SLIMMING IT DOWN
After producing nearly 30 Take It From Terry™ newsletters, it's time for a change. Technology guru Chad Barr cautioned me that my multi-sectioned monthly newsletter would eventually become overwhelming, and he was right. So I'm switching to a condensed format which will be easier for you to absorb, and easier for me to produce. Some of the traditional sections will be empty this issue, and soon, we'll have a totally new format, with fewer but punchier sections.
Meanwhile...
GUESS WHO'S TWEETING!
It took me forever to decide tweeting was not a waste of time. Now I realize it's a useful way to share my message. My handle is @StrategicTerry, and I promise some interesting stuff, so be the first on your block to sign up now. If you are a tweeter, you know how to follow me, if not, here is how to get started...
MORE FREE STRATEGIC PLANNING LESSONS LEARNED VIDEOS
Thanks for the great feedback on my video series on COMMON STRATEGIC PLANNING MISTAKES. Here are two more that each tackle a frequent mistake, along with tips to avoid and correct them.
Mistake #5: Engaging in Self-Facilitation
Mistake #6: No Environmental Scan
MISS THOSE OLD STRATEGIC PLANNING SONGS?
With tongue fully in cheek, I've written for strategic planning songs to be sung to four old and familiar melodies.
And if you want a chuckle, please check out this first one sung by my grand son, Alex.
GUEST ARTICLE My professional associate Skip Weisman provides some good tips about improving workplace communications.
BOOK OF THE MONTH reviews the very best book I've ever read about the future, the 2011 State of the Future Report.
You think MY writing is bad? In LAUGH OUT LOUD, check out winners from an annual bad fiction contest.
The "7 Deadliest leadership and Workplace Communication Sins" Are the Root of Much of Your Organization's Problems
By Skip Weisman, Founder, www.workplacecommunicationexpert.com
Twenty years in professional baseball management taught me one thing about creating Champions on the playing field – it is that executing the simple "fundamentals" of the game make the biggest difference. The teams and athletes that effectively execute the little things when the championship is on the line come out on top.
In football it is called blocking and tackling. In baseball it's an outfielder hitting the "cut-off" man on a throw to home plate to get the lead runner, in basketball it's sinking free throws. For an individual sport like golf it's keeping long drives in the fairway, and in tennis it's about holding serve and not double-faulting.
To create a champion organization in business or the not-for-profit world it's about leadership "communication." And that's great for me because whenever I am invited into an organization to help improve performance and attitudes through their work environment, the number one issue I always hear at every level is, "communication."
When I delve deeper to understand what is meant by this nebulous word, we learn that the communication challenges start at the top, with the organization's leadership. Employees model the behavior and communication styles of those above them or respond and adapt to their leaders' communication to protect their positions.
In working with organizations of all sizes throughout the country I have identified the primary culprit to be these "7 Deadly Sins" of organizational leadership communication. These sins of leadership communication never fail to create distrust throughout an organization.
- Communication Sin #1: Lack of Specificity
- Communication Sin #2: Lack of Focus on Desirable Behaviors
- Communication Sin #3: Lack of Directness
- Communication Sin #4: Lack of Immediacy
- Communication Sin #5: Lack of Appropriate Tone
- Communication Sin #6: Lack of Focused Attention
- Communication Sin #7: Lack of Respectful Rebuttals
Violating these leadership and workplace communication sins has real bottom line costs.
Here's an example of one of them:
Communication Sin #5: Lack of Appropriate Tone
The Issue:
There are three components of communication that allow us to receive and let's discuss tone adequately understand the message presented to us; words, tone, and body language.
There are so many different variations of tone that one simple sentence can have six different meanings just by the emphasis placed on the words. Try this exercise: Read this sentence out loud put the emphasis and inflection on a different word each time through:
- I never said he stole the money!
- I never said he stole the money!
- I never said he stole the money!
- I never said he stole the money!
- I never said he stole the money!
- I never said he stole the money!
There are seven words in the sentence, six different words emphasized and six different meanings to the statement. Champion Leaders know how to appropriately apply tone in their communication style so they can positively influence the conversation.
Tone is extremely important for leaders to master. Even the slightest inappropriate tone can cause resentment and distrust at worst, and confusion at best.
The inappropriate tone I want to focus on include:
- The raising of one's voice when showing anger and frustration,
- Being short and curt giving off the impression of being impatient and annoyed with the person speaking with us,
- Being sarcastic to make some feel stupid for bringing up an issue.
Using inappropriate tone when communicating with others is a sign of complete disrespect and devalues the person to whom we are communicating. It will rarely build long-term trust in a relationship. More often than not it creates resentment and can ruin relationships, teamwork and a commitment culture.
The Solution:
Leaders who communicate with inappropriate tone do so because it is a habit that has been developed over many years. It can be a challenging habit to break. The best solution is the following approach:
1. Gain awareness of this as a communication issue, ask for feedback with humility to identify if this is an issue of which you need to be unaware;
2. Work with team members to create a "Team Agreement" that will allow all team members to hold each other accountable to certain behaviors and put "communicate with appropriate tone at all times" in the team agreement;
3. Allow team members, both superiors and subordinates, to respectfully call each other on inappropriate communication styles in any interaction.
