Effective Time Management

Effectively managing your time will enable you to work more efficiently and do more to further the bottom-line objectives of your company. As a manager, the use of your time is critical in order to carry out your many duties and responsibilities. This Origami Warrior Life Lessons - Basic Management Skill article on Time Management will enable you to become a more effective manager for yourself, and for your organization. You will learn how to better manage your time, which will help you achieve your overall goals. Improve your skills, invest in your future,   Leadership Series Workshop 

What Should You Expect

We will not be able to explore every facet and component of time management. Rather, we will focus on the major principles of effective time management including planning and organizational skills, that apply to most situations. We will use only as much "theory" as needed to gain basic understanding of time management issues. Primarily, we will discuss what you can do to better manage your time.

Objectives

Upon completion, you will be able to:

1)  Understand the role that planning plays in time management.

2)  Understand how organizational skills can help you better manage your time.

3)  State how effective delegation, communication, and training can save you time in the long run.

4)  Implement specific techniques for better handling accumulating paperwork, crisis, and "overwhelming" projects.

Format

This information is designed to do more than just give you information on time management. Rather, it is set up to teach you skills which you can apply in your day to day job. This will be accomplished by the use of exercises that require your involvement. Active participation will enable you to learn "what to do and how to do it" better than passively sitting back and being an observer. Keep this in mind as we proceed.  Improve your skills, invest in your future,  Leadership Series Workshop.

Managing Your Time

Planning

All time management begins with planning. Planning means thinking about what you want and how you are going to accomplish it; determining in advance what is to be done; and preparing for the future by making decisions now.

Defining Your Work Load

In order to plan your time; you must evaluate your work load. Although not a difficult task, it takes time to reflect upon your duties and responsibilities. Make time for this. It will save you time in the long run. Begin all new projects, responsibilities, or tasks with a planning session. Ask yourself:

•    What tasks need to be done.

•    When should they be completed.

•    Besides myself, who else will need to be involved, can this be delegated, if so to whom, etc.

•    How much time will each project require.

•    What part of my duties and responsibilities are fixed and routine.

•    What intermediate steps need to be completed.

Not only should new work begin with a planning session, but all on-going work needs to be reviewed, evaluated, and re-planned. Schedule planning time every day. Plan your day the first thing in the morning, as soon as you arrive at work or the previous day the last thing you do at work before leaving for home. When defining your work load, be aware of four points:

First, is the task really your responsibility? Don’t fall into the trap of taking on others responsibilities. You may be able to route the task or project to those who are more responsible for it in the first place, thereby freeing up time for those tasks and projects you are definitely held responsible for. At the very least, you may be able to share the project with others, thereby splitting the work load in half. Channel projects to others who have responsibility for them by being appropriately assertive and using clear and concise communication. At times, compromise and negotiation may be needed to result in a collaborative effort on a project. Remember, your responsibilities come first and require the majority of your time.  Develop your skills now with our  Leadership Series Workshop.

Secondly, when defining your work load, ask whether you have "bitten off more than you can chew". It is entirely possible that you have a larger work load than any person can realistically handle in the available time. Push yourself hard, but if the quality of your work begins to decline in order for you to take on an additional quantity of work, then an unhealthy habit may be forming. The success of any company is built upon quality services, quality products, and quality management action. Do not ever allow this standard to decline as a shortcut to getting another task completed. It is your responsibility to communicate to your immediate supervisor if you assess that you have taken on more than any "mere mortal can handle". Planning includes knowing your limits, as well as problem solving, brainstorming, and communicating when those limits have been exceeded.  Be the first to ask for help, a true sign of strength not weakness.

Thirdly, be realistic when estimating the time it will take you to complete each of your responsibilities or projects. Effective planning is built upon reality. Underestimating the time required to do a task may result in disrupting other people’s time schedule when you are not able to deliver as you had estimated. Consequently, it will be a poor reflection upon you. Similarly, overestimating the time it will take you to complete a project is poor practice. Although it may appear to make you look more efficient, it can also disrupt others who are not ready to receive your report or completed task at the unexpected earlier time. As a result, your prematurely completed work may "sit around" until others are ready for it. Proper planning requires accurate and realistic time estimates.

Lastly, proper planning also includes the planning of lunch, breaks, and personal events. It has long been recognized that total, sustained, and intense focus on high pressure tasks and responsibilities can lead to stress and deterioration of one’s working capacity. It is your responsibility to plan appropriate action to prevent yourself from becoming "burnt-out". It is legitimate to plan a lunch. Breaks can be interspersed within long periods of intense concentration. Planning for these events are carried out with the same legitimacy and in the same manner as other important duties and responsibilities.  Don’t let others out pace you, check out our  Leadership Series Workshop.

