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Your Communication Resolutions
By Dr. Carol Fleming

I have learned that it pays to keep good communication lines open with everybody. Yes, everybody. Let me tell you how I learned this.

There was a fellow at my church that I just couldn’t stand. Call him Gary. Everything about Gary rubbed me the wrong way and I didn’t even want to be in the same room he was in. Think of all the traits that drive you nuts and he had them.

Then there was the time I went to a movie and dinner after church and when I got back to retrieve my car from the church garage, it was already locked up, not to re-open till 9a.m. the following morning. I had to deliver a seminar in another town early in the morning so I absolutely needed to get my car. After a number of phone calls, I was able to identify the person with the key that would open the garage for me. Guess who?

It is likely that you too will need your garage opened – or some such thing – and you will be glad indeed that you have many working and civil lines of communication open to you. Here are two communication resolutions that may keep you in the know and out of trouble.

Be willing to talk to everybody: You never know where the important tidbit may come from. Do you routinely greet or chat with your security guard and cleaning lady as well as your peers and superiors? Forget about hierarchy and rank, every human being deserves, appreciates, (and remembers) recognition and courtesy.

Be safe to talk to: Curb your displays of outright anger. Anger is deeply upsetting to people and they will do what they can to avoid you. They may even enjoy keeping you in the dark as a passive way to get back at you.
If you do “blow it”, try to clean it up as soon as possible; the reverberations of your anger have a long half-life, so to speak, and can last long after your memory of the event.

If you are told something in confidence, keep it that way. Protect your reputation for discretion. How much would you trust someone who has shared your secrets?

So resolve to keep the communication lines open with everyone in your workplace (and school, home and church!). You'll see that good communication skills open all kinds of doors -- not just garage doors.

Contact us today to discuss how our workshops, coaching and training products can improve your Personal Professionalism and Communication Impact.

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