4. When responding to any communication count to five, take a long, slow deep breath and respond respectfully, instead of reacting without thinking.
Remember, a leader's responsibility is to positively influence others to achieve a vision together. In order to do that effective communication is vital. For communication to be effective all three components of one's communication must be congruent and appropriate in order for a message to be properly received, and for it to have a chance to positively influence.
You can get the full free special report on the 7 Deadliest Leadership and Workplace Communication Sins at www.workplacecommunicationexpert.com.
We are phasing this section out of future newsletters, but here are some favorites from past issues. This month features personal non-work topics, so check these out while they are still available.
Great example of using the LogFrame for personal development
What to dance with the stars? Here's how to get ready
Let's face it – you're a rocker at heart. Here's how to launch your brand of band.
2011 State of the Future report
by Jerome C. Glenn, Theodore J. Gordon, and Elizabeth Florescu
Reviewed by Terry Schmidt
Charles Kettering Once said "I'm interested in the future because that's what I'll spend the rest of my life".
Being strategic requires understanding how the future is likely to unfold. But how can you look ten or more years ahead and get a reasonable understanding of probable futures? What if you could solicit the opinions of a couple thousand futurists around the world and condense their wisdom into actionable information?
That's exactly what The Millennium Project does. Founded in 1966, it is now an independent non-profit global participatory futures research think tank of futurists, scholars, business planners, and policy makers who work for international organizations, governments, corporations, NGOs, and universities. The Millennium Project manages a coherent and cumulative process that collects and assesses judgments from over 2,500 people since the beginning of the project selected by its 40 Nodes around the world. The work is distilled in its annual "State of the Future", "Futures Research Methodology" series, and special studies.
Last month while teaching executive programs at UCLA, I met Jerome Glenn, author of the 2011 State of the Future report. He gave me a copy and I was up until 2 a.m. digesting this fascinating 116-page document, supplemented by a CD with 8,000 pages of detailed analysis.
Every forward thinking individual should keep a keen eye on the future. Get your future-focused lenses polished by visiting www.StateOfTheFuture.org
Each year, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest that challenges entrants to compose bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. It began at San Jose State University in 1982 and takes its name from the Victorian novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who began his "Paul Clifford" with "It was a dark and stormy night."
The winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is Sue Fondrie, an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh who works groan-inducing wordplay into her teaching and administrative duties whenever possible. Out of school, she introduces two members of the next generation to the mysteries of Star Trek, Star Wars, and--of course--the art of the bad pun.
Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories. (Sue Fondrie, Oshkosh, WI)
Runner-Up:
As I stood among the ransacked ruin that had been my home, surveying the aftermath of the senseless horrors and atrocities that had been perpetrated on my family and everything I hold dear, I swore to myself that no matter where I had to go, no matter what I had to do or endure, I would find the man who did this . . . and when I did, when I did, oh, there would be words. (Rodney Reed Ooltewah, TN)
Winner: Romance
As the dark and mysterious stranger approached, Angela bit her lip anxiously, hoping with every nerve, cell, and fiber of her being that this would be the one man who would understand—who would take her away from all this—and who would not just squeeze her boob and make a loud honking noise, as all the others had. (Ali Kawashima Greensboro, NC)
Runner-up:
Deanna waited for him in a deliberate pose on the sailor-striped chaise lounge of the newly-remodeled Ramada, her bustier revealing the tops of her white breasts like eggs--eggs of the slightly undercooked, hard-boiled variety, showing a nascent jiggle with her apprehensive breath, eggs that were then peeled ever-so-carefully so as not to pierce the jellied, opaque albumen and unleash the longing, viscous yolk within--yes, she lay there, oblong and waiting to be deviled. (Meredith K. Gray Ithaca, NY)
Dishonorable Mentions:
They called her The Cat, because she made love the way she fought, rolling rapidly across the floor in a big, blurry ball of shrieking hair, fury, and dander, which usually solicited a "Shut up!" and flung shoe from one of the neighbors, and left her exhilarated lover with serious patchy bald spots and the occasional nicked ear. (Lisa Kluber San Francisco, CA)
She gazed smolderingly at the mysterious rider, his body cloaked in enough shining black leather to outfit an Italian furniture store, wrapped so tightly each muscle stood out like a flamboyant Mexican hairdresser at an Alabamian monster truck rally; and he met her gaze with an intensity that couldn't have been matched by even a starving junkyard dog in the meat aisle of a suburban supermarket. (Chris Kemp Annapolis, MD)
Winner: Crime
Wearily approaching the murder scene of Jeannie and Quentin Rose and needing to determine if this was the handiwork of the Scented Strangler--who had a twisted affinity for spraying his victims with his signature raspberry cologne--or that of a copycat, burnt-out insomniac detective Sonny Kirkland was sure of one thing: he'd have to stop and smell the Roses. (MarkWisnewski Flanders, NJ)
Runner-up:
Five minutes before his scheduled execution, Kip found his thoughts turning to his childhood-- all those years ago before he had become a contract killer whose secret weakness was a severe peanut allergy, even back before he lost half of a toe in a gardening accident while doing community service-- but especially to Corinne, the pretty girl down the street whom he might have ended up marrying one day if she had only shown him a little more damn respect. (Andrew Baker Highland Park, NJ)
Now after reading these groaners, my writing seems great, right?