Christian Communication Training
Have you subscribed to Communication FUNdamentals’ RSS Feed? Don’t miss a post!
x
Many years ago, I received an email from someone who wanted to unsubscribe from my newsletter. It said,
“I HAVE NO NEED OF ANY OF YOUR COMMUNICATION STUDIES. TAKE ME OFF YOUR LIST!” and it was signed Pastor (Name withheld)
x
*SUBSCRIBE HERE*: For Even More Communication Fun, FREE Gifts and Exclusive Offers!
x
If’ you’re a Christian working a small business, you need to join me this morning!
You may not realize it, but almost every aspect of your business involves communication skills. The more effective you are, the more success you’ll have in your business.
Jill Hart of CWAHM and a sampling of Christian Work at Home Moms join me this morning (9am PST/12pm EST) to share tips and techniques for better communication with your customers, co workers, suppliers, employees and more. We’ll discuss tips for customer service, sales, marketing, your blog, website, dealing with co workers, social networking like Yahoo groups, Facebook and Twitter.
Join us via your computer:
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19736
Or call in to the show:
Phone Number: (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 19736
The audio will be available immediately following the show, but if you listen in to the live seminar, I’ll be sharing a voucher code to purchase Say What You Mean When You’re in Business for HALF OFF!
x
*SUBSCRIBE HERE*: for More Communication Fun, FREE Gifts and Exclusive Offers!
x
We’ve been talking about the deadly communication sins of advertising this month and I thought it appropriate to bring out the big guns of funny. WhatYouOughttoKnow.com has some fun videos that teach on various topics. This one is about Phishing:
x
*SUBSCRIBE HERE*: for More Communication Fun, FREE Gifts and Exclusive Offers!
x
On Monday, I talked about the need to be specific, even oddly specific. Today, I’d like to talk about when it’s necessary to be “specifically general.” While being specific can help you avoid confusion and frustration, being general has the advantage of not ruffling feathers and allowing you not to discuss personal issues if you don’t want to.
1. Say you get a phone call from a distant relative asking you to fill her in on all the details of a personal family matter. She is not directly involved and is just being nosy. You don’t want to give her any details, but you feel trapped as she has you on the phone. What do you do? There is no law that says you have to answer every question you are asked! You could simply tell her you don’t want to discuss it. You could ignore her question and move on to a more neutral topic. OR…you could be specifically general. You could tell her that it’s going as well as can be expected. You can, then, feel free to change the subject or tell her you were in the middle of something (whatever it was you were doing before she called) and you don’t have much time to talk.
2. Facebook may not be the place to discuss personal issues so when someone posts on your wall and asks you something rather personal, what do you do? Again, just because someone asks you something doesn’t mean you have to answer. You could delete the post if you think it might open up a can of worms you don’t want to deal with in a rather public forum like Facebook. You could reply to the question on the phone or in a direct message to the person who asked. Or you could post a reply that is specifically general. If Sally comments that she loves your new sweater and asks how your business did last year, you can reply only to the first part of her comment. “Thanks! My dd got it for me for Christmas.” and you could add, “We did well, thanks!”
3. Aunt Martha doesn’t believe in homeschooling. She asks how your son did this week with math. Normally, he does well, but last week he had a big problem understanding fractions. Instead of opening up a can of worms giving her the details of little Johnny’s frustrating week with halves and eighths, you could just tell her, “He just finished studying fractions this week.”
4. When leading a meeting or teaching a homeschool child there can sometimes come an obscure question that takes your conversation off track. Just because someone asks a question that might be a good topic of discussion, doesn’t mean now is the time to digress. It’s not rude to say, “That’s a great question, but we really don’t have time to go into that right now. Let’s discuss it tomorrow.”
As you can see, being specifically general has its advantages as does being oddly specific. Each according to its purpose for the communication at hand. Got any stories about being oddly specific or specifically general you’d like to share?
*SUBSCRIBE HERE*: for More Communication Fun, FREE Gifts and Exclusive Offers!
X
Welcome back to “Other than Speech Month” here at Communication FUNdamentals. All this month, I’ve been talking about how important communication is for things other than speech making. So far this month, I’ve talked about spam, how babies actually cry with an accent, overactive exclamatory punctuation and leadership. This week, I’d like to talk about when it’s important to be “oddly specific” and “specifically general.” I’ll talk about the latter on Wednesday, but today, let’s get specific.
