CREATING AND MANAGING EFFECTIVE TEAMS: We know how to talk to our Team, but do we know how to communicate with them?

Creating and Managing Effective Teams

with Dave Muraco

Often times we say we know how to communicate, with our co-workers and team members. The truth is we know how to talk a lot, not really how to communicate. There are many different ideas, and the research done on this topic shows information that is truly shocking when you look at the numbers.

• 55% of impact is determined by body language—postures, gestures, and eye contact.

• 38% by the tone of our voice.

• 7% is the spoken word.

This breakdown can bring new light to the way we communicate on so many levels with our teams. Whether we are the CEO, a department head or manager, communicating effectively will either lead or destroy the team. How many times have you felt misunderstood and could not figure out why. Maybe the reason is that when you said whatever it is you said, you were portraying some type of body language that made the other person you were talking to think something totally different. Or you are trying to talk with someone when on the phone with someone else. The list goes on and on, and until you stop and take a good hard long look at this issue, you will be talking and never communicating. In order for you to work more on communication you need to apply these few simple steps:

1. Listen – you can never truly communicate with someone if you do not hear them talking to you.

2. Process - take time to reflect on the information before answering the questions

3. Discuss - make sure your co-workers and teammates have the opportunity to be able to talk to you about anything.

4. Follow through – is everything, when you deliver on your promises you are saying you are someone of integrity and character and that goes along way in Team Building.

5. Come from the heart – when it is your time to communicate back to someone nothing is more powerful than speaking from your heart. It allows you the opportunity to build trust and show them you really mean business.

Bottom line to all of this is quite interesting: People don't care how much you know, they want to know how much you care. Communication is the key element that allows you to build that winning team.

Remember be positive, be real and live your life In The Zone.

For more information, please visit Dave's TNNW Bio.





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CREATING AND MANAGING EFFECTIVE TEAMS: We know how to talk to our Team, but do we know how to communicate with them?

KARL SMITH: Have you done an annual audit of your network before you take off in 2010?

by Karl Smith

Whatever you do today you need relationships with others to help you find work or customers now and in the future or resources, information and support. Who is currently in your network? How recently have you contacted them? Have you reflected on their roles in your life? Early this year, I met Johann Oostenhuizen during the celebrations for International Networking Week. Johann is a business developer and we took time out to understand each others personal and business objectives. We had five meetings, telephone contact and we continue to have wonderful email interaction. We had two brainstorming sessions simply aimed at sharing contacts to open doors and we proactively promote each other. I introduced him to a number of my “centers of influence” and he has put me in touch with people in his network. During the latter part of this year, I included Johann in a roundtable discussion aimed at bringing people – who have something in common – in my network together.

Then there was Ann (not her real name) who was referred to me by one of my clients because she is a part of his network. Ann had just started her business and my client felt that Ann may benefit from my contacts and expertise. Ann has cancelled our initial appointment and our second appointment but she calls me as and when she needs clarification on legislation in which I have expertise. This relationship is a one way relationship and it does not meet the requirements for my definition of networking i.e. “to establish relationships of mutual benefit, based on honesty, trust and sincerity”. As you can see, networking is more than doing lunch, attending association meetings and making a lot of phone calls. Ann drains me, she uses me, she uses my valuable time and she uses my knowledge. What a price to pay!

Then there is one of my key service providers. Pete (not his real name) has promised that he can help me. When we started our relationship – by the way I have educated him on my business philosophy, namely building mutually beneficial relationships – I informed him about my expectations and he confirmed that he can deliver the job. He then delegated the responsibility to staff who did not understand my needs and expectations. I invested hours at his office to educate the staff. Pete issues his bill immediately after they eventually delivered the service and expects immediate payment. Pete has a high staff turnover and I continue to drive to his offices to educate new appointees about my needs and how their service fits into my business growth strategy. Is this a valuable contact? You can be the judge. I regard key service providers such as attorneys, web developers, financial advisors, accountants etc as a vital part of your network! Why because they are instrumental to your business success through the service they provide and the referrals they can direct your way and vice versa.

So what is my point? Take an audit of your current network. Why? Because they are either kind of people who will help you to achieve your goals in one way or another, or they just want something from you or they remain “neutral”. Let me conclude this article with a few questions – I like to ask questions in my presentations and articles because I want my audiences to reflect…I want them to grow…I want them to change because if you do the same things the same way, then you will get the same results – Who do you know really well and get along with? Who do you know less well, but would like to know better? Who have you lost touch with? Who should you know, but don't yet? Who would you love to meet? Who do you want to have less to do with in the future? What does this suggest you might want to do about the people in your network? Think of some ways in which you could benefit some of them - for example, by introducing them to each other for their mutual benefit. Finally, be willing to approach your network for introductions, information, support etc yourself when you need it. If you have been sincere and generous in how you have built and maintained these connections, people will be eager to repay you if they can. Your relationships are important both in your personal life and your work life.


Karl Smith, the founder of Business Networking South Africa, is a powerful self-improvement speaker, entrepreneur, coach and author of “Beyond The Business Handshake: Dare To Build High-Trust Business Relationship”. Visit www.businessnetworkingsouthafrica.co.za to see Karl in action, see what Karl’s clients says, book Karl to speak or to do in-company training, attend a public event, subscribe to his newsletter or to use the free networking resources. Karl acknowledges the expert opinion of other commentators in drafting this article.

For more information, please visit Karl's TNNW Bio.





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KARL SMITH: Have you done an annual audit of your network before you take off in 2010?

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Information Overload Controversy and Antidote

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

A few months ago I posted an article about eliminating clutter in the presentation of your material. This article received many responses discussing the nature of what is too much, or if there are any exceptions.

On a similar vein, I recently saw a news segment about a new form of branding and advertising: companies turn your personal car into a driving advertisement. Those for the idea argue that this is an effective way to increase your brand awareness and inspire word of mouth advertising, especially since the driver of said car is matched to a company that they commend. On the other side of the argument, people claim that this type of advertising is too close to home, too intrusive, and being so, gives the brand a negative connotation.

So is branding every car on your block going to lead to too much clutter and be ineffective, or is it a great marketing and branding idea? Obviously, this kind of advertising can lead to an overload very quickly and backfire as some people point out. But this is not the core issue to consider.

Even on the roads today, as we are surrounded by too many advertisements, we ignore many of the ads, but we notice specific ones. What is it that makes us notice one over the other? If it is all just clutter, one would think we would filter it all out, but that is not the case. Something about an individual ad can make it jump out through the clutter. What is it?

I maintain that the necessary ingredient for being noticed is and has always been the design of the marketing material itself, with note of its intended format. As I’ve written about before, humans are hard-wired to resonate with certain principles of presentation, and capturing these will make the difference. Whether TV ads, print media, or cars on the freeway, getting your message in front of eyeballs is not enough. It’s the creative content that makes it through to your target audiences’ consciousness. It’s not the format that is the question here, it’s how the material is designed to match the format and human psychology, and a properly designed ad can always be effective, even in the middle of an advertising traffic jam.

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.





Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free For Your TNNW Newsletter and THE BLUE MONDAY REPORT! - Click HERE.
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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Information Overload Controversy and Antidote