RAISE THE BAR AND LEAP OVER IT
“People struggle!”
Stephanie Kneller, former (Gen Y) co-worker, summing up all of humanity
Business communication skills shouldn’t be a struggle — find out how Maestro Consulting Group can help your workplace achieve and maintain top performance.
Gen Ys are not poor communicators appeared this month on ZDNet Asia. Thought you’d like to see what I and other practitioners had to say.
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Your thoughts? Please share your comments below!
Business communication skills top employers’ list of what they value most in campus hires — and what they find most lacking. As a manager, you have the opportunity to model business communication skills, starting with your interns. Here are 5 tips:
1. Be forthright about what the work entails. A financial adviser I know says his firm attracts interns with one set of messages — lots of golf outings and that sort of thing. Then once they’re hired the tables turn, and new hires see their role for what it is: endless hours and lots of pressure.
2. Challenge your interns. Set the bar high, and chances are they’ll leap over it. But of course interns also need support. A weekly meeting allows for mentoring to take place while making sure projects stay on track.
3. Once in a while, pitch in. Stuff envelopes with them. Talk with them. Take an interest in their lives. Gen Y is big on a sense of community. While you don’t owe it to them to create that, you might find the investment worthwhile.
4. Treat them like a member of the team. Do your interns attend staff meetings? Do they get to see how decisions are made? How you interact with clients? The more exposure you can give them (without necessarily giving them free rein), the more your interns are likely to contribute.
5. If you can’t hire them, at least treat them with respect. I know a student who poured countless nights and weekends into the (unpaid) internship of his dreams. When a full-time sales position opened up, he spent a day shadowing the boss as part of the interview. Weeks later, he still hadn’t heard a word. Finally, after following up with HR, he received a (mealy-mouthed) rejection via email.
Better approach: Give credit where credit is due. Offer to write a letter of recommendation and/or serve as an enthusiastic phone reference.
Your Thoughts?
Do you manage interns as part of your job? Are you an intern yourself, or a former intern? Please share your thoughts and success strategies in the comments box below!
The other morning, during a long dental appointment that rendered my mouth immobilized (i.e., propped open as wide as Montana), I realized I was soon going to need to make a restroom stop. What’s a girl to do?
After thinking for a moment, I took my iPod touch, held it up to eye level, and used the Notes feature to tap out “Bathroom? Not urgent (yet).” Then I showed it to the assistant. “Perfect timing!” she said. And within a minute, I was happily making my way down the hall, sans mouth props. Problem solved. Thank you, Steve Jobs!
Tell us about a time when you had to communicate creatively. What was the challenge, how did you solve it, and what was the result?
Most of us, when asked to volunteer for a good cause, do our best to say yes. But the question we must ask ourselves is not “Is this a good cause?” but “Is this the best use of my time?” If it isn’t, then it’s a relative waste of time.
So how do you say no and be okay with it? One solution is to smile and say, “I need to let that opportunity go to someone else.” The reality is, for someone else, it is an opportunity.
Now it’s your turn. How do you decide which commitments to accept, and which ones to decline? What are the pluses and minuses of your approach?
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