Stop, Look, and Listen As you read the informative speech below, consider what features are most...

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Stop, Look, and Listen As you read the informative speech below, consider what features are most effective and what features could be improved. Background Information Sheryl Gardner, a senior-level manager, has been asked to speak to a group of management trainees. The speech will take place during one of their training sessions, and Sheryl was told to make it "educational and about communication. Given this information, Sheryl has determined that her general purpose should be to inform; however, communication is far too broad to be considered a specific purpose. After analyzing her audience, Sheryl determines that the people in this group will soon be taking over their own departments and should, as a first step, begin developing a communication climate that will foster open communication and teamwork. Since the audience members have already been persuaded that open communication and teamwork are a must in their jobs, Sheryl is simply informing them of the role the communication climate can play in the process. Introduction In her book It's Always Something, Gilda Radner shares the true story of a dog that was involved in a lawn mower accident. Somehow, a poor little dog was hit by a lawn mower, and the blade cut off her back legs. To complicate matters, the dog was pregnant with puppies. The good news is that both the mother and the puppies were saved. The bad news is that the mother lost her legs. But the little dog did learn to walk again by taking two steps and then pulling her backside, two steps and then pulling her backside. The most interesting part of the story is that when the puppies learned to walk, they all walked just like her! Attention Step: A compelling story is an excellent way to gain and hold on to your audience's attention. Establishing Credibility: It is critical that, early on in your presentation, your audience trusts your ability to speak knowingly about your subject. Creating a Need: Before too much time has passed, your audience should know the goal of your presentation. Specific Purpose Preview of Main Points As Mr. Ruiz mentioned, my name is Sheryl Gardner, and I have been working for this company for more than 20 years. What began as a part-time job for minimum wage has turned into a career in which I am now a top leader in the management team. Today, I am so grateful to have this opportunity to speak with you about the skill I consider to be one of the most important aspects of managing people and the secret to my success- effective communication. The material we will be covering is pretty easy to understand but hard to apply. Why is it so hard to apply? It is hard because we learn how to communicate by emulating others. Just as those puppies learned to walk by emulating what they saw their mother do, we learn to communicate by emulating what we see others do. The problem is that many of us have had poor role models in how to communicate effectively. We have formed bad habits, and now that those patterns are established, they are very hard to change. The good news is that we can change. We can all become more effective in the art and skill of communication, which is the key to success as a manager. And it all begins with creating a positive communication climate, which is what we will be focusing on today. But before you can create a positive communication climate, you need to know what is meant by the term. Communication climate refers to an environment in which communication either thrives or languishes. The communication environment in an organization, like the weather, can be sunny and beautiful (a place where people enjoy working), or it can be like a severe thunderstorm or even a hurricane in some instances, where there is consistently unresolved conflict and employees-from management down-don't trust or support one another. As you know, when attempting to drive in a severe thunderstorm, the storm makes it twice as hard to complete the task at hand and get from Point A to Point B. It's the same in an organization with a poor communication climate. Employees are much less focused, cooperative, and productive due to extraneous factors. And they can't move the company from Point A to Point B. To establish the healthiest communication climate possible, it's important that you, as a manager, stop, look, and listen. Stop and take the time to build relationships with your employees. Look at what your employees are doing for the organization. Listen to your employees' ideas and concerns. Let's start by taking a look at the importance of stopping to build relationships with our employees. Transition Statement: It is important to create signposts (transitions) throughout your presentation to ensure the audience knows when old information has concluded and new information is about to begin. I. Stopand take the time to build relationships with your employees. To better understand the process of building relationships, we need to define two communication terms-impersonal communication and interpersonal communication. Impersonal communication is when we treat people as though they are objects. Unfortunately, this is the type of communication we often engage in with a cashier or server. We will say, "How are you today?" However, if that person really stopped and told us how they were, we would think it was quite odd. We all know the standard answer is something like "Fine, thank you." If we are engaging in interpersonal communication, thus building a relationship, we should really want to hear the answer when we ask a question. As managers, we must remember that employees are not chess pieces. These are real people we are moving around. To develop relationships with your employees, you must be genuine. So the way to connect and build relationships with employees will be different for each of you. The way you do it is to play off your own strengths. Some of you may be good at remembering details about people. So when Xiang tells you about his kid's broken arm, you remember it. And the next time you talk with Xiang, you ask how the arm is doing. Some of you