Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – What’s My First Impression on All?On a cold frosty winter morning in London, I was training a group of seven delegates on a time management course. Ironically, I started at 9.40am as I was still waiting for one more delegate, Jason, who still hadn’t arrived. It was now 10.00am and whilst the delegates were completing an exercise, I heard a loud voice outside my training room. I stepped outside and was confronted by a very large tall man, who looked flustered, anxious and annoyed. I greeted him with a smile and before I even got the chance to say “Good Morning”, he took a deep intake of breath and said: “I don’t want to even be here… my manager has told me to come! I have been on so many time management courses. No-one listens to me. I don’t even know what I am going to learn today and I’m just going waste another day. The taxi was late so it’s not my fault that I am late in.” He finally stopped talking and I kindly said to Jason, you are more than welcome to come in and join us. As he made his way to the back of the room, he grunted, sighed and chucked his bag on the floor and took out a pad and paper and threw it on the table. I looked at the rest of the group and noticed how the dynamics of the room changed. The other delegates looked at each other in disbelief, and some of them sank into their chairs, other people rolled their eyes and other smiled back nervously. I thought to myself… If only Jason knew what he had just done!
How do you come across? How aware are you of the effect that your attitude, behavioral style and mood have on the people you work alongside and the people that you may manage? We identify very rapidly what is an unsatisfactory approach to a situation when we are on the receiving end but how appreciative are we when it is our manner that is having a similar effect on other people?
Self-awareness is not something that we are particularly comfortable with as a general rule. Who enjoys having their weaknesses, or even their strengths, highlighted or, even worse, having to highlight them oneself? Who enjoys hearing their voice on tape or seeing themselves give a presentation on video? The sense of discomfort that we experience in these situations is due to the fact that our own perceptions of ourselves can differ hugely from other people’s perceptions of us. To learn more about first impressions and understanding the impact you make on other… Join our personal impact course.
Written Communication
"Passion, enthusiasm and energy - non verbal aspects that do so much to enhance our messages in face-to-face communication...
…..but can you communicate with the same passion, energy and enthusiasm using only the written word?"
The answer is "Yes, you can...!” All you need to do is give your written message a voice and expression! Look at this example... "We regret to inform you that we cannot process your application to register your business name, since you have neglected to provide sufficient information. Please complete ALL sections of the attached form and return it to us." Contrast this with a re-written approach... "Congratulations on your new business. To register your business name, all we need is for you to return the attached form, with highlighted areas filled in. We will then be able to send you your business registration certificate within two weeks. We wish you success in your new enterprise." How did we convert the earlier cold, clinical, bureaucratic message into a warm, upbeat positive one? We used positive language... We offer a number of courses that are designed around Written Communication, see below for a list of courses and links to their course overviews. Writing Effective Letters and Emails For more course on Literacy click here.
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