Time Management Worksheet 1

Defining Your Work Load

Choose an objective on your current Performance Appraisal Review form. With it in mind, answer the following questions. 

1. Briefly, what project, activity, or program are you currently doing to help you attain the objective?

2. What is the deadline for completing the project, activity, or program?

3. Roughly estimate how many uninterrupted work hours it will take you to achieve the project, activity, or program. How long with interruptions?

4. List the names of people you will need to involve or meet with in order to successfully complete the project, activity, or program.

5. Will completing the project, activity, or program require you to perform fixed and routine duties on a weekly or daily basis. What are these duties?

Objectives and Goals

Planning should naturally result in goals or objectives. A goal or objective is simply a task we desire to accomplish. Goals direct our behavior. They help us follow a straight-line path to our ultimate objective. They prevent us from being like leaves being blown helplessly in the wind. Goals play a major role in helping us decide how to manage our time. All actions that help us accomplish our goals warrants our time. All actions that do not help us achieve our goals, are a waste of our time.

Many of your objectives or long term goals are identified by the Objective Setting and Performance Appraisal Review System. Often, these objectives are too broad in scope to strive for "all at once". Objectives or long term goals need to be broken down into intermediate goals. Intermediate goals need to be broken down into goals that can be attained in one week. Finally, you can set a goal for each day of the week that, when completed, will result in the achievement of the weekly goal. It is the completion of many very small goals on a daily basis that result in the completion of a performance appraisal review objective.

Planning and setting goals result in more efficient time management when several conditions are met. These rules of goal setting will automatically force you to make better use of your time.

•  Set goals once a day: either first thing in the morning or for the following day, last thing before going home.  Set the goals one day at a time, keeping in mind what you want to accomplish by the end of the week

•  Daily goals should be specific. What, where, when, and with whom should be included.

•  Daily goals should be attainable. Make it reasonable and realistic. There should be a very good chance of accomplishing it.

•  If involving others, the goal should be mutually developed. This does not need to be complicated. For example, state "…then we agree that at the conclusion of this meeting, we will have made decisions on the following four issues".   

•  Good goals should be measurable. Although you  may not always want to record the progress you made toward your goal; the point is, if you wanted to - you could.

•  The best use of your time each day is in accomplishing your daily goals set that morning (or the previous evening).   

Time Management Worksheet 2

Developing Monthly and Daily Goals

Using the same objective that you used for Worksheet 1, develop goals for meeting the objective by answering the following questions.

1.         "Break-down" the objective into its major parts.

2.     Take one major part of the objective identified in Question 1, and "break it down" further by listing three tasks that must be accomplished in order to achieve the major part of the objective.

    Task 1:

    Task 2:

    Task 3:

3.    Write a goal to correspond to each identified task listed in Question 2 above, using the format presented.

Goal I:

I need to (what):________________________________________________________________________________

By (date):________________________________________________________________________________

I may need to involve (who):________________________________________________________________________________

Is this goal attainable?_____________________________________________________________________________________

I may need to divide this goal into the following sub-goals:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Progress toward attaining this goal can be measured by:   

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Goal 2:

I need to (what):_______________________________________________________________________________

By (date):_______________________________________________________________________________

I may need to involve (who):________________________________________________________________________________

Is this goal attainable:_____________________________________________________________________________

I may need to divide this goal into the following sub-goals:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Progress toward attaining this goal can be measured by:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Goal 3:

I need to (what):________________________________________________________________________________

By (date):________________________________________________________________________________ may need to involve (who):________________________________________________________________________________

Is this goal attainable:_____________________________________________________________________________

I may need to divide this goal into the following sub-goals:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Progress toward attaining this goal can be measured by:

______________________________________________________________________________________

Time Management Worksheet 3

Reasons Why Plans Often Fail

Think of a major objective, in which you were involved, that did not "come off" as planned. Briefly jot down the plan to reach the objective.

Place a check by the main reasons why the plan failed.

1.    ______Feasibility of the specific details of the plan was not assessed at every level.            

2.    ______Plan was "unrealistic".                                      

3.    ______Objectives for the plan were not clear or specific.                           

4.    ______Key people were not involved before the plan was finalized.                       

5.   ______ Assumptions were made, but not checked out, about critical elements of the plan, availability of essential supplies, items needed and when to be delivered, manpower, etc.                     

6.    ______Plan was idealistic; too "tight"; too little room or margin for error or "trouble-shooting".       

