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Google AdWords and AdSense - A Dynamic Small Business Marketing Duo
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last year or so, you probably know that Google has become the king of the search engine hill. There are many reasons for this but number one in my opinion is that above all else they put value on...
Innovation Management – the power of decision makers
One of the most important aspects of creativity and innovation is access to decision makers. One of the fastest killers of creativity and innovation is the inability of innovators to get products off the ground – and when people see that their...
Making Profitable Lemonade From Lemons!
This October 31 turned cold, wet and dreary across Chicago and its suburbs. A rotten night for Halloween. And it could have been a lousy night for this business traveler, cheered only by the prospect of conducting an interactive team session the...
Offshore Outsourcing - Tips To Survive
The cheap labor costs of Southeast Asia are like a siren call to
more and more US employers seeking to lower support costs and
improve profits. The increasingly common trend toward
outsourcing labor to countries such as India, Malaysia,...
Top Ten Skills of a Masterful Speaker
Aspiring and professional speakers, alike, are always interested in honing their speaking expertise. There is always room for improvement and innovation in everything we do. There are so many things that we do as speakers which become second nature...
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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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