It's not as much a lack of training these days that gives way to communication issues; it's currently a lack of interest! I'd be willing to bet that 95% of the people who see this article (or any other article or blog post, or Facebook post or ...you get the picture) will just scroll past it without giving it a second thought. I'd be willing to go one step further and say that almost the same amount of people will do so even if the topic is of great interest. I'd also be willing to bet that at least 75% of people don't take the time to really listen when a friend or family member speaks and that about the...
Have you ever been asked a question that you had a hard time answering? Not because you were trying to deceive, but because you were trying to be honest. The truth is that the truth isn't relative, but it is conditional. Case in point... When people ask me where I'm from, I have a difficult time ascertaining if they mean where I was born, where I spent most of my childhood or where I just moved from. For you, this might be just a case of semantics, but for me, it provides a completely different answer. I was born in Colorado, but only lived there for two weeks. While I am currently living in Indiana, I just moved here from Arizona. However,...
One of the most popular sayings quoted in graphics posted on social media right now was popularized by the movie Rush Hour. In this scene, LAPD Detective Carter on loan to the FBI is asked to babysit a police officer from China to keep him away from the kidnapping case they are trying to solve. Inspector Lee, played by Jackie Chan, pretends not to speak English in order to get as much information out of Detective Carter as he can. Later on, Lee lets it slip that he does speak English and Carter asks him why he made him believe otherwise. Lee says, “I didn't say I didn't, you assumed I didn't…I'm not responsible for your assumptions.” Oh, wasn’t he?...
Here is part two of my article from last week called Conversation Correction Patrol: My advice when you post on Twitter and Facebook (or any of the other social networking sites) is to stop before you publicly disagree with someone. Yes, even an obscure post on Twitter or Facebook is a public post. Reflect on these questions before you hit the “share” button: 1. Is it really a mistake or are you reading too much into it? Are you perhaps being too picky, stretching the meaning, reading it out of context? Is what they posted really a problem or are you looking for situations in which the statement could be taken another way. Did the other party mean it the...
This is part one of a two part article series: My mother always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. It seems that communication over the internet means you don’t need to look your victim, er, Facebook Friend in the eye. Folks don’t seem to make it a point to be as uplifting and gracious as they are when face-to-face. As I navigate the Information Super Highway, I often reflect upon this scripture, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29 A while ago, I had a little situation...
