We live in a busy society. No news there. People cut things too close all the time. But if you want to be more confident as a speaker, this is one of the simplest, easiest things you can do: arrive early. This is almost completely within your control. Continue reading
Last week we talked about how customer service (as in actions) communicates a company’s values far better than any fancy slogans, and we gave an example of a business that was doing it right.
I also promised to talk about a different experience. Continue reading
Despite the title, I know that not all censorship boosts communication. Repression and violence coupled with censorship can prevent a message from getting out. Nevertheless, it strikes me that censorship attempts in a free (or at least semi-free) society usually backfire.
Thanks to Learning with ‘e’s for pointing this one out.
A Scottish local authority thought a 9-year-old’s blog was making them look bad, and tried to shut her down. The result: her blog has now registered nearly 4 million hits, which means that a ton more people know how bad the food in her school is than otherwise would have. Continue reading
Take a look at this article from The Art of Manliness blog. Yes, it’s gender-centric. But the advice is good for anyone, and really is more properly focused toward men. As the article notes, men are much more likely to use filled pauses (ums, uhs, etc.) than women.
So try to look past any perceived bias to the pragmatic explanation of where filled pauses come from and what to do about them. Just read Becoming Well-Spoken: How to Minimize Your Uh’s and Um’s by Brett and Kate McKay (does it help that the co-author is female?).
Remember that old saying? Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, but probably a simplification of the original, the saying is, “What you do thunders so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Lost to history is the origin of the underlying principle, “Actions speak louder than words.” Modern communication scholarship confirms that when behavior and words contradict, we believe the nonverbal communication.
That’s why customer service communicates so clearly. When companies declare how important their customers are, and yet their policies and actions say otherwise, then guess what? Continue reading
