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Listening is the ability to accurately perceive a message conveyed by another person.
Based on studies of executives, the ability to understand other people's perspectives is the biggest single predictor of executive success. Of those who fail as executives, only 24% had this skill; of those who succeed as executives, 75% have this special ability.*
Our attitude does affect our listening. If we truly want to learn or understand, we will listen much better. Listening does not come naturally to most people. It is not passive but active, demanding a lot of effort and work. To be a good active listener, you must look for underlying messages and meaning. This is done by observing non-verbal cues, sensing feelings, putting yourself in the speaker's place, and trying to understand what he/she is really trying to communicate.
Active Listening Steps
- Create a Safe Place
- Become Actively Involved
- Avoid the Temptation to Evaluate
- Search for Meaning
- Confirm Your Understanding
- Bring Closure
Listening is hard work. Take responsibility to understand the content as well as the feelings that are being communicated to you.
*The Center for Organizational Design
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
WHAT IS STRATEGIC PLANNING?
Let's start with the current Wikipedia definition: "Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy. Strategic planning became prominent in corporations during the 1960s and remains an important aspect of strategic management."
WHY DO WE NEED STRATEGIC PLANNING?
Organizations are constantly changing as is the world around us. Those changes can include market conditions, technology, political and legislative conditions, new opportunities, and evolving customer needs.
Strategic Planning:
- Sets direction for the organization
- Where the organization is headed
- Short- and long-term performance targets
- Actions for management and staff to achieve outcomes
- Allows managers and staff to understand and work towards this direction
- Focuses effort
- Defines the organization
- Provides consistency
- Ensures resources and energies are allocated properly
Strategic Planning must include consideration for:
- Operating the Business
- The Organization’s Competitive Position
- Meeting Customer’s Needs & Expectations
- Achieving Performance Targets
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
Change can be particularly difficult for us as adults. Here are some things that we can learn from children that can help us get through some difficult times.
Persistence: Have you ever seen a child at a task that seems impossible? If you have, you've probably also seen her achieve the task due to pure persistence. Now, how often have you seen us as adults give up before we even have begun?
Compassion For Others: Knowing others enables us to know ourselves. As children, we learn compassion for others, and this helps us to play collaboratively. We learn to understand how we would feel and react in certain situations from learning from others. The resilient child intuitively knows that compassion helps us form bonds that will propel us forward even in times of great change.
Sense Of Humor: Children have fun. They fall down, laugh and get back up again. We adults, on the other hand, complain about how life is so hard. We often don't get back up . It is as if it is easier to complain about the hard knocks of life than to enjoy what we do. Humor often puts the magnitude of change in perspective. This laughter helps us all to rise above and bounce back with a new energy.
Strong Ethics: Children learn right from wrong and apply this to different settings. This conviction can be very marked and allows children to bounce back from many situations. The baggage we carry distracts us from our goals and make us less resilient in our outlook.
Get Attention In Positive Ways: We all like praise. Children especially like reinforcement, and they often seek out positive and negative ways to get this attention. The positive actions usually create the change they desire.
Positive Outlook On Life: A positive outlook on life is a hallmark of resilient individuals. It is not what happens to us but our response to it that predicts our emotional health. Children learn to be more resilient by becoming more optimistic in response to difficulty. Children as a rule start life with an optimistic perspective. Resilient children and adults keep this outlook in later life, and it enables them to take on life's challenges directly.
Effort Can Change Things: Children know that they can effect change in their environment no matter what size they are. If you need evidence, just think of a crying child who stops crying when he gets what he wants! As adults, many of us act as if we have no control. However, as the Dalai Lama said, "if you think you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room." You'll soon realize that size doesn’t matter.
Plan Ahead: Children can be ingenious in breaking situations down into manageable pieces and then planning and coordinating action.
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
