Personal Productivity Tips #2

Instead of focusing on daily activities, focus on results or output. I start my day by writing 'Output Today' and work to complete the list before the day is over. It makes me feel good and motivated. Try it today...

Personal Productivity Tips # 1

Having too many items in your To Do List today? Prioritize them by writing A next to items that must be completed now/today; B for items to be completed later ie after items A; and C for items to do last, delegate or drop altogether. This method has helped me to achieve my most important tasks for the day and makes me feel energized and motivated too. Maybe you could give it a try today...

How to ‘Sell’ Your Idea

Have you ever presented an idea or solutions to an audience and once it’s done, you swore that you would never do it again? Your thoughts jumbled up and you lost your way in the middle of your presentation.

Maybe the steps (remember the acronym ANSVA) proposed by Prof Alan H. Monroe from Purdue University below can help you ‘sell’ your ideas to your future audiences better; 

Get Attention – You can get the attention of your audience by using storytelling, a shocking statistic, humor, a powerful statement and others that will get your audience to sit up and take notice.

Establish the Need – The next step is to convince them that there is a problem. This will give them the idea that what is happening now is not good enough and that change is needed. You can use statistics, informing them of the effects of not making changes or showing your audience how the problem directly affects them.

Satisfy the Need – Propose your solution. Tell your audience how you will solve their problems. Discuss the facts in detail. Use examples, testimonials, and statistics to prove the effectiveness of your solution.

Visualize the Future – You can use three methods to visualize the future. Firstly, you can describe what the situation will look like if your proposals are adopted. Secondly, you can describe what the negative effects like if your proposals are rejected and lastly, you can describe the negative picture first, and then reveal what could happen if your proposals are accepted.

Call for Action – The final step is to let your audience have an idea of what they can do to solve the problem. List the actions immediately. Persuade them to take action now. Keep your call for action list simple, between five to nine items.

So, the next time you present an idea or solutions, remember to use the steps discussed above. It will help you to organize your thoughts better and make your presentations more impactful. 

Get What You Want : Tips To Be A Better Communicator

We communicate every day. In our workplace, we give feedback to our team members, attend weekly meetings and ‘sell’ our ideas to our bosses. Some people are good communicators while others still have rooms for improvements.

To make our message more understandable and thus increasing the chances of getting what we want from it, we can use the 7Cs of Communication below;

Clear – Be clear of the reason why we communicate with others.  What is the purpose of our communication? It is to sell a product? Persuade others to accept our proposal? Highlight our team members’ poor performance?

Concise – Stick to the point and keep our message simple. Avoid beating around the bush. Remember, keep it as simple as possible. Simple message has better chances of being understood by our team members.

Concrete – When our message is concrete, our team members will have clear pictures of what we are saying. We can use examples, stories and metaphors to make our message more vivid. Limit them to one for each point that we are trying to emphasize.

Correct – A correct communication is an error-free communication. When speaking, pay attention to our language structure and pronunciation. Check and re-check our spelling and grammar when writing a memo, report or proposal.

Coherent - When our communication is coherent, it flows logically. For example, when presenting a proposal, our message has an opening, body and closing (call for action). Our ideas are connected and relevant, making our message easy to understand.

Complete – A complete message enables our team members to get all the information they need in order to take action. It has specific time frame and outcomes. For example, when writing minutes of meeting, we need to clearly state the task, person in charge and dateline for action.    

Courteous – Trust is important especially in face to face communication. It can be achieved by being friendly, open, and honest. Avoid ‘punching below the belt’, character assassination, insults or aggressive tones.

Next time we write a report, give sales presentation or asking for that extra budget for our department, the 7Cs of Communication above will help us to increase the chances of getting what we want by making our communication more impactful. Try it today!