may not be good at that kind of chitchat; so, instead, you can do something else. Maybe you schedule a lunch for the entire team every month and make it a point to sit beside someone different during each luncheon. If that works for you, it is perfect. Maybe you are naturally funny and enjoy joking around with employees. Again, if that is your strength for developing relationships, use it. There is no one right way to do this. You just have to make a commitment to developing relationships and then find a strategy that works for you. Another vital part of building strong relationships includes the process of looking at or noticing all that our subordinates are doing for the company. Transition Statement II. Look at what employees are doing for the company, and acknowledge it. Developing relationships will help you become aware of some of the things your team is accomplishing, but to develop a positive communication climate, you must get in the habit of regularly reviewing high performance and success in your team. One way to do this is to develop a habit of asking customers and employees about their experiences with your company. If they had a negative experience, of course work to evaluate the problems. But if they say their experiences are positive, ask them why. Ask them who makes their job easier. Ask them who gave them excellent service. Look at and explore what employees are doing to make this company a success. Of course, when you see and hear about employees' outstanding efforts, you will feel a sincere appreciation for that effort, but that is not enough. It's vital that you communicate your appreciation. Acknowledging excellent performance is a central component in developing a positive communication climate. The obvious ways to show appreciation are by recognizing employees' accomplishments publicly. For example, I give a speech at the beginning of every year titled "The Top 10 Reasons Why We Are Great!" The speech highlights everyone's accomplishments for that year. Of course, a simple pat on the back or thank you can be quite effective as well and should be used all year long. Looking at what your employees are doing is a must if you want to develop a positive communication climate. Transition Statement III. Listen to their ideas and concerns. Now that we've established the importance of stopping to build relationships with our employees and looking at what they are doing for the company, let's talk about the importance of listening to their ideas and concerns. Bob Jicks of COL Management is part of a team that oversees the daily operations of numerous Imaging Centers, and he has been in management for 11 years. He was quoted as saying, Sometimes I just need to listen to them, talk with thembecause no one understands or represents your company like the person answering the phone or greeting patients at the window. If they feel like they are part of the decision process then they are more likely to be part of the implementation process. I had one of our techs when we were building our new building a few years ago suggest that we make the entrance the same level as the street-parking lotinstead of being a curb or bump. That was a little thing but actually made sense-more importantlyit gave her ownership or buy-in that she felt like she was part of the team. I used to think it was all about the paydon't get me wrong it helpsbut it is really all about the people. Listening to them"validating" their issues or complaints-sharing and developing goals together-works better than shoving it down their throat. Listening is also one of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey says, "First seek to understand and then to be understood." Highly effective people listen because they know that listening to the other person is the key to building relationships, is the key to understanding what they are doing for the company, and will greatly enhance what they can accomplish as a leader. We can sometimes unknowingly send messages to our employees that indicate that we aren't listening to them. For example, I was on a committee recently, and our charge was to recommend a speaker to a very important organizational event. The committee spent long hours going over credentials and conducting interviews with potential speakers for the event. When we sent our suggestion to the president of the organization, he ignored the committee and chose someone else. What do you think, through his actions, he communicated to the people on that committee? That he was not listening, perhaps? That he does not value their input, maybe? Things like this hurt the communication climate, motivation, and, ultimately, productivity. As I stated in the beginning, a lot of this is quite easy to understand but very difficult to apply, because most of us have very well-established communication patterns that do not include listening. If you are preparing your response before the other person stops talking, then you are not listening. If you fail to ask your employees or your clients questions, you are not allowing for listening opportunities. If every idea in the department is yours, you are not listening. Changing bad habits is difficult, but if you make a commitment and stick to it, you can become an effective listener. Signaling the Conclusion Summary Memorable Ending: Finishing your speech by referring back to the attention-getter at the beginning is an excellent way to tie the whole presentation together and increase audience comprehension. Conclusion Today we have talked about some ways to create a positive communication climate. We do this by stopping to build relationships with employees, looking at what they are doing for the company, and listening to their ideas and concerns. You now know how to develop a positive communication climate, and by demonstrating these effective communication patterns, you will become a role model for your entire team. Just as those puppies emulated the mother dog, your employees will emulate you. Together, you and your team can make that positive communication climate a realityyou just need to lead the way. Questions to Consider 1. How would you rate this speech? 