7.    ______Plan created a high degree of friction and resistance in people which was either not anticipated or not explored by consulting them-so they failed to give essential cooperation required for successful implementation of the plan.                                   

8.    ______Planning was started only after problem was acute and "a crisis".

9.    ______You thought planning takes too much time - Let’s have action!                      

10.  ______Parameters within which planning was done was not fully understood (such as budget limitation, availability of key people, etc).                                       

11.    _____Objectives and plan details were not communicated properly to all who were to be involved in the planning as well as the implementation.                                   

12. ______Planners failed to familiarize themselves with the situation within which planning had to be done.       

13. ______Failure to get all pertinent facts necessary for success of the plan.                  

14. ______Failure to consider alternative plans and options.                               

15. ______Failure to plan for the training of people to implement a plan.                       

16. ______Failure to plan for the delegation of parts of the plan.                           

17. ______Failure to anticipate trouble and establish mechanisms for "re-planning" and/or contingency plans. No mechanisms for monitoring or controls.                              

18. ______Failure to allocate sufficient time to "get the job done right".                  

Organization

Planning is not complete without organization. Proper organization insures that plans are carried out, goals are attained, and your time is used most efficiently. Two factors of organization that must be considered are prioritizing and scheduling.

Prioritizing

Prioritizing simply means ranking a list of items according to their importance. The most important item becomes the highest priority and automatically becomes the first item to be worked on. The second priority is second in importance and becomes the next item to be focused on after the first priority is completed.  Set a priority to invest in your education, check out our  Leadership Series Workshop series.

One good way to think of priorities is in association to poker chips. As you recall from poker, three colors of chips are frequently employed. Blue chips are usually worth a lot of money each, and are, therefore, the most important. With blue chips, the stakes are high, a loss of a blue chip is a failure; achieving one is success.

Red chips are not as important as blue chips but cannot be ignored. You need to be concerned with them, but only after attending to your blue chips. The loss or gain of one red chip does not bring failure or success but the loss or gain of many red chips can add up to failure or success.

Lastly, there is a white chip. The white chip is not nearly as important as the blue or red chips. Failing to achieve white chips does not worry you. Sometimes, in fact, you will need to purposely sacrifice white chips in order to achieve a blue or red chip.

In terms of priorities, all blue chip goals are top priority; all red chip goals are medium in priority and all white chip goals are low in priority. You can have several goals as one color chip. The point you must realize is that not all of your goals are blue chip goals. In fact, many of your goals are only red or even white chip goals.

All of your objectives on the Objective Setting - Performance Appraisal form are blue chip. Your weekly and even daily goals are just the many elements that go into accomplishing these larger objectives. On any given week, you will have some blue chip, red chip, and white chip goals. Every day when you plan your goals, some of the daily things you want to accomplish will have blue chip status. others will have red chip status; and many will have white chip status.

When you make your daily goals in your daily planning session, prioritize them. Always prioritize goals when you develop them: prioritize on a daily basis. A red chip goal on Wednesday which hasn’t been accomplished can easily become a blue chip item on Thursday.

Use your judgement when determining if your daily goals are blue, red, or white chip. Consider the following:

•    the importance of the project.

•    deadlines.

•    how important your immediate supervisor considers this project (very important).

•    accessibility of other people or equipment.

•    the sequence of one part of the project to other parts of the project.

To get a feel for the importance of a project, ask yourself, "What would happen if I didn’t do it?" If the consequences are minor, the project is probably a white chip project. If the consequences affect the profitability of the company, it is a blue chip project.

Now that you have prioritized, there are two rules to follow to insure proper allocation of your time:

1.    Spend most of your time each day on a blue chip goal, some of your time on a red chip goal that support blue chip goals, and little, if any, of your time on a white chip goal.

2.    Always start your day working on a blue chip goal. Also devote much of your spare time or "in-between time" to work on a blue chip goal. When you return from lunch, work on a blue chip goal. If you have 10 minutes before a meeting, spend this time working on a blue chip goal. Always work on your blue chip goals first. Spending 10 minutes working on a blue chip goal is always preferable to totally completing one white chip goal.

Time Management Worksheet 4

Write "Blue", "Red", or "White" in the space provided depending on the item’s priority.

1. ______Meeting your number one performance appraisal objective.

2. ______Reading a trade magazine.

3. ______Completing a mostly finished report for you boss which is due tomorrow.

4. ______Completing a mostly finished report for your boss which is due in two weeks.

5. ______Responding to a dissatisfied customer.

6. ______Obtaining supplies for your desk.

