Impromptu speaking in business settings can be the most important and influential verbal communication you will ever undertake. This applies in face-to-face and virtual discussions; and internally as well as externally. However, I have seen people botch this too often. It is all-too-easy to fall into the trap of thinking the agenda doesn’t involve you directly, but the talk may swing your way. Not making a worthwhile contribution, even with informal remarks, can cause executive management or clients to doubt your effectiveness, which may obstruct your career progress.
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Employee safety needs to be taken seriously, whether your organization employs a handful of people, or dozens, or even hundreds. “No business strategy can be effective if it doesn’t embed employee health, safety, and well-being into its DNA. You’ve made a foundational promise to your workers to take care of them,” we are reminded. Let us also remember that good internal communication plays a key role in creating a safer workplace.
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CEOs must lead the way with employee engagement. Your CEO and senior managers are key to employee satisfaction and engagement. In turn, these are key better organizational performance. These times of uncertainty caused by the global impact of COVID-19 and its variants make employee satisfaction and engagement even more vital. Read more about it here.
Read moreOne important factor to consider in your corporate culture is the range of unwritten or unspoken aspects of the culture – your organization’s ‘unwritten ground rules.’ These are the behaviors and routines followed by many employees which may or may not line up with their employer's business 'values.' Unwritten ground rules (UGRs) explain why many corporate vision, mission and values statements, policies and procedures don’t necessarily produce the desired result. Actions speak louder than ...
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Major studies around the world have consistently found that good internal communication leads to stronger employee engagement and therefore better organizational performance. Read the secrets in this longform article on how good internal communication creates impressive results.
Read moreAs communicators we all know how important top leaders are for delivering key strategic messages to employees. However, middle managers are just as important for achieving results through strategic communication with their direct reports. For instance, in my most recent corporate job (which wasn’t specifically PR), the head honcho made various pronouncements, but local managers were never effectively briefed or equipped to carry those messages through to their staff. Thus those messages never properly ...
Read moreMany PR managers find it difficult to understand management issues beyond the level of communication concerns. However, to be fully accepted by top management, you need to think like a manager, understand management issues from management’s perspective, talk like a manager (not use PR jargon) and to figuratively put yourself in the shoes of operational managers in looking at their problems. Above all, you are proactive and assertive, prepared to insist that PR should ...
Read morePositive psychology experts are finding that the frequency of small, positive acts is crucial in business and personal relationships. Psychologist John Gottman, author of several books on relationships, pioneered research on marriage, which suggested there is a ‘magic ratio’ of 5 to 1 in the effectiveness of positive and negative interactions. Prof. Gottman (photo at right) found that marriages are more likely to succeed when the couple’s interactions are near a 5 to 1 ...
Read moreHybrid work looks like continuing to evolve as the way of the future. The concept of a hybrid workplace is
Many organizations have had quite a shake-up due to the pandemic. As a result, some may have had to go
PR is an exhausting field to work in, creatively speaking. As a communication professional, you’re caught between the dry,
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