Tag: Effective Communication

How To Use Out of Office To Keep #CustomerRelationships Healthy

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I hope you get to enjoy your well-deserved rest and relaxation this summer. Remember though that our out-of-office messages can help build good relationships with service users and make our life simpler.

Here are 3 lessons I’ve learnt over time, that have helped keep contacts updated (the ideas expand on themes in the video above). It is important to:

  • Identify who will engage with incoming messages, so contacts can stay connected
  • Make sure that colleague has the capacity to manage incoming email
  • Say who will manage email, in the absence of the alternative contact

Making time to manage our contacts in this way should help simplify our life and keep our relationships healthy.

Feel free to Like, Share and Comment if this reminder is useful (and Subscribe to the YouTube channel for more ideas to simplify your life)!

How to #Communicate Effectively By Telling Vivid Stories

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People in discussion

Use vivid stories to connect to your audience Photo by Abel Tan Jun Yang from Pexels

It can be difficult to sum up the direction a life has taken without resorting to a list: when someone was born; where they went to school; which skills did they acquire; how they used those skills to make their living.

 

When I recently wrote and delivered a, well received, eulogy I took a different approach. Rather than a dull list I told vivid stories which brought an entire history to life. The audience received a rounded picture of the person they knew as a relative, friend, neighbour or ex-colleague.

 

Follow the link to YouTube if you would like to learn more about using stories to communicate the details of someone else’s life (or maybe your own). Remember to Like, Share and comment too if this post has helped you.

 

Goals 2014: Want To Know How Volunteering Helps You Improve Your Morale?

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Would you say your communication skills were above average?  Do your emails have clarity and purpose?  How about your clients, do they always engage with your messages, taking the necessary action as a result?

If you answered ‘Yes’ research suggests you probably accomplish a lot in your work, by getting your message across effectively.  I believe you will also gain if you spend some time as a volunteer, using those skills to benefit your community.

By offering your existing skills to a project you inevitably highlight your learning needs; this can lead you to acquire new abilities, gain confidence and benefit others in the process.  Your morale increases when your skills are being put to good use (OECD data suggests in the UK people spend 2 minutes daily in volunteer activity, compared to 6 minutes in Australia and 8 minutes in the US.  That’s just a snapshot of the positive energy being generated globally through volunteer effort).

Using Skills Well Benefits You & Your Community

Using Skills Well Benefits You & Your Community

In the short term by volunteering you will be affecting and improving the lives of a range of clients, prompting them to take action and make a difference in their own, plus others’ lives.  From my experience in England Community First (#commfirst on Twitter) projects and panels benefit from volunteers, like you, who can communicate effectively.

There are plenty of other voluntary projects you could offer your communication (or other) skills to, depending on your location.  Your local voluntary action co-ordinating organisation should be able to signpost you to a list of outfits in need.

So, when will you take the first step to put your skills to use for others’ benefit?  Doing this helps you find renewed purpose and confidence, which can feed back into your work and make you a more valuable member of staff.

Want to find out more about goals you can explore, relating to your work and life?  Then visit the Archive section here, or take a look on Facebook and Google+ too.