7. ______Holding a meeting with your subordinartes to update them on recent events.

8. ______Working on a procedure that can directly increase the profitability of the company.

9. ______Making a phone call to get information you need for a project you are involved in.

10.______Filling out paperwork that is required but not due until next week.

Prioritize some of your monthly current activities under blue, red, or white chip status. 

Blue                                                                                                                      

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________   

________________________________

Red                                                                    

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________ 

________________________________ 

White                                                                  

________________________________

________________________________

________________________________ 

________________________________  

Go back and priortize activities under each of the blue and red chip headings by numbering them from top blue chip priority to bottom blue chip priority, and top red chip priority to bottom red chip priority. Simply prioritize each of the lists.

Scheduling

Scheduling is a key component of being organized. Following are simple, yet proven techniques to help you manage your time better.

Use a Calendar

A calendar which shows the entire month at a glance is better than one which shows one day at a time. By seeing how all of your obligations are being arranged for an entire month, you can obtain a "bigger picture" of the time requirements you will need to reserve for these events. You will also be able to better plan for week to week by seeing what pressing needs you have later in the month.

Appointments, meetings, deadlines, and special events should all be marked on a calendar. In addition, reserve a couple hours each day to be devoted exclusively to your top blue chip goal. Try marking a "warning" on your calendar: for example, you might write: Warning, project _________________ should be one-half completed today.

Use a Daily "To Do" List

Many people write out a list of things they hope to accomplish. This is an established time management tool. The daily "to do" list should include the goals that you developed in your daily planning session. As mentioned under goal setting, make sure your daily goals are attainable, specific, etc. After completing the list, go back over the list and indicate which of your daily goals have blue chip, red chip, or white chip status.  Now is the time to add our  Leadership Series Workshop.

 

If you already have been using a daily "to do" list, use it more effectively by remembering the following points:

•    Make only one list; trying to coordinate and act upon many lists at once can quickly become confusing.

•    Put a rough estimate of time needed to complete each item on your list. If the total time to complete all the items on your list is approaching eight hours, your list of daily goals is too long. Remember, make sure the goals you set for each day are realistically attainable.

•    Always start with your top priority and devote the most time to it.

•    Start a new "to do" List each day in your planning session. Don’t just keep adding to yesterday’s unaccomplished goals.

•    Do not load up the list so that every moment of your day is allocated. This is the biggest mistake people make in using a "to do" list. Most people know that they will be interrupted through out the day. Plan for it. "Pad" scheduled events by reserving more time. Allow time for handling unexpected crises. Remain flexible.

Spending 10 minutes on a blue chip project is better than totally completing one white chip item. Never spend time on less important items when you could be spending your time on more important events. Your emphasis should not be on how many items you cross off your "to do" list each day, rather, it should be on accomplishing high priority items( i.e. blue chips, then red chips, etc.)

Set priorities and set yourself free, you will get more done and it will be the most important things needing to be done.  A priority should be to invest in your future check out our  Leadership Series Workshop.

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Origami Warrior Basic Communication Skills For Managers

Hello, Is Anyone There? Anyone Paying Attention? 

How To Effectively Communicate with others is a big opportunity area for us.  Don’t believe me, just go to your local mall, strip mall, fast food restaurant and watch and see what is missing when it comes to the basics on communication between customer service providers and the customer. Spend some time watching the lack of basic skills and often common curteousy that you see. Just stand back and watch the interactions. 

I am sure you would agree with me that the better you communicate the further you go in life in general.  People that become masters of communication, go to the top of the food chain.  If you are not sure that communication is profitable, check out Rush Limbaugh and see what he makes and you might change your mind.  Looking for origami products? Check out:   Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

Back to the topic at hand, when I finally got around to cleaning out my file cabinet a couple of months back, I ran across some old Basic Management Skills Classroom Training courses that I had taught a long time ago on topics that include: Communication, Motivation, Training, Decision Making/Problem Solving, Delegation and Time Management.  They address the basic skills you need to be successful in these areas and certainly mastery of them is required should you desire to become a leader or manager of others.  Check out  Leadership Series For Successful Living!

So with the understanding that this information is not new earth shattering ideas, the message still applies. Some of them may seem common sense (which is not all that common anymore), then consider this a refresher. 

Let’s get started.

Basic Management Skills: Communication

Effectively communicating to your employees will result in a more efficient operation and will help achieve the bottom-line objectives of any company, business, or basic interaction. As a manager, your communication skill is critical in directing the actions of your employees. This basic managerial skill course in communication will enable you to become a better manager for yourself, and for your organization. You will learn how to communicate effectively, which will help you to maximumly "work through others" to get the job done.

