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It's been another busy month for me, with several in-house workshops. My most popular in-house workshop is Power Up Your Business Writing Skills, and it's great to be able to offer an add-on bonus to all my in-house clients so that all participants receive a copy of my brand new book E-mail Etiquette. This proves to be a valuable source of reference during the workshop and beyond. Another key takeaway for my in-house clients is receiving a 10-week course of Success Boosters - you can read more about these in the second article here. I'm also delighted to report that people are giving me some fabulous feedback on our brand new book in the Success Skills Series - Alison Lester and I are thrilled that readers are enjoying Communication: Your Key to Success. Thanks for all your good wishes. It's really a must-read for you if you want to enhance your effectiveness and propel yourself along the path to success, and let's face it, who doesn't? Do let me have your feedback on the books, and at the same time tell me what other books you'd like to see in this series. See you again soon! Here's to your success! Shirley |
People have been telling me stories about how their companies or colleagues have tried to increase efficiency by decreasing communication. In the first story, a company got rid of the coffee machine because people spent too much time chatting over their mugs. The second story was told by a woman whose co-worker refused to talk to her directly, despite sitting at the very next desk. Whenever the woman asked to discuss something, he would tell her to check the relevant e-mail, or send her own question via e-mail. In a third instance, a company instituted a policy requiring employees, yes requiring them, to communicate with each other via e-mail rather than in person, to reduce the distraction of talking in the office. What do you think happened to morale in all these cases? It seems to me that one would need to study human behaviour for mere minutes before concluding that choices like these pave a very grim road, a road the colour and texture of the beige fabric favoured by cubicle manufacturers, a road silent as the grave and just as jolly. It's not what you do but how you do it, though. It's not what you study, but how you study it. Managers seem sometimes to study human nature in order to close down avenues for expression, when it makes so much more sense to be looking for ways to discover and develop them. Otherwise the thinking goes like this: Numbers are down, reports are late, people are chatting, the coffee machine is an evil siren luring the company onto jagged rocks. If you study the nature of your staff with an eye for what's working rather than what's not, you may recognise the talking at the coffee machine as an activity to be exploited for the general good. Alternatively, you may see that focusing so much on the coffee machine is too narrow a study, and investigate other areas of behaviour. You may learn that the office is bleeding elsewhere, and that surgically removing the perceived cancer of the coffee machine would be a danger to corporate health rather than an improvement. Read more of this article here » 
Have you signed up yet for our fabulous new Success Boosters? These are 10-week courses of weekly tips, reminders, and good practice guidelines. Success Boosters are currently available in:
Just click on the links and sign up now. It's as simple as that. You will receive a welcome message confirming your registration, and then the very next day you will receive your first Success Booster reminding you of some of the key points you need to enhance your effectiveness. Your Success Boosters will arrive in your mailbox automatically every week for 10 weeks. Success Boosters are just the thing you need to boost your success and help shape the star in you!
I'm happy to announce that Success Skills author, Heather Hansen, will be on the radio every day in September in Positive Business Minutes - these daily 'minutes' will give you advice on how you can form, build and maintain stronger, long-lasting relationships. If you want to power up your people skills, do listen to 938LIVE.
 
So, what do you think of this third issue of ST Success Skills? What do you think of our new website www.STSuccessSkills.com? I'd really love to hear from you. Please e-mail me at Shirley@STSuccessSkills.com with your comments.
See you next month. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to family, friends, colleagues and clients. If you received this e-mail from a friend, subscribe here. |
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