Now that I have worked with over 6,000 clients across the globe in helping them with their careers the overriding reasons why clients come to me for help are:
Communication, and
Relationships
in that order. What do I mean by this? Most clients do not realize that just doing great work in their role is merely table stakes. Many, especially immigrants, believe that their work speaks for itself. They fail to realize that what makes that work more valuable to them, to the workgroup, and to their company is how they manage communicating what they do in their role using the right medium and how they manage their relationships with others in their workgroup and up and down the chain of command. Even for good relationships strong communication skills are the sine qua non on which such relationship can be built, nurtured, and expanded.
Working with clients throughout my coaching career I have come across many situations where my clients were truly outstanding in their work performance, but because of their inabilityand sometimes indifferenceto communicate what they do (or did) and their inability to manage relationships with their peers, superiors, and others they often did disservice to how that work translated in their career progression. In existential terms it translates into lower salaries, passing over for promotions (read my blog of Oct. 15), and lowering your stature in the organization where trumpery reigns. In many cases the good work my clients did got sidetracked or hijacked by someone else, who then takes credit for it because of their superior communication, political, and relationship-management skills.
I am not suggesting that you build your communication and relationship-building skills to do such things for yourself to advance your career, but I am suggesting that without strong communication and good relationship-management skills others will always sidetrack your stellar work because they surpass you in such key skills, which are often valued more that stellar work performance, despite their own mediocre work performance.
One of the most dramatic examples of how lack of good communication (and presentation) skills can defeat you in an important meeting is evidenced by someone when they take your original idea that you presented in that meeting, but where it failed to get any traction during the course of your air-time because of your lack of strong communication and presentation skills (confidence and conviction). Then someone with good insight and strong communication skills hijacks that idea, re-articulates it in a much more impressive package a little later in that very meeting, and everyone rallies around that idea, even attaching their own name to the idea you originally proposed. You walk away feeling defeated, shaking your head, when the executive chairing the meeting asks you to help that person operationalize their idea.
So, what are some of the ways you can master strong communication skills and overcome these typical obstacles to your career growth? Here is my list:
IWords and their usage
These resources send you a daily email with a new word, its usage, and etymology, etc.
1.Merriam-Webster Dictionaries: www.merriam-webster.com will email you a word every day for free. It also offers a paid on-line dictionary for an annual fee.
2.Wordsmith is run by Anu Garg and is also a free email service that sends new words every day. This is a great resource for a variety of reasons. www.wordsmith.org
3.Oxford University Press: Oxford Dictionaries Online provides free email service with daily words and their usage. Contact wordoftheday.odo_us@OUP.COM It also offers subscription services
4.There are many online dictionaries available for free. Just Google your interest, (e.g., Dictionary of Urban Slang) and find what you are looking for.
IIEnglish Writing
1.The best resource for improving your writing skills is provided by the Purdue University through its Online Writing Lab (OWL). https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ This rich resource offers a variety of avenues for you to improve your verbal skills through online exercises that allow you to visit different areas of your need: Grammar, Composition, Word usage, Pitfalls, etc.
2.Other resources can be found through Google and other searches.
3.If you want to improve your written English make a habit of writing something every day.
4.Writing That Works, 3E: How to Communicate Effectively in Business (Roman & Raphaelson)
IIISpeech
1.Several YouTube resources are available to improve your speaking abilities in both the US and British English. Rachels English is a channel that has many exercises and content (US)
2.Anglolink (By Minu) this is a UK-based version of English
3.There are many other providers of this content on YouTube.
4.There are also many excellent TED talks on communication, presentations, and body language. Watch them again and again and practice some of the tips offered in those talks.
IVPublic Speaking/Leadership Communication
The best resource for improve your public speaking skills is the Toastmasters International. There are local chapters in every city, organization, and company. So, find a local chapter and sign-up. https://www.toastmasters.org/ Although not entirely free it is almost free.
Please check out these and other resources to improve your communication. Make it a habit to learn how to make your communication and presentation better every day. It is well worth the time and energy you spend doing it.
Good luck!
| About Author | |
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Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader. |
Website: http://dilipsaraf.com/?p=2837
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