Most of the time, being specific helps avoid confusion.
1. Telling someone you’ll meet them in the morning leaves them unsure if they should be at Starbucks at 7am or 11am. Further, it causes them to have to reconnect with you prior to the meeting for confirmation. This leads to frustration if the two of you end up playing phone tag or email follow the leader.
2. Not being specific enough, your handyman can cause unreasonable expectations in his customer. If you don’t know that the job will take two weeks, you may become annoyed when your expectation of a three day job has passed and that was three days ago!
3. Without communicating specific issues likely to affect your work, your customer can have an unnecessarily frustrating experience working with you. I remember a particularly frustrating website situation where I was asked to provide pictures for my website. My web designer never thought to tell me the quality of the pictures needed nor that the pictures I sent her were going to appear blurry. She just put them up assuming I was aware of the quality issue and would accept the site as it was. Had she told me the quality needed up front or when she received the pictures, I would have found better pictures, would not have had a bad experience and would not have begun to look for a new web designer.
What doesn’t your typical customer know? What should they be made aware of? Do so BEFORE it becomes a problem.
3. Directions Disasters can cause confusion and can even be potentially dangerous. If my directions say to turn right on Maple, I’m going to turn right on the first Maple I find. If you forget to tell me to pass Maple Drive (which leads to a rough part of town) and I take Maple Avenue instead, I’m going to be a bit more than frustrated, especially if I have to interrupt Bubba’s Welcome Home from Jail Party to ask for clarification.
Sometimes things are obvious to us only because we are so familiar with them. We don’t always realize that they are not at all obvious to someone else. Though it may seem oddly specific to include a tidbit of information we don’t think twice about, we should always look at the information we give others from THEIR point of view. What would they expect? What would they probably need to know? What should we be more specific about when we communicate to them?
Being specific, even oddly specific, can help avoid frustrating and confusing, even dangerous communication. On Wednesday, I’ll share how there are also times when we need to be specifically general.
*SUBSCRIBE HERE*: for More Communication Fun, FREE Gifts and Exclusive Offers!
X
Phobias and Communication
I laughed so hard at this one, I couldn’t answer the phone when my dd called! I don’t mean to offend those who have real fears as they have my prayers, but this was just so creatively funny and must have been incredibly difficult to do!
x
*SUBSCRIBE HERE*: for More Communication Fun, FREE Gifts and Exclusive Offers!
X
Leadership is another one of those everyday things that require communication skills. Leadership isn’t just about making speeches, but about gaining acceptance of your ideas.
Leadership is all the buzz right now, but leadership is so much more than power or charisma. Leadership, Godly Leadership, true leadership, is so much more than that!
Leadership requires us to step out of our shyness.
Leadership requires us to speak in a godly way according to the Word.
Leadership requires us to communicate our vision and that we are someone worth following.
Leadership Insights:
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” –Dwight Eisenhower
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” –Theodore Roosevelt
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” –John F. Kennedy
“Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” –John D. Rockefeller
“Character matters; leadership descends from character.” –Rush Limbaugh
“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” –Proverbs 11:14
Tips For Leaders:
* Keep a journal of notes on ideas for furture reference
* Get organized by using a planner or Outlook Calendar so you never miss an important meeting/event.
* Prioritize your time
* Be flexible. Things won’t always go your way and sometimes that’s a good thing. Be open to new ideas.
* Remember to thank those who help you. A little thank you goes a long way!
* Keep learning. Continuing education is essential so you can keep up with any changes in your field.
* Keep honing your communication skills.
For more leadership insights and training, visit the Art of Eloquence Leadership Page!
Every day we use the internet to connect and communicate with folks all over the world. How we type our messages can make a huge difference in how they are perceived. On February 24th, I’m going to be sharing more about everyday communication with a panel of guests over on TalkShoe. There are several things we do every day that hinder our ability to say what we mean. Today, I’d like to bring the exclamation point to your attention.
The use, or overuse, of the exclamation point can create a vastly different meaning to your email and social networking communication. It can alter your message or it can just as easily give you less credibility. Let’s look at the different ways the overuse of the exclamation point can impact your message:
1. Using too many exclamation marks can strip all the emotion out of your message.
This reduces your sentences so that they all have the same weight. “We have a new dog! His name is Bark because he barks all the time! I’m going to have to teach him to be quiet!”
2. Even the use of one exclamation point can make you sound like you’re angry.
“I thought you did your own programming!” This makes it sound like an accusation that the person should be familiar with the material when, in fact, it was simply surprise.
