If You Can't Communicate, You Can't Thrive

When was the last time you took an effective communications course? Seminar? Read a 3.5 paragraph article on how to get your message through? Let me guess... That basic Public Speaking class you slept through in high school? 5? 10? 20 years ago?


Would you like to do better at what you do? In my experience the vast majority of problems people face - at home, at work, with that traffic cop who stopped you for speeding last week - hinge on your ability to send and receive a clear message.


Options? Keep in mind that, in today's seriously bazaar job market, this single facet of your capabilities could easily make or break your career. Invest some time, even a tiny amount, learning how to communicate more effectively. Then, (you KNEW I'd throw in a difficult caveat, didn't you?) actually practice USING what you learned.


I guarantee your life will change!

As an employee, are you disposable?

It's human nature to put a lot of effort into a new job (or other new experience) and then, after we're established, back off. We all tend to coast in certain areas of work & life. However, especially in this economy, those who coast are beginning to discover that their job security is at serious risk.

Are you coasting? If so, you are most likely at risk of becoming disposable. (As in the next to be unemployed.) That being the case, how can you go from disposable to indispensable? (And, before we go any further, keep in mind that merely being good at what you do does NOT prevent management from tossing you into the dumpster with everyone else.)

Want to up your odds of surviving the next purge? Try this. Make a list of all the skills and abilities you bring to your job. Once you complete that list, make a second column showing the number of those skills your employer has tapped into. Now, create a third list of the skills your employer - or future employer - genuinely values. The difference between what you know and what they value is your new target of opportunity (or maybe your target of survival).

Let me give a simple example. One of the absolute key elements of some jobs is the ability to dispassionately create and communicate a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Unfortunately, few people can effectively create a CBA - and even fewer can communicate the resultant information to their business environment. Could you do this? If not, here's a very easy add-on to your personal-professional toolkit.

How about increasing your employment possibilities? Are there other simple skills (such as a CBA) that you could add to your toolkit that would help you become more valuable to your employer? Make a list and go after them. Also, understand that there may be no need to attend a costly course or training program. Many of these basic skills can be self-taught.

Wait... Self-taught? Isn't that something like taking control of your own professional growth? Or maybe taking the initiative? Could those two skills also be listed in among the needs of modern businesses?

Try this - It's easy! I just gave you three options for improving your employment capacities. How many more can you locate? Keep in mind that sometimes "merely" keeping a job isn't going to suffice. Sometimes you need to take control over your own options and (even though you "feel" secure) ensure that you are prepared for the worst.

Still coasting? On the other hand, you could just kick back in the recliner and wait for the next big surprise. Then you can stumble back onto the unemployment line with no advance preparation...

Nah! You're smarter than that. How can we help you improve? That's what we do.

OK - So you're credible... Can you prove it?

A lot of us believe we are credible. Some highly so. Unfortunately, others, including those for which we have worked, might not be in complete agreement. When this disconnect occurs, all the work you have done--the value you delivered--simply disappears and the mistakes--or apparent mistakes--are blasted right to the top.

It's been my experience that a majority of my employers have simply had no clue what I can bring to the table. I'll bet you are in the same boat. Most frequently--and this has been proven time and again by credible research--the "c-suite" has never even tried to tap into your potential. For the most part, these folks are busy being busy and simply have no time or interest in recognizing the potential value in the minds of their personnel.

Result? No matter how good you may be, the "enterprise" doesn't have a clue. Could this be one of the reasons why so many companies feel the need to bring in outside experts--simply to tell management precisely the same things existing personnel have been trying to say? Yep...

Real World - In nearly every project management, negotiations, or technology asset management course I teach, at least 2/3 of the attendees report that their company (their immediate superior?) rarely, if ever, taps into their capabilities. These same folks inform us that their company will pay incredible fees to consultants who proceed to convey the same messages the employees have been trying (unsuccessfully) to convey.

So...and a great deal of my ranting will come back to this critical point: If you want to be credible, you have to take responsibility for documenting what you know, enhancing your own professional development, and ensuring that your name equates with value--both within your own enterprise, AND in your professional industry.

Nobody else is going to perform these tasks for you. YOU have to take control. The days are long gone when we could even partially rely on a single employer (even a dozen or more) to provide us with a stable income. We have all become disposable commodities--to be sucked dry, then tossed on the trash heap along with the other diapers. For the most part, the enterprise has moved on from being an ethical local resource to being a pure profit center. Loyalties are significantly more frequently tied to how much money you made for the company--today--than how much value you bring over the long term. Who was it that said: "If you want loyalty, buy a dog"?

Again: If we, as professionals, expect to remain of value to the enterprise then WE must take control of our own capacity to carry that value wherever we go. The tool kit we used to carry in our hands is now in our respective brains--it's our talents and abilities to link thought with actions. As such, that mental/professional toolkit goes with us wherever we go. Either we (YOU) are in control of our (YOUR) future or we (YOU) are not.

(Sorry... My purpose in this blog is to speak up. If this offends you...read the books Nickel & Dimed, or Bait & Switch--Or any of a thousand other resources that clarify the current relationship between employer and employee.)

Are you afraid to argue?

Some of the more notorious members of my extended family are Italian and man, can those people argue. But, you know what? Even when they're howling at the moon, you always know precisely where they stand. What's more, after the average (and very noisy) discussion ends, everybody remains friends and goes on their merry way.

Here's my point: Are you afraid to argue with, or question, those around you? Do you tend to put on your cute little happy face--no matter how wrong you honestly believe the other person to be? At work, are you the proverbial "Yes, Man" or woman? If so, you may have found that you are losing your personal and professional direction.

It never ceases to amaze me that the students in my collegiate project management courses, technology asset management courses, or even negotiations programs absolutely refuse to question my perspectives. These are working adults, professionals in their respective fields, and I literally have to push them to think critically--to question the ideas and concepts we discuss.

Is this you? Do you always agree with the boss, simply because they're the boss? Do you see things happening within your life or career that threaten to improve the status quo and merely ignore them? Are you a corporate drone, having been beaten down by "THIS is the way we DO things here!"? If so, is that a good thing?

I have a personal perspective that goes something like this: "You are either in this (pick a profession or job) to be productive and contribute positively to our mutual growth or you are here as a spectator--watching the rest of us DO on your behalf."

And why am I intruding on your personal space with this drivel? Because I firmly believe that one of the key problems I encounter--time and time again--in nearly every corporate setting--is that people are no longer encouraged to, or willing to, ask questions. Without this level of free thought, our abilities to survive, grow, and compete are seriously diminished.

Resource: Take a look at the book Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott, (Berkley Books). I firmly agree with Ms. Scott that it is time for us all to begin seriously considering how our meek and accepting perspectives have limited our potentials. Let me know what you think...