There are many components to communication. Consider verbal communication skills, listening skills, writen memorandums, telephone skills and non-verbal communication. Also, reflect upon all the people we communicate to: subordinates, peers, supervisors, customers, and groups of people. In addition, ponder some of the reasons, why we communicate: to get and give information, to discipline subordinates, to make assignments, and so on.  Check out:  Leadership Series For Successful Living!

We will not be able to explore every facet and component of communication. Rather, we will focus on the general principles of effective communication that apply to most situations and we will point out important things to remember for some specific situations.  We will use only as much "theory" as needed to gain basic understanding of communication problems. Primarily, we will discuss what you can do to become an effective communicator.

Our Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will be capable of:

1) Recognizing communication problems and barriers.

2) Implementing techniques to resolve communication problems and barriers.

3) Demonstrating the basic general rules of effective communication.

4) Using special techniques in specific communication situations.

This is designed to do more than just give you information on communicating. Rather, it is set up to teach you skills which you can apply in your day to day routine.

What is Communication?

Communication is simply the sending of a message to another person. The person sending the message first needs to formulate the message in his head. This involves determining the meaning that the sender intends to convey to the other person. To formulate the meaning of the message, the sender usually draws upon his
background attitudes, perceptions, emotions, opinions, education, and experience.  Looking for origami products? Check out:   Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

The message is then sent to the listener through both verbal talking and non-verbal gestures. The person receiving this message then interprets its meaning. To do this, the listener uses his background, attitudes, perceptions, emotions, opinions, education, and experience.  Origami Warrior recommends you check out:  Leadership Series For Successful Living!

Effective communication exists between two persons when the person receiving the message interprets it in the same way as the sender intended it. Sounds really simple doesn’t it?  Well, it can be.

Who is Responsible for Communicating Effectively?

Managers share the responsibility in communicating effectively with the individual employees themselves. The manager is 100% responsible for communicating effectively with their employees.

This includes establishing an open and trusting climate for communication, as well as demonstrating good communication techniques to their employees. The employee is 100% responsible for taking advntage of the "climate for communication" to express what is important and relevant. For example,it is expected that a manager will ask "are there any questions?" after giving an employee an assignment, but it is also expected that an employee will say, "I have a question", if one should occur to the employee, without waiting for the manager to ask.  Looking for origami products? Check out:   Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

Why Managers Need to be Effective Communicators?

• Communication is used so frequently that "we cannot afford to do it poorly".

• Communication has a special power: to create interest, stimulate action, achieve        agreement, foster enthusiasm.

• Communication is the primary method that managers use to direct their employee’s    behavior.

• Communication is the basis for almost all other managerial skills. It is involved in        delegating duties to subordinates, motivating employees, demonstrating leadership  abilities, training new policies and programs, and counseling performance problems, etc.

Barriers to Effective Communication

• Supervisor unaccessible.

• Supervisor buried in work.

• Supervisor always in a hurry.

• Supervisor maintains a pre-occupied expression; little eye-contact with employees.

• Supervisor only informal with his peers or boss (never with subordinates).

• Supervisor tells employees to "write it up" instead of promoting discussion.

• Supervisor never asks, "How’s it going?".

Where do Difficulties in Communication Arise?

The basic source of misunderstanding between two persons are communication failures that occur when the receiver understands the meaning of a message differently than it was intended. We do not always communicate what we intend.

Communication failures arise when there is a gap between what the sender meant and what the receiver thought the sender meant.

Communication failure can be caused by:

• Being so preoccupied that you do not listen to what other are saying.

• Being so interested in what you have to say that you listen only to find an opening to work your way into the conversation.

• Being so sure that you know what the other person is going to say that you distort what you hear to match your expectation.

• Evaluating and judging the speakers, which makes the speaker guarded and defensive.

• Not being able to "see past the words" and get the emotional message of the sender.

• Not trusting the speaker and becoming suspicious of what is being said.

Setting the Stage for Effective Communication

Even before the first word is uttered, various factors are already at work that can affect the success or failure of our communications.  Let’s examine these factors to see what role they play.  Improve your skills, invest in your on-going education,  Leadership Series For Successful Living!

Communicator’s Appearance

Before we ever say a word, others have been receiving messages from us. We communicate to others just by the way we dress and groom. In the book Dressing for Success, the author notes that other people conclude about 17 different things about us just on the basis of how we appear.

