Communication Skills articles from Mark Murphy and Leadership IQ – Page 3 website

Communication Skills Articles

Video: Flattery

Here's a dirty little secret that falls under the heading of communication skills: Flattery actually does work. It is effective. Saying nice things to people is a really good way to build relationships (it's not the only way, but it is a helpful tool). Great sales people know this. 

Why Trying To Reach Consensus Can Make People Angry

The majority of organizations like to consider themselves at least somewhat collaborative (most CEOs don’t raise their hands when you ask them if they want to create a cutthroat or dictatorial organization). Because of this, when we ask leaders how they like to make decisions, a large portion say they like to reach consensus.
Posted by Mark Murphy on 16 May, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, no_cat, no_recent, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →

Video: Promoted to Manger

Promoted to ManagerLet's say you just got promoted to manager and one of your former co-workers, former colleagues, is pretty ticked off because you got the promotion and they didn't. How do you deal with this? It takes developing some interpersonal skills.

Video: A Four-Step Model for Receiving Constructive Criticism

Getting criticized stinks. I'm not going to sugarcoat that. But there is a technique you can use to receive constructive criticism that makes it a little more bearable, and even constructive.

Are You A Technical Genius Who Gets Accused Of Lacking People Skills?

It’s not always easy being the technological expert on the team. You’re valued for your knowledge and skills, but those same two factors can make you appear superior, sarcastic or uncaring to others who are less technology savvy. 

Video: Bad Presentations

Bad PresentationHere’s a different kind of communication skills tip: If you give enough presentations, eventually you will have one not go well. You will have one go off the rails. Now, when most people do this, they have this feeling that I just have to power through no matter how bad this is, no matter how much sweat is pouring down my back, and how irritated and annoyed the audience is. 

Posted by Mark Murphy on 09 March, 2017 Communication Skills, no_cat, no_recent, Presentations, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5, Video | Read more →

This Neurological Trick Makes Your Presentations Twice As Memorable


Memorable PresentationsGiven the huge amounts of information most of us have to cram into our presentations, getting people to remember everything is a tall order.
Now, we all have different presentation styles and different ways of making our message memorable. 

Here's Why Employees Probably Don't Understand Your Vision

When I go into organizations and I ask the employees “tell me why your team exists?” the most frequent response I hear is “I don’t really know.” This certainly isn’t great news, but it does help clarify one of my recent research findings that only 23% of employees say their leader always communicates their vision clearly. 

Video: Say 'Thank You' To Your High Performers During Performance Reviews

Here's a frightening statistic: Only 14% of employees think that performance appraisals are useful! And high performers are especially unhappy with their reviews.
Why? Because most managers don't offer even a simple 'thank you' to their high performers. And if they do say 'thank you' it's usually vague nonsense like 'nice job' or something equally non-specific.

Stop 'Shirking' When You Give Constructive Criticism

To be a great leader, you can’t fear being seen as the bad guy/gal. And I’m not just talking about obvious ‘bad guy/gal’ situations like telling someone “you’re fired” or “you’re not getting a raise this year and here’s why.” I’m also talking about simple situations like telling someone “I need you to change the way you submit that form.”
Posted by Mark Murphy on 27 February, 2017 Communication Skills, Forbes, no_cat, no_recent, Performance Appraisal, sb_ad_30, sb_ad_5 | Read more →