Influencing and Communication


By Duncan Gotobed


If you have an interest in moving up in the company, having your projects approved, or simply enjoying a more pleasant working environment, consider taking a few minutes to learn how communication techniques, such as projecting an air of friendliness at work, can work to your advantage. The simple fact is that people like others who they perceive to be like them. This translates into an ability to persuade others. You may not always be able to have others buy into your ideas completely, but when you communicate well, you can certainly have an influence on others' willingness to listen to you in the first place.

While some industries tend to attract a certain type of person, most workplaces are comprised of many personalities from a variety of backgrounds. This means that developing friendly communications in the workplace may not come naturally, but it's worth your effort to learn how to exude an air of approachability. If you are viewed as one of the friendly ones who communicates well with everyone (not a select few), others will naturally attribute certain traits to you.

How you communicate friendliness can occur in a variety of ways, from ensuring that you're well groomed to remembering names and helping others feel valued. Remember that much of our communication takes place non-verbally. Making the most of your appearance, for example, can go a long way toward improving others' perception of you. Studies show that attractive people are thought of as having more intelligence, friendliness, and are considered more trustworthy. This is important, as trust is a big issue when it comes to asking others to support you in a new endeavor. When you combine simple methods of helping others feel important, they will trust you further. After all, people are the most comfortable with, and trust, those with whom they have something in common.

You can increase your perceptions as being friendly by making others feel important. This includes talking with everyone, no matter what their position in the company, and using people's names. If you're not good at remembering names, use some of the many tips available for remembering names, such as using associations or simply listening better and repeating the name during that first conversation so that you're more likely to remember. When possible, help others reach their goals and meet important deadlines. This, too, goes a long way toward earning trust, and everyone benefits. When the company does well, everyone does well. Additionally, when you help others, they will help you in return.

Use simple communication techniques to help others feel more at ease. One such technique is the mirroring method, in which you subtly imitate the other person's body language, voice, and pitch. This technique works because it gives a very subtle impression that you and the other person are alike. It should not be anything overtly obvious; think subtle. If you're not sure how well you're doing, practice with a friend or trusted co-worker first.

When giving important presentations or when facing an important meeting, consider videotaping yourself to see how you come across. You may have some nervous habits that you aren't aware of, which can make you appear insecure. Additionally, you may use body language that comes across as shy or aggressive, when that is not your intention at all. Most of our communication is through non-verbal cues, so being aware of these communication distracters is important to conveying the desired message.

If you are the shy type, or not confident in your communication skills, keep practicing. Consider taking a workshop or working with a coach to develop your skills. Many business transactions are dependent on clear communication, and coming across as a friendly, trustworthy individual can go a long way toward your success and ability to influence others positive, mutually beneficial ways.

Top Briefings provides an easy way to access business know-how on the web. If you are short of time, want to be able to browse information at your convenience then visit this link for details: www.topbriefings.com


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Management Information:

Related Articles

Motivating For Higher Performance
Employee motivation is probably the most important single manageable factor for success and profitability of all the facets of specialty store retailing. It is too vital to be handled on a hit or miss basis, depending on the whim or spirit that stirs the store owner or manager from time to time.
Plans & Goal Setting - Kicking winning Goals
Kicking Winning Business Goals The competition for business is hotting up. The advances in new technology, ease of communication, and increasing expectations from customers have combined to make the marketplace more competitive than ever.
Must Project Managers Be Technically Savvy?
"Must Project Managers be technically savvy?" This topic always seems to cause quite a stir. While some believe that all you need to manage a project is a PMP certification, others are convinced that you can't successfully manage a software development project unless you truly understand the intricacies of the product.
Show Me the Money!
Are you ready to raise money for your startup?Leslie Mitts, Managing Practice Leader at the Wharton SBDC and Lead Advisor for the Wharton Venture Initiation Program, tells us that most entrepreneurs coming through her programs are focused on raising capital, even though there are higher priorities in many of their businesses. Since fresh dollars help drive the business engine, this is a natural entrepreneurial concern.
The Business Shaman: Exploring the Mystery of Success!
Note: This article was written for a internet business site. It is a promo for my work with the business world.
Looking through the Glass Ceiling - Women in Management
Women have made tremendous contributions to society at every level; consider Joan of Arc, Golda Meier, Indira Gandi, Condalezza Rice.In writing this article my attention is to open the eyes of small business and no way patronise female mangement or give offence.
10 Ways New Managers Become Great Leaders
"It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead and find no one there." - Franklin D.
Creativity and Innovation Management: The Value Of Due Diligence
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation. There are other useful definitions, for example, creativity can be measured according to the number of ideas produced, the diversity of those ideas and the novelty of those ideas.
Firing Someone Without Resentment
Firing, sacking, letting go or terminating people is unpleasant. There are ways to minimise resentment, but why bother? Because most legal action and unpleasantness stems from dissatisfaction/resentment about the way things were handled - about how rather than what happened.
Phone Sex is Bad for Business
On August 3rd/2005, Reuters reported that a German man had colluded with a phone sex operator to defraud his employer's company out of approximately 16,000 Euro or almost 20,000 US dollars, by making 160 phone calls over a year and a half from work. He apparently split the profits 50/50 with the phone sex operator.
Managing the Human Resource Project
We obtain strategic results by aligning HR mission, vision and values. The following overview highlights a macro approach to project management.
Innovation Management: The Hype Cycle
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Innovation Management - Innovation or Profit?
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.
Performance Evaluations Can Be Beneficial
THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING: It's a fact - most supervisors and employees have negative feelings toward performance appraisals and appraisal interviews. It's often necessary to shift people's thinking from the perception that the interview is a time of judgment to the perspective that supervisors can provide support and direction to employees who want to improve their productivity and be involved in the process.
Never Wrestle with a PIG
The business books at the library and bookstores fill many shelves. Some authors tendto run a little long at the keyboard.
Telephone Techniques: Boost Your Productivity With Effective Phoning
One of the things that most impacts people's productivity is not being able to focus on completing one task at a time - we are so overloaded with tasks and interruptions that it requires great discipline to avoid spending the entire day responding to other people's agendas. Telephone calls, both making and receiving them, are one of the greatest disruptions to the flow of the day and to our ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
Stomp Out Leeches In Your Company
Recently, I felt appalled to see a political candidate running on the motto of "Demand More!" That motto oozes extreme nerve, and implies some people think it is o.k.
Why Soft Skills?
The industrial age is over. Organizations still stuck in the industrial age business models are going out of business very fast.
Delegate Tasks to the Right Person
SELECTING THE RIGHT PERSON: To whom should tasks be delegated? Selecting the right subordinate to do the work is an evaluative process, and managers must be able to identify individuals both capable and willing to handle responsibility.DETERMINING EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITY: A careful review should be made of past assumptions about personnel.
Successful Managing Through Delegation
Managers should avoid the tendency to constantly delegate to the same one or two capable individuals. This practice only overloads the best personnel while slighting all others.