Communication Skills for the win - Cultivated Management Newsletter

Hi,

Hope you are all having a good week.

The run up to Christmas can be a good time to down tools and spend some time reflecting on the year, putting in place plans for next year and taking some time off. Of course, for some Christmas is the busiest period.

For me it’s been a quiet week with my writing. Nothing new has been posted to the blog but I have been spending time on the pillars of management in my own life by having some time off, spending more time on wellness and enjoying my children’s Christmas plays :)

It's amazing how a few days off can recharge your batteries - take it easy as a manager otherwise you'll burn out.
 

Communication Skills For The Win

In 2017 I am going to be doubling down my effort to bring you insights and news and articles about communication skills.

Communication skills are a winning skill to have. Management is all about communication; listening, responding, informing, coaching, leading - all communication skills. Sadly, few managers take the time to reflect on their own skills and how to improve them.

There’s an interesting article here on the kinds of skills hiring managers look for and the top four are communication related. It’s true. Good employees, and especially managers/leaders, have excellent communication skills. They lead. And to lead you need transparency and clarity in your communication. You need to be authentic and you need to listen. And this is all about communication skills.
 

Those of you who have been on the Communication Skills for Professionals workshop will recognise the image in the above article - I talk a little about it to set the scene of why communication skills are so important. As I explain in the workshop it’s rare to find someone crushing their career but doing so with poor communication skills - good communication skills are pretty much essential in the world of business.

I’m running a course in January in Winchester, UK and would love for you to attend. The article above is a good start to understanding why communication skills are so important, and this week’s book of the week is a good all round read that will help your skills.

And stay tuned to Cultivated Management - next year the emphasis will be very much on communication skills and how managers can fundamentally change their world by developing this super-power in the world of business.
 

Book of the Week

"How to Talk to Anyone" by Leil Lowndes is an excellent book. It has many techniques and ideas on how to carry yourself, deal with tricky situations, succeed in life and fundamentally talk to anyone. Some of the techniques are ”out-there” and for the brave, some are basic communication but some are also interesting to apply to our everyday business world.

The book is well written, easy to follow and packed full of advice. I always recommend this book to people starting their journey in to the fascinating, complicated and far reaching world of communication - it’s an easy step in and a valuable one at that.

Most people are overwhelmed by the book as it’s got so many ideas in it, but take one at a time and try it for a few weeks. See how you get on and adjust if necessary.

How to Talk to Anyone

Writing this week

None. Nada. Zilch. A bit frustrating but I’ll try harder next week. Saying that, my LinkedIn article on 10 reasons why being a scrum master sucks seems to have taken off!!

Until next week

Rob..