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Creativity, Innovation – Competition versus Collaboration
There is much confusion as to whether competition or collaboration is most beneficial to creativity and innovation. Though there are negatives to collaboration and it is not easy separating the effects of time pressure and group activity, in...
Entrepreneurship: What does it REALLY mean?
Introduction:
In a world where ideas drive economies, it is no wonder that innovation and entrepreneurship are often seen as inseparable bedfellows. The governments around the world are starting to realize that in order to sustain progress...
Save Money On Products You Buy Every Day
Shopping with online coupons can help you save money on things
you use every day. Online coupons sites offers hundreds of
coupons that can help you save on items such as vitamins, auto
parts and children's clothing. Best of all, there's no...
The Practice of Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is not about technology. It is about culture. To put it into the right perspective,the practice of knowledge management will drive the organisation to develop a strong culture of competency and innovation. Such enterprise-wide...
Working as a "Knowledge Worker" in the Information Age
The old adages: "It's not what you know, but who you know" and "High Tech, High Touch" could be the mottos of knowledge workers in the 21st Century.
Never before in the history of the world has both networking and interpersonal communication...
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The Importance of Effective Communication
No matter how brilliant and invaluable your idea, it is
worthless unless you can share it with others. For this reason,
effective communication is crucial at every level of an
organization. However, the ability to communicate effectively
does not come easily to many people, and it is a skill that
requires practice.
We begin practicing our communication skills even before we
learn to walk. A newborn child communicates by crying, but it
slowly learns to mimic its parents' speech. Eventually, the
child discovers that certain speech patterns elicit different
responses; one of the joys of parenting is trying to decipher
the meaning behind certain "words." Does "baaaaaw" mean that the
baby wants his ball, his bottle, or his blanket? Slowly, through
trial and error, the child learns to manipulate sounds to get
what it wants, and as the child develops, this active oral
practice leads to more nuanced and fluid conversations. In
short, the child learns effective communication.
To effectively communicate a complex idea, however, requires
skills beyond elementary conversation. There are two golden
rules to remember and follow.
Golden Rule #1: Organize thoughts in your mind before sharing
them with others.
One idea often prompts a torrent of others. In order to share
your ideas, you must first shape them coherently. Organization
is important, because it creates a pattern for your listener,
allowing him or her to grasp the larger picture intuitively.
This allows the listener to focus on the details of your
message, without struggling to understand how you went from
Point A to Point B.
As a thought experiment, imagine that a colleague has asked you
for directions to the airport. Write them down. Your directions
will probably look something like:
* Drive west half a mile on Aurora. * Take a left on Madison. *
At the third light, turn right and follow Dexter for 2-3 miles.
* Get on the interstate, heading south. * Etc.
Now, with
a pair of scissors, cut each line of instructions into
a small strip of paper. Jumble the strips up and arrange them in
a completely random order, then give them to your colleague.
Even with mixed-up directions, s/he should have no trouble
reaching the airport, right? After all, your directions are
complete and accurate. Not a single step is missing.
The problem, of course, is that your directions are also
completely unorganized, rendering them useless. Your colleague
will find it impossible to focus on your message itself, because
he or she will struggle to follow your message's structure (or
lack thereof).
Golden Rule #2: Communication is collaborative, not
competitive.
Thrusting your idea on others mars the beauty and integrity of
conversation. Communication is in some ways like a dance; each
partner plays off the other, basing his or her steps on the
other person's, while simultaneously maintaining a certain
amount of individuality.
Communication is a two-way process involving an exchange of
ideas. If you try to make it one-way, you prevent this exchange
and will eventually frustrate the other person. You may also
frustrate yourself, if you read the other person's lack of
verbosity as disinterest in the conversation, rather than an
inability to get a word in.
The hallmark of effective communication is the coherent verbal
projection of your ideas, so that your listener receives the
message that you intend to send. By observing these two rules,
you will reduce miscommunication and misunderstandings.
About the author:
Barbara
Stennes, CSP, is president of Resources Unlimited. She
is an expert on team building, customer service, and innovation.
To learn how Barbara can help your organization, please visit
Resources
Unlimited or de Bono Online.
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| DTI - Welcome to the DTI's Innovation Home Page |
| The DTI is working to stimulate a significant increase in innovation throughout ... It covers Living Innovation, web streaming of a series of high profile ... |
| www.dti.gov.uk |
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| Innovation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| An innovation in this light occurs whether or not the act of innovating ... A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| National Innovation Website |
| The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources has developed this website to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of innovation and ... |
| www.innovation.gov.au |
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| Innovation, creativity and brainstorming resources from ... |
| A comprehensive site designed to provide busy entrepreneurs with a focused collection of the best resources on innovation, creativity, and brainstorming. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| Innovation Weblog - Trends, resources, viewpoints from Chuck Frey ... |
| The Innovation Weblog - Valuable trends, resources and viewpoints in innovation, creativity and brainstorming from Chuck Frey at InnovationTools. |
| www.innovationtools.com |
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| CORDIS: Innovation Portal: Home |
| This Innovation Portal is supported by DG ENTR of the European Commission, ... European Commission adopts new Communication on Innovation: on 13 September ... |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| CORDIS: Promotion of Innovation: Home |
| This programme stands at the cross-roads of the Community's policies on Research, Innovation and SMEs. |
| cordis.europa.eu |
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| Innovation Network... leveraging innovation, creativity and ... |
| The Innovation Network is an association of companies and employees committed to innovation. The site features some interesting articles as well as some fun ... |
| www.thinksmart.com |
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| Business Innovation : Car Reviews, Online Gaming, and Product Branding |
| If your in need of great Online Gaming material, we carry up to the minute news and reviews for all of your favorite games and gaming systems. |
| www.businessweek.com |
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| Innovation - Life, Inspired | PBS |
| Learn about fascinating innovations, explore interactive features, submit questions to our experts, investigate resources and lesson plans, and more. |
| www.pbs.org |
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| Innovation.org - Welcome |
| Impact of Innovation Saving & Improving Lives Controlling Healthcare Costs Strengthening ... Future of Innovation New Medicines in Development Next Wave of ... |
| www.innovation.org |
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| Innovation: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with innovation on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
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| Innovation Relay Centres - The World Largest Network for ... |
| Innovation Relay Centres giving advice on Innovation, Technology Transfer and Exploitation. Major European source for innovative technologies or new ... |
| irc.cordis.lu |
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| The Tech Museum of Innovation | Welcome |
| The Tech Museum of Innovation - Welcome! The Tech Museum inspires and educates the innovators of the future. |
| www.thetech.org |
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| Pages tagged with "innovation" on del.icio.us |
| CoDev 2007 - Co-Development for Business Growth: Open Innovation and Alternatives ... PDMA & IIR's 5th Annual Front End of Innovation ... |
| del.icio.us |
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| innovation |
| Publication highlighting the research activities of NUS. The site provides snippets of selected articles online, and provides a subscription form online. |
| www.innovationmagazine.com |
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| Canadian Innovation Centre |
| Services includes invention evaluation, technology due diligence, market research, and education programs. |
| www.innovationcentre.ca |
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| London INNOVATION :: Home |
| Maximise your business potential through innovation. Learn the secrets of successful business innovation in London. |
| www.london-innovation.org.uk |
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| Eric Von Hippel's Homepage |
| Downloadable Books. Democratizing Innovation (2005) ... The Sources of Innovation (1988). Free download of the complete book. Permission granted by Oxford ... |
| web.mit.edu |
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| Intel Innovation in Education |
| www.intel.com/education/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages |
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