Many businesses utilize a dress code to guide people to the appropriate type of attire. It use to be traditional within the business world for men to wear a coat and tie. This conveys to others that we are professionals. In addition, conservative colors
are preferred to more outspoken colors. This communicates seriousness, stability, and a "down-to-business" attitude. Recent changes have occurred in this area, just always remember that people do make conclusions about you based on your appearance.  Understand the expectation as it relates to dress code and insure you are in tune with the company position.  Looking for origami products? Check out:   Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

Communicator’s Past Conversations

Communication experts tell us that the credibility of the communicator, as determined by past conversations, is a critical factor in effective communication. Credibility refers to the attitude the listener has toward the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the sender’s statements. When a listener views the sender as dependable, knowledgeable, reliable, warm and friendly, emphatic, and nonselfish, the message that is sent will be more likely to be received. Unless we seem credible to the
receiver. our message will be discounted and we will not be able to communicate effectively with him.

Communicator’s Personality

The personality of the communicator plays a part in both the formulation of the message and in how the message is communicated. Each individual’s beliefs, opinions, prejudices, feelings, biases, and personal experiences enter into the development of a message. Most of the time this happens quickly, automatically, and out of habit. In addition to influencing what we think and say, our personalities also play a role in how we say the message. You may know of an instance where two managers sound completely different in conveying the same exact message to a listener. For example a result oriented manager may talk in short, concise, action-oriented sentences, while another manager may end up in a long discourse
including many details and side points.

The Communication Situation

The situation and circumstances surrounding our communication plays a part in determining its success or failure. Although many types of situations affect the messages we send, one particular type that can easily distort our messages is communication under stress. Stress, by its very nature, makes it difficult for us to
"think clearly". In a stress situation, the meaning of the message can be distorted; subtle shades of meaning can be confused; pieces of information can be forgotten; minor points may seem more important than major points. In addition, the wording of the communication may suffer. Uncertainty, nervousness, and confusion can creep into the speaker’s voice, resulting in a less assertive statement.  Be sure to check out: Leadership Series For Successful Living!

Communicating Effectively

Verbal Communication

Verbal communication means talking. The goal in communicating verbally is to convey a message to another person so that the other person understands it exactly as the person talking intended it. A well communicated message is one which the other person can accurately repeat back in his own words. Verbal communication can
be made more effective by:

• Talking about specific rather than general situations.

• Using concrete language, e.g., "merchandise" rather than "stuff".

• Using words familiar to employees; explaining unfamiliar words.

• Including an example to illustrate the point.

• Giving sufficient detail to convey the point.

• Giving details slowly and in order.

• Making it a practice to address the five "W" questions in the  topic (if applicable).

Who is involved?

What is the situation; how did it begin?

When will it occur?

Where is it taking place? What you think, believe, feel?

Why will it happen? Why is this important?
 

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication refers to the gestures and body positions that accompany one’s speaking. All people display certain gestures or lack of them when talking. It is important to be aware of your nonverbal communication, for it plays a big role in making your total communication effective.   Looking for origami supplies, check out: Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

Effective communication occurs when a person’s verbal message and nonverbal message both "say the same thing". Problems in communication occur when the speaker’s words say one thing, but his gestures and body language says something else. 

Types of Nonverbal Communication

All of the following "says something". In the specific context, they should correspond and reinforce the spoken message.

• Eye contact.

• Position of our arms and legs.

• The distance we stand from others when talking to them.

• Where we sit at a table or in relation to others.

• Smiling.

• Nodding or other head movements.

The manager can use nonverbal behaviors in two ways. First, when speaking, he can monitor his own nonverbal behavior and try to make sure it corresponds and emphasizes what he is verbally saying.

For example:

• When taking charge of a situation, the manager should have good eye contact with his subordinates, stand in a straight posture, use a firm but not overbearing voice,and point to what he wants done.  Be sure to vist the  Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

• Upon noticing customers, the employee should smile to indicate friendliness, make eye contact to acknowledge the customer’s presence, tun his body in the direction of the customer to indicate his willingness to help if needed.

The other way a manager can use nonverbal behavior is in "listening to what others are really saying". If the manager notices the employee saying one thing verbally but another thing nonverbally, then the manager should suspect that the verbal message being said may be somewhat "incomplete".

Active listening skills is what seperates the good from the great. Learn to listen with your ears, eyes and perception paying attention to both the verbal and nonverbal communication.

For example:

An employee who says that he would feel comfortable doing a task ut who exibits folded arms, crossed legs, and tensed neck muscles might not be feeling as comfortable as he thinks. The manager who suspects this might need to keep his eye on this situation.

