Managerial skills

You would never fully relate the to the way that members of  another species communicate with each other. You may say that the sound that birds create is the verbal part and the flapping of the wings is the nonverbal part. Is this true?

We don’t really understand how they communicate. Their types of communication may be that of stomping their legs or raising their wings, or  turning around in an elaborate dance. It could be that their verbal communication relies on the times that they stomp their legs or by the pattern of the flapping of their wings. It could even be that their nonverbal communication might be the way they fly. Frankly, the types of communication of animals are something that has not yet been fully understood by science.

You must also keep in mind that any conclusions you come to are by default flawed. This is because all of your decisions about what things mean are filtered through your own experiences and beliefs. This is what Heisenberg described in his uncertainty principle. Just the mere act of observation will affect the outcome.

Learning the various types of communication available to you, enables you to enhance your communication skills, whether verbal or nonverbal.

For instance. It is important for a child to learn the way that his or her parents speak so that they can also communicate in return. It has often been said that babies understand some verbal communication before birth..

However, research shows that a child you don’t talk to, will, to a large extent lose the ability to learn to speak after they reach a certain age.

To expound further on the types of communication is to make a direct inquiry into the heart of every known language. Isn’t it that because of the existence of the types of communication, a French man marries an American woman? Even without words from the very beginning, he just looked her way, she looks his way, and it ended in tying the knot. No words were used here, just a look, and maybe a smile.

 Types of Communication also enable one to distinguish the differences between a simple meeting and the big meeting. It helps the person know when to make a “Morning!” and when to say “Good morning ma’am.” In this case there are only types of communication, the formal and informal. Formal communication is done in cases where a formal tone is needed and adherence to certain formal rules or principles in communication must follow. These are seen in business meetings, business correspondence, memos, official letters, government related documents, and so on. Informal communication on the other hand can be used in communicating with friends, families, peers, etc. It has a nonstandard format.

All types of communication present in this world are unique and it makes everyone special and different from one another. It creates harmony, and enables the expression of thoughts and emotions so together we can all fully understand what it is to be human.

If we don’t achieve a better level of understanding through better communication then we risk either a complete environmental collapse. The other risk is the continuation or the endless cycle of wars and killing to justify our position regardless of the feelings, thoughts or values of the other inhabitants of the little blue planet.

Skill in oral communication is a key element of good customer service. More than 76 million workers (in the USA) are in the service sector and companies that provide excellent service tend to stay far ahead of their competitors. To provide good service, all employees (not just designated sales and marketing employees) must learn how to talk and listen to customers, handle complaints and solve their problems. 

    2.2. Written communication skills 

     Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind through the eye, is the great invention of the world ... enabling us to converse with the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and space.

— Abe Lincoln, from a lecture before the Springfield Library Association, 22 February 1860.

There is as much difference between the right word and the almost-right word as between lightning and the lightning bug.

— Mark Twain

Rudyard Kipling, from "The Elephant's Child" in Just So Stories

I keep six honest serving-men 
(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Part3.  Decision making skills

  How To Enhance The Decision Making Skills

Clear up those unclear decisions

These articles on decision making skills will enhance your ability to view any unclear decisions in a different light. Some of these tips you may know, some you may not. Some are even contrary to popular opinion. At least when you come to implement a decision, having read these tips for decision making, you can say that you are well informed!

  Commit!

When you make a decision, you can do one of two things. You can spend a lot of time, effort and energy considering what it would have been like if you had made a different decision and searching the internet for more tips on decision making processes. Or you can spend that time, effort and energy on making your decision work. You get to decide. (Sorry, couldn't resist it!)

  Do the right thing

Many people want to do the thing right. In fact, it is one of the major reasons for delaying decisions. They want to get it right. Peter Drucker, the management guru, insists that it is much more important to do the right thing. Most people really do know what the right thing is. But because it's difficult, disagreeable or uncomfortable, they choose not to make that decision. They choose something different. The consequence is misery. Only the amount and duration varies.

  The best

Here's another great barrier in decision making to help you delay some more: The desire to make the best decision. In truth, there really is no way to know which is the best decision. Every decision will have consequences, so what people end up doing is comparing the consequences. This is all well and good, but it makes for an unclear decision. It doesn't actually get anything done.

It's much more useful to consider whether a particular decision will be effective or not, within the frame you choose. People in critical situations quickly learn this decision making skill. Gary Klein has studied firefighters and medical personnel, people who make decisions in life or death situations. They just don't have time to weigh up the pros and cons. They are asking themselves about the effectiveness of a particular option. If they think it'll work, they go for it.

If at any point along the line they realize it is not working, they choose a different route that they think will work. Then they do that. They will cycle one option at a time, until they find one that works. They improve their decision making skills with experience in their area of expertise, so their first option is not random. It is the one most likely to work. So it's much more useful to be effective and get the job done than to spend endless hours trying to determine the best decision.

  I need to be 100% sure

Again, this is a great one for delaying making that decision. And, of course, it's a myth that you can be 100% sure with people. Humans are complex, dynamic creatures. Life itself is messy and unpredictable. And the future, well, that's an unknown quantity. Period. Enough said.

  Give it lots of thought - not!

Most of the decision making models and processes available are organised around assessing and understanding the issues at hand. The idea is to build your decision making skills so that you are not engaged in decision making without critical thinking, but rather you reason and think your way to making good decisions. Occasionally, it is suggested that you actually use your intuition. But not , however, at the expense of logic and rationality.

To develop your decision making skills, this concept is one to pay attention to. There is an idea that we actually make our decisions emotionally, and then justify it with reasons and explanations, even excuses! An example would be making a decision to buy something that you cannot really afford, but somehow you find a reason that it would be useful to you.

"The stereo costs more than my budget, but it would look great in my room and the great sound would allow me to work more effectively".

Sound familiar? Some of the newer sales training programs use this as the basis for their sales models. Why? Because it works! They know they can make more money using this particular sales model.

  What if this is actually the way it works?

Wouldn't it make sense to know your own emotional signals that let you know how to make good decisions? Not only would you be able to make more effective decisions, but others would not have the power to manipulate you!

  Not making a decision

It is sometimes thought that by not making a decision, you cannot go wrong. The difficulty here, of course, is that not making a decision is often a very poor decision. And not making a decision may actually be a decision to not take action. A classic example is where all the evidence is that there's a career change needed, but nothing happens. Another example might be not making those decisions that are needed to keep yourself organized. Delayed decisions are a primary cause of disorganization. It's usually much more effective and useful to make a decision, act, assess as you go along, and change the decision later if indicated.

This is obviously easier if the other tips and decision making skills mentioned above are in place.  Decision making is a whole form process!