2. What features of the speech did you deem effective? Why? 3. What features should have been improved? How would you improve them? Stop, Look, and Listen As you read the informative speech below, consider what features are most effective and what features could be improved. Background Information Sheryl Gardner, a senior-level manager, has been asked to speak to a group of management trainees. The speech will take place during one of their training sessions, and Sheryl was told to make it "educational and about communication. Given this information, Sheryl has determined that her general purpose should be to inform; however, communication is far too broad to be considered a specific purpose. After analyzing her audience, Sheryl determines that the people in this group will soon be taking over their own departments and should, as a first step, begin developing a communication climate that will foster open communication and teamwork. Since the audience members have already been persuaded that open communication and teamwork are a must in their jobs, Sheryl is simply informing them of the role the communication climate can play in the process. Introduction In her book It's Always Something, Gilda Radner shares the true story of a dog that was involved in a lawn mower accident. Somehow, a poor little dog was hit by a lawn mower, and the blade cut off her back legs. To complicate matters, the dog was pregnant with puppies. The good news is that both the mother and the puppies were saved. The bad news is that the mother lost her legs. But the little dog did learn to walk again by taking two steps and then pulling her backside, two steps and then pulling her backside. The most interesting part of the story is that when the puppies learned to walk, they all walked just like her! Attention Step: A compelling story is an excellent way to gain and hold on to your audience's attention. Establishing Credibility: It is critical that, early on in your presentation, your audience trusts your ability to speak knowingly about your subject. Creating a Need: Before too much time has passed, your audience should know the goal of your presentation. Specific Purpose Preview of Main Points As Mr. Ruiz mentioned, my name is Sheryl Gardner, and I have been working for this company for more than 20 years. What began as a part-time job for minimum wage has turned into a career in which I am now a top leader in the management team. Today, I am so grateful to have this opportunity to speak with you about the skill I consider to be one of the most important aspects of managing people and the secret to my success- effective communication. The material we will be covering is pretty easy to understand but hard to apply. Why is it so hard to apply? It is hard because we learn how to communicate by emulating others. Just as those puppies learned to walk by emulating what they saw their mother do, we learn to communicate by emulating what we see others do. The problem is that many of us have had poor role models in how to communicate effectively. We have formed bad habits, and now that those patterns are established, they are very hard to change. The good news is that we can change. We can all become more effective in the art and skill of communication, which is the key to success as a manager. And it all begins with creating a positive communication climate, which is what we will be focusing on today. But before you can create a positive communication climate, you need to know what is meant by the term. Communication climate refers to an environment in which communication either thrives or languishes. The communication environment in an organization, like the weather, can be sunny and beautiful (a place where people enjoy working), or it can be like a severe thunderstorm or even a hurricane in some instances, where there is consistently unresolved conflict and employees-from management down-don't trust or support one another. As you know, when attempting to drive in a severe thunderstorm, the storm makes it twice as hard to complete the task at hand and get from Point A to Point B. It's the same in an organization with a poor communication climate. Employees are much less focused, cooperative, and productive due to extraneous factors. And they can't move the company from Point A to Point B. To establish the healthiest communication climate possible, it's important that you, as a manager, stop, look, and listen. Stop and take the time to build relationships with your employees. Look at what your employees are doing for the organization. Listen to your employees' ideas and concerns. Let's start by taking a look at the importance of stopping to build relationships with our employees. Transition Statement: It is important to create signposts (transitions) throughout your presentation to ensure the audience knows when old information has concluded and new information is about to begin. I. Stopand take the time to build relationships with your employees. To better understand the process of building relationships, we need to define two communication terms-impersonal communication and interpersonal communication. Impersonal communication is when we treat people as though they are objects. Unfortunately, this is the type of communication we often engage in with a cashier or server. We will say, "How are you today?" However, if that person really stopped and told us how they were, we would think it was quite odd. We all know the standard answer is something like "Fine, thank you." If we are engaging in interpersonal communication, thus building a relationship, we should really want to hear the answer when we ask a question. As managers, we must remember that employees are not chess pieces. These are real people we are moving around. To develop relationships with your employees, you must be genuine. So the way to connect and build relationships with employees will be different for each of you. The way you do it is to play off your own strengths. Some of you may be good at remembering details about people. So when Xiang tells you about his kid's broken arm, you remember it. And the next time you talk with Xiang, you ask how the arm is doing. Some of you may not be good at that kind of chitchat; so, instead, you can do something