart and to the soul.

4. Build Self-confidence Through Preparation
Nothing influences a speaker's mental attitude more than the knowledge that he or she is
thoroughly prepared. This knowledge leads to self-confidence, which is a vital ingredient of effective public speaking.
How many of us have ever experienced a situation in which we had not prepared well for a presentation? How did we come across? On the other hand, think of those presentations that did go well. These are the ones that we had properly prepared for.

5. Use Your Everyday Speaking Situations
Whenever you speak to people, make an extra effort to notice how you speak. Observe, too, whether the facial expressions of your listeners indicate they do or do not understand what you are saying. Before calling to request something on the phone, plan and practice what you are going to say. Even this is essentially a short presentation. Another exercise is to prepare a 90-second presentation about yourself. Describe who you are and what you do. Record your presentation and review it using the four steps described above.
Since you are talking about yourself, you don't need to research the topic; however, you do need to prepare what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. Plan everything including your gestures and walking patterns.

Facial Expressions
Leave that deadpan expression to poker players. A speaker realizes that appropriate facial
expressions are an important part of effective communication. In fact, facial expressions are often the key determinant of the meaning behind the message. People watch a speaker's face during a presentation. When you speak, your face-more clearly than any other part of your body-communicates to others your attitudes, feelings, and emotions.
Remove expressions that don't belong on your face.
Inappropriate expressions include distracting mannerisms or unconscious expressions not
rooted in your feelings, attitudes and emotions. In much the same way that some speakers perform random, distracting gestures and body movements, nervous speakers often release excess energy and tension by unconsciously moving their facial muscles (e.g., licking lips, tightening the jaw).
One type of unconscious facial movement which is less apt to be read clearly by an audience is involuntary frowning. This type of frowning occurs when a speaker attempts to deliver a memorized speech. There are no rules governing the use of specific expressions. If you relax your inhibitions and allow yourself to respond naturally to your thoughts, attitudes and emotions, your facial expressions will be appropriate and will project sincerity, conviction, and credibility.

Eye Contact
Eye contact is the cement that binds together speakers and their audiences. When you speak, your eyes involve your listeners in your presentation. There is no surer way to break a communication bond between you and the audience than by failing to look at your listeners. No matter how large your audience may be, each listener wants to feel that you are talking to him or her.
The adage, "The eyes are the mirror of the soul," underlines the need for you to convince people with your eyes, as well as your words. Only by looking at your listeners as individuals can you convince them that you are sincere and are interested in them, and that you care whether they accept your message. When you speak, your eyes also function as a control device you can use to assure your listeners' attentiveness and concentration.
Eye contact can also help you to overcome nervousness by making your audience a known quantity. Effective eye contact is an important feedback device that makes the speaking situation a two-way communication process. By looking at your audience, you can determine how they are reacting. When you develop the ability to gauge the audience's reactions and adjust your presentation accordingly, you will be a much more effective speaker.

How To Use Your Eyes Effectively
1. Know your material. Know it so well that you don't have to devote your mental energy to the task of remembering the sequence of ideas and words.
You should prepare well (remember to use the 9 P's) and rehearse enough so that you don't have to depend heavily on notes. Many speakers, no matter how well prepared, need at least a few notes to deliver their message. If you can speak effectively without notes, by all means do so. But if you must use notes, that's fine. Just don't let them be a substitute for preparation and rehearsal.
Even many experienced speakers use notes. Often, they take advantage of such natural pauses as audience laughter or the aftermath of an important point to glance briefly at their notes. To make this technique work, keep your notes brief. (See Chapter 6 for more on this topic.)
2. Establish a personal bond with listeners. How do you do this? Begin by selecting one person and talking to him or her personally. Maintain eye contact with that person long enough to establish a visual bond (about 5 to 10 seconds). This is usually the equivalent of a sentence or a thought. Then shift your gaze to another person.
In a small group, this is relatively easy to do. But, if you're addressing hundreds or thousands of people, it's impossible. What you can do is pick out one or two individuals in each section of the room and establish personal bonds with them. Then each listener will get the impression you're talking directly to him or her.
3. Monitor visual feedback. While you are talking, your listeners are responding with their own non-verbal messages. Use your eyes to actively seek out this valuable feedback. If individuals aren't looking at you, they may not be listening either. Their reasons may include one or more of these factors:
They may not be able to hear you.
Solution: If you are not using a microphone, speak louder and note if that works.
They may be bored.
Solution: Use some humor, increase your vocal variety or add powerful gestures or body
movements.
They may be puzzled.
Solution: Repeat and/or rephrase what you have just said.
They seem to be fidgeting nervously.
Solution: You may be using distracting mannerisms. Maybe you have food on your clothes (or worse, maybe your blouse is unbuttoned or your fly isn't closed). Make sure you are aware of these embarrassing possibilities before and during your speech. If necessary, try to correct them without bringing more attention to them. On the other hand, if your listeners' faces indicate pleasure, interest and close attention, don't change a thing. You're doing a great job!
Your Appearance
If your listeners will have on suits and dresses, wear your best suit or dress - the outfit that brings you the most compliments. Make sure that every item of clothing is clean and well tailored.
Don't wear jewelry that might glitter or jingle when you move or gesture. This might divert attention from your speech. For the same reason, empty your pockets of bulky items and anything that makes noise when you move.
Part of the first impression you give occurs even before you are introduced to deliver your speech. As the audience arrives, your preparation should be concluded. You shouldn't have to study your speech. Instead, mingle with the audience, and project that same friendly, confident attitude that will make your speech a success.
When you speak-especially if you aren't well known to the audience-the most crucial part of your presentation is the first few minutes. During that initial segment, the audience will be making critical judgments about you. Your listeners will decide whether you are confident, sincere, friendly, eager to address them and worthy of their attention. In large measure, they will base this decision on what they see.
After your introduction, walk purposefully and confidently to the speaking position.

Walking Patterns
Why move in the first place?
Moving forces people to focus and follow you. The way you walk from your seat to the speaker's position is very important. When you are introduced, you should appear eager to speak. Too many speakers look as though they are heading toward execution.
Walk confidently from your seat to the lectern. Pause there for a few seconds, then move out from behind the lectern. As discussed before, it is wise to use the lectern as a point of departure, and not a barrier to hide behind.
Smile before you say your first words. Be careful not to stand too close to, nor move beyond, the people in the front row. Be careful not to walk too much. Doing so will work against you. Continuous pacing is distracting. Walking can be an effective way to stress an important idea. It is essential that your walk be purposeful and intentional, not just a random shift of position. Taking about three steps, moving at a shallow angle, usually works best.
When employing visual aids, use three positions. One position is your "home" position and should be front and center. The other two positions should be relatively near the "home" position. Never stand in front of any visual aid.
When you practice your speaking, make sure you also practice your walking patterns. Try walking to and from your three positions. These positions should be planned just as your hand gestures are.
When standing still, remember to maintain good posture. Stand up straight.
Remember it's not what you say it's how you say it and your body does speak very loudly. It's only when you marry your verbal message and you nonverbal message does a speaker begin to command presence.

Author's Bio

Lenny Laskowski is an international professional speaker and the author of the book, No Sweat Presentations - The Painless Way to Successful Speaking and several other publications. Website: http://www.ljlseminars.com/
E-mail: LennyL@LJLSeminars.com