Written Communication

In written communication, the simpler, shorter, and more direct the etter. This can be remembered by the equation:

    Effectiveness = Conciseness = Completeness

Try the following tips for achieving concise and complete communication.

• Use simple words; your goal is not to impress your reader with your vocabulary, it is to get the point across.

• Make sure the words exactly express the thought; different words can slant the entire message of your point.

• Make the sentence structure clear; poor grammar, run on sentences, etc., can distort the point you want to make.

Use a different paragraph for each complete unit of thought.

• Make sure all of the necessary information is included.

• Anticipate questions and include the answers in your message.

Use only essential words and phrases.

• Make sure your facts, dates, times, etc., are correct.

• Consider the tone of the memorandum. Make sure it doesn’t contain antagonism or    preaching. I highly suggest that if you are upset about something, it is ok to           write out your thoughts and ideas for making the situation better.  Then make sure     you do not send it, until you read it the next day. You will find in most cases that what you want to say does not change, but how you say it will change dramatically once you are over the emotions you attached to it.

• Make sure it is neat in appearance.

Remember all written memorandums have a dual purpose: you want the reader to receive your message and you want to do it the shortest, quickest way possible without leaving out necessary information.

All memorandums written in this way will be a good reflection upon you.

Phone Conversations

Talking on the phone lies between face-to-face communication and written communication in regard to information we can receive from the other person. Phone conversations do not give us access to the body language of the other person, hence, we miss the nonverbal cues accompanying the words. On the other hand, phone communication oes allow us to take into account the tone of voice the other
person is using, unlike written communication.  Need something origami, check out: Origami Warrior Amazon Store!

Voice tone can be used in two ways. First, we can vary our voice tone to reinforce what we are saying verbally. Managers can convey competence, sincerity, and trust through the tone of their voice when talking to customers or employees.

Secondly, we can pay attention to other people’s tone of voice, much like nonverbal behavior, to check on unspoken feelings and thoughts. To do this accurately, practice listening to both the words and the tone of the voice that carries the words.

When talking to someone you have spoken to before, pay attention to changes in their usual voice qualities. Some people speak slow, loud, or clear. When these people change their normal voice qualities, they are communicating something extra to us. It is up to us to look for cues to detect what these changes in customary
voice tones mean.  Remember, you can’t talk to someone on the phone and someone in front of you both at the same time and do justice to either party.   Check out: Leadership Series For Successful Living! 

Communicating to a Group

Communicating to a group can be as simple as making an announcement r as complex as running a training program requiring much group participation. Much of what has been presented in this training applies to communicating to a group. Pre-communication factors, such as your appearance, credibility, and the specifics of the situation playa large part in establishing a successful presentation. Talking effectively and using nonverbal body language to correspond to the spoken words can all be used in group settings. A particularily skillful speaker can even "read"
the nonverbal cues of the group as a whole and use this information to adjust his talk.

Listening

Why you Should Listen to Your Employees

• Employees might have helpful ideas.

• Employees might know causes of problems in the workplace.

• Employees might be able to warn me about potential problems I   haven’t yet            recognized.

• How employees feel about things can be a tip-of future problems.

Ways of Not Listening

• Signing routine papers.

• Sorting papers.

• Allowing long telephone interruptions.

• Sneaking looks at the time.

• Gazing out of the window, or at distractions passing by.

• Maintaining pre-occupied facial expressions.

• Calling orders to other employees in between sentences.

• Fidgeting nervously, shaking foot, playing with gadgets, coffee
  cup, etc.

Inhibiting Communication from Your Employees

Avoid the following to prevent cutting off future communication from your employees:

• Blaming the employee who gave you bad news.

• Getting angry.

• "Falling apart".

Demanding the employee to justify work that is reported to be not going well.

How should you react to news:

React to bad news by remaining objective; keep your emotions under ontrol; switch to a "problem-solving", "let’s get this situation corrected" approach.

Respond to good news with praise, acknowledgement and appreciation.

Active Listening

Active listening is comprised of three separate and important skills: attention skills, following skills, and responding skills.

Attention skills are those actions you take to put the talker at ease, to nonverbally show you are listening, and to best "pay attention to" what the other person is trying to say. Maintaining eye contact, eliminating distractions, and concentrating on both
the verbal and nonverbal are examples of attention skills.  Be sure to check out our other Origami Warrior Life Lessons - Management and Origami Warrior Life Lessons - Success!  Arm yourself for today’s challenges, knowlege is power!