else. Maybe you schedule a lunch for the entire team every month and make it a point to sit beside someone different during each luncheon. If that works for you, it is perfect. Maybe you are naturally funny and enjoy joking around with employees. Again, if that is your strength for developing relationships, use it. There is no one right way to do this. You just have to make a commitment to developing relationships and then find a strategy that works for you. Another vital part of building strong relationships includes the process of looking at or noticing all that our subordinates are doing for the company. Transition Statement II. Look at what employees are doing for the company, and acknowledge it. Developing relationships will help you become aware of some of the things your team is accomplishing, but to develop a positive communication climate, you must get in the habit of regularly reviewing high performance and success in your team. One way to do this is to develop a habit of asking customers and employees about their experiences with your company. If they had a negative experience, of course work to evaluate the problems. But if they say their experiences are positive, ask them why. Ask them who makes their job easier. Ask them who gave them excellent service. Look at and explore what employees are doing to make this company a success. Of course, when you see and hear about employees' outstanding efforts, you will feel a sincere appreciation for that effort, but that is not enough. It's vital that you communicate your appreciation. Acknowledging excellent performance is a central component in developing a positive communication climate. The obvious ways to show appreciation are by recognizing employees' accomplishments publicly. For example, I give a speech at the beginning of every year titled "The Top 10 Reasons Why We Are Great!" The speech highlights everyone's accomplishments for that year. Of course, a simple pat on the back or thank you can be quite effective as well and should be used all year long. Looking at what your employees are doing is a must if you want to develop a positive communication climate. Transition Statement III. Listen to their ideas and concerns. Now that we've established the importance of stopping to build relationships with our employees and looking at what they are doing for the company, let's talk about the importance of listening to their ideas and concerns. Bob Jicks of COL Management is part of a team that oversees the daily operations of numerous Imaging Centers, and he has been in management for 11 years. He was quoted as saying, Sometimes I just need to listen to them, talk with thembecause no one understands or represents your company like the person answering the phone or greeting patients at the window. If they feel like they are part of the decision process then they are more likely to be part of the implementation process. I had one of our techs when we were building our new building a few years ago suggest that we make the entrance the same level as the street-parking lotinstead of being a curb or bump. That was a little thing but actually made sense-more importantlyit gave her ownership or buy-in that she felt like she was part of the team. I used to think it was all about the paydon't get me wrong it helpsbut it is really all about the people. Listening to them"validating" their issues or complaints-sharing and developing goals together-works better than shoving it down their throat. Listening is also one of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey says, "First seek to understand and then to be understood." Highly effective people listen because they know that listening to the other person is the key to building relationships, is the key to understanding what they are doing for the company, and will greatly enhance what they can accomplish as a leader. We can sometimes unknowingly send messages to our employees that indicate that we aren't listening to them. For example, I was on a committee recently, and our charge was to recommend a speaker to a very important organizational event. The committee spent long hours going over credentials and conducting interviews with potential speakers for the event. When we sent our suggestion to the president of the organization, he ignored the committee and chose someone else. What do you think, through his actions, he communicated to the people on that committee? That he was not listening, perhaps? That he does not value their input, maybe? Things like this hurt the communication climate, motivation, and, ultimately, productivity. As I stated in the beginning, a lot of this is quite easy to understand but very difficult to apply, because most of us have very well-established communication patterns that do not include listening. If you are preparing your response before the other person stops talking, then you are not listening. If you fail to ask your employees or your clients questions, you are not allowing for listening opportunities. If every idea in the department is yours, you are not listening. Changing bad habits is difficult, but if you make a commitment and stick to it, you can become an effective listener. Signaling the Conclusion Summary Memorable Ending: Finishing your speech by referring back to the attention-getter at the beginning is an excellent way to tie the whole presentation together and increase audience comprehension. Conclusion Today we have talked about some ways to create a positive communication climate. We do this by stopping to build relationships with employees, looking at what they are doing for the company, and listening to their ideas and concerns. You now know how to develop a positive communication climate, and by demonstrating these effective communication patterns, you will become a role model for your entire team. Just as those puppies emulated the mother dog, your employees will emulate you. Together, you and your team can make that positive communication climate a realityyou just need to lead the way. Questions to Consider 1. How would you rate this speech? 2. What features of the speech did you deem effective? Why? 3. What features should have been improved? How would you improve them?