3. Too many exclamation points can make you appear childish.
“I just loved it!!! It was so much fun!!!! I had a great time!!! That was the best strategy!!!!” Using too many exclamation points with short choppy sentences can make you come across as childish or naive.
So what do we do if we are afflicted with Overactive Exclamatory Punctuation? Well, you’re in luck, because I have developed a Four Step Program.
The Over Exclamatory Four Step Program:
1. Make a conscious effort to use exclamation points sparingly. Less is more.
2. Institute a “wait time” before punctuating your post.
3. Back away from the button…
4. Take the exclamation key off your keyboard!
Don’t you feel better now? You’ll find that, by using fewer exclamation points, you will begin to feel calmer and more peaceful. You’ll notice a lower rate of misunderstandings and offense and you’ll lose 5 pounds! Okay, I was kidding about that last part.
For more creative and fun ways to improve your ability to say what YOU mean, visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com
Do it NOW!!!!!! [insert maniacal giggle here]
Friday Funnies is proud to present this week’s communication giggle and spelling mishap. I do wonder if there wasn’t a “splelling” burglar at work here. If there were, I’d have to give him my “congartulations.”
see more funny videos
For more Communication FUNdamentals check out Art of Eloquence.com!
Art of Eloquence is all about sharing the Communication FUNdamentals and we do that each year in creative and unique ways. Though we do sell a variety of eBooks and digital products that teach preschoolers through adults various topics within speech communication, we are mostly a ministry. That is to say, we give away a TON of information and free gifts each year.
One of the ways we love to serve is by hosting various seminars throughout the year on the Art of Eloquence Workshop and Seminar Channel on TalkShoe! We are planning a fabulous line up of seminars and workshops featuring a variety of co hosts and panels of speakers to help you become more effective communicators both in your personal and business life. We have already scheduled some amazing topics and speakers for the first half of the year. Take a look at what is coming up in 2011!
What you need to know about sharing your faith
01/27/2011 6:30 PM EST (THAT’S TOMORROW!)
Dianna Wiebe of Grapevine Bible Studies and JoJo Tabares of Art of Eloquence team up to give you practical advice about the Bible and how to share your faith effectively and in a more conversational and relaxed way.
Communication: Much More Than Just Speech-Making
02/24/2011 11:00 AM EST
The Lord talks about our tongues, mouths and words literally HUNDREDS of times in His Word and almost none of it refers to formal speech-making. You may be able to live your entire life without having to make a speech but you won’t get through one day without communicating something to someone. Learn just how important communication skills are in everyday life for your relationships, marriage, parenting, business, ministry and career! Joining JoJo is Cindy Rushton (Homeschool and Marriage expert), Randee Krumwiede (Christian Counselor) and Gazelle Simmons (Virtual Assistant).
How Communication Skills Can Grow Your Business in 2011
03/28/2011 12:00 PM EST
You may not realize it, but almost every aspect of your business involves communication skills. The more effective you are at communication, the more success you’ll have in your business. Jill Hart of CWAHM and a sampling of Christian Work at Home Moms join JoJo Tabares of Art of Eloquence to share tips and techniques for better communication with your customers, co workers, suppliers, employees and more!
What’s Your Communication Personality?
04/28/2011 11:00 AM EDT
How knowing your communication personality can help you be a more effective communicator in your personal and business life. More details to follow
Godly Communication
05/26/2011 11:00 AM EDT
It takes 21 days to make a habit; why not make one for God? I challenge you: Make a habit to speak in a more godly way and see what you reap and what you sow. I’ll show you how. Details to follow
Six Ways to Be a Bad Conversationalist
06/30/2011 11:00 AM EDT
Based on my popular article of the same name, I’ll share the conversation mistakes people make and how to avoid them. More details to follow
How to Teach Communication Skills to Your Children
07/06/2011 11:00 AM EDT
Homeschoolers are usually on the cutting edge of education, using the most creative and fun curricula for teaching even the most intimidating subjects. One subject even most homeschoolers don’t teach is speech communication. Learn some fun ways to teach your PreK-High Schooler the skills they’ll need to master the art of eloquence that studies show can help them in almost every aspect of life! More details to follow
How to join us live:
Visit: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19736
Or Phone in: (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 19736
How to listen in after the live seminar:
Visit: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19736
Click on the orange “Listen” button