Following Skills

These are the skills we use to encourage the conversation along; to get the point the person is making. Nodding our heads, saying "uh-huh", "I see", and "go on" are following skills. Asking appropriate questions to bring out the point is a following skill
as is allowing silences without jumping in. All following skills serve two purposes: to indicate to the speaker that you are "with him" and to help him get the point across.

Responding Skills

This is where we determine if we received and interpreted the message as the speaker intended it. Say something like, "If I understand correctly, you are saying … " and go on to paraphrase that we understand, using our own words. Check out the facts and ideas, the main point of what the speaker said.

It is only after we are sure that we understood the message as intended, can we then evaluate, judge, take action, or supply an answer or comment.

Communicating on the Job

Who We Communicate To

Before the message is formulated and communicated, we become aware of who we will be sending it to. How and what we communicate can change depending upon who is the intended audience.

Upward Communication

If we will be communicating to our immediate supervisor, our message might be prepared, formulated, and presented in a specific manner. For example, if we need to seek assistance from our supervisor, asking an open-ended question will result in more information than a question that can be answered yes or no.

Peer Communication

If the communication is intended for a peer, the message might be less "formally" prepared and presented. For example, less background information might need to be given since the peer can "easily relate" to the situation to be described.

Downward Communication

The manager who is communicating to his subordinate may need to do so in a different way than to others. Clear, concise, directions might be the format for much of the messages the manager gives to his employees. In addition, the manager may follow-up many of his messages with, "Do you have any questions?".

Checking For Understanding

When communicating with employees, it is always a good idea to check for understanding. Simply take a second and ask " recap for me what I have asked you to do." By doing this, you can clear up any missed communication that may have taken place.  This step is helpful for both parties as it allows them to communicate back to you that they heard and understood your direction. This is a critical step in delegation of tasks.

Communicating With Customers

Communicating to a customer also affects how the message is formulated and delivered. Messages conveyed to customers need to be totally accurate and delivered in a professional and friendly manner.

Purpose of the Communication

When we talk to someone, we usually have a purpose. The purpose of the communication differs depending on the situation and who we are addressing. A manager may communicate for any of the following reasons:

• To motivate employees.

• To teach, instruct, or explain a task.

• To counsel an employee.

• To seek information or assistance.

• To correct an employee’s behavior.

• To be persuasive.

• To socialize.

With each of these purposes, the communication changes in order to
accomplish our goal. 

One of my favorite leaders use to say, that you will have  become a master of communication when you are able to tell someone where to go and to have them looking forward to the trip!

The Origami Warrior

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Origami Warrior Wisdom - Management Skills

So you think you want to be a Manager?  Someone that is responsible to oversee others? You have been working very hard and going above and beyond the call of duty and now you have been offered an opportunity to climb the next rung on the corporate ladder.

 

When I first had the opportunity to move into a management position, I found myself  pondering some questions.  While I was excited to have even been considered for more responsibility, I found myself a little bit freightened of what all this would entail.

Be sure to check out  Leadership Series For Successful Living.

I asked myself, what skills are needed for me to be effective as a manager? What training is needed to prepare me to move into this management postition? Suddenly, I found myself overwhelmed with the idea of what all is involved.  So, I decided to seek the counsel of one much wiser than I.

 I decided to ask one of the best Managers that I had ever met.  He is respected, trusted and he exemplified the best of the best.  He is considered a modern day "Warrior in the Art of Management." He is known to his friends as "The Origami Warrior." So, I asked him if  if he would help me define the specific skills that are needed for me to become an exceptional Manager.

He did his best to assure me that management was nothing to fear, in fact once he explained it to me, it did indeed seem pretty simple. Simple in theory certainly not necessisarily in application.

He broke it down to the following list of skills: communication, planning, organization, motivation, leadership, delegation, follow-up, and training.  Wow, it did sound simple and I was really excited for now at least I knew what it was that I did not know! He told me that it would be an exciting journey.  I asked him how long would it take for me to master these skills?  His answer, a lifetime…

Be sure to check out  Leadership Series For Successful Living. 

He then asked me to rank each of these skills in order of importance and he went on to explain that all of them were important and the answer may vary from person to person on which one goes where based on your own style that you will develop over time.

I took the list and went home to complete the task at hand and now I ask each of you to do the same. Send me how "YOU" feel the list should be prioritized and a short reason why you feel the way you do.

Place these in order of importance.  Communication, Planning, Organization, Motivation, Leadership, Delegation, Follow-up and Training.

And, yes I will also post "The Origami Warrior’s" ranking listed in order of importance with the reason why.

I look forward to your response.

Be sure to check out Leadership Series For Successful Living.

The Origami Warrior

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