Archives for August 2015

4 Rules for Effective Communication

August 18, 2015 by 1 Comment
4 Rules for Effective Communication
I recently saw a posting for a Marketing Specialist position at Whole Foods. I clicked through to learn more and was left scratching my head because it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The listing described a job I had back in college – a stocker.
I give Whole Foods credit for wanting to give the lowly stocker a more respectable title. I understand. I was one. You can’t get lower on the grocery store totem pole.
Even though I was a stocker I knew my role was important. Being on 3rd shift, I ended up doing more than stocking shelves. I manned the cash registers, managed the store on weekends, and worked in every department. So, although I was a stocker, I did a lot more than that, but I wouldn’t say I was a marketing specialist.
Will this job posting help Whole Foods acquire the talent they are looking for? I doubt it. If I was looking for a job to stock shelves I wouldn’t read that job posting. I’d see Marketing Specialist and move on.
On the reverse side, I was a little ticked that Whole Foods wasted my time. It’ll make me think twice before I click through any of their other job postings.
How many potentially great candidates ignore Whole Foods because there is no way to tell a real job posting from one of their “distorted” postings?
I don’t want to pick on Whole Foods, there are other companies that don’t communicate well. From what I know about Whole Foods, I can tell their heart is in the right place.
The lesson here is simple – don’t over-complicate communication. So, how do you avoid your message being ignored?
Here are 4 rules for effective communication.
1) Keep things simple. Simple beats complicated every time. Simple is easy to remember and sticks with people. Avoid jargon. Communicate as if you are trying to explain it to a six year old.
2) Be direct. Don’t let anyone doubt what you mean. Don’t leave gray area. Avoid ambiguity. Get to the point.
3) Say what you mean. What message do you want to convey? Don’t dance around the subject – get it out. Don’t leave your communication open for interpretation.
4) Use the correct words. The right words can inspire, motivate, and educate. Words have power. Choose them wisely so your audience can take action.
In the Whole Foods example the listing could have been changed to read: “We need to hire someone to stock our shelves. It’s not glamorous, but we pay a good wage and we treat our employees well, better than most stockers at other grocery stores. In fact, to us you’re a marketing rock star because you will be responsible for making sure our customers have an awesome experience every time they walk through our doors.”
The next time you need to get your message across remember the 4 rules for effective communication. It will ensure you’re understood.
Have you seen examples of over-complicated messaging? What rules do you follow for effective communication?
Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,

9 Tips on How to Be One of the Best in the World

August 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
9 Tips on How to Be One of the Best in the World

Jean Reynolds tees off at the PHC Classic, July 31, 2015 in Milwaukee, WI.

This past weekend I spent two days at Brown Deer Golf Course watching 144 professional golfers on the Symetra Tour battle it out in the PHC Classic. The Symetra Tour is the step before advancing to the LPGA and the top 10 finishers on the Symtra Tour at the end of the year will earn their way onto the LPGA Tour.

These players are among the top 400 women golfers in the world. I was surprised at the low attendance. Although it was the inaugural tournament, I expected more people. After all, these are some of the best golfers in the world. Who doesn’t want to watch the best?
The crowd demographic leaned towards the older spectator. There should have been more young people there. Every high school and college golf coach in Southeastern Wisconsin should have had their teams out there to watch how professionals play the game. They missed a special treat.
Watching how these women approach golf was an education. There were lessons that I can apply on the golf course, but they can also be applied in every day life.
Here are 9 tips on how to be one of the best in the world:
1) Devote time to practice. The driving range and practice green were packed. Each golfer started their practice session about two hours before their round. Then they went out and played for five hours in the hot, humid conditions. Instead of going in and calling it a day, many of them went back to practice some more; fine tuning their swing or working on their putting.
How often do we fine tune our skills? Do we take the time to get better? Do we go back over that thing that wasn’t quite right just to see if we can improve?
2) Learn from your mistakes and your successes. Players on the course take notes while they play. In their notebook, they’ll jot down what club they hit, where the ball went, what the conditions were so when they play that same hole again they’ll have an idea of how to approach things. They’ll know what’s worked for them or what hasn’t. They play from a position of strength and leave guesswork or chance out of the equation.
Keep notes of short cuts or tips that you can use later. When I was a team leader at AT&T I would keep a copy of every unique situation I ran into and what action I took to fix the problem. After time, I had built up a mini-encyclopedia. My peers and managers would send complex or weird situations my way because they knew I knew how to fix them.
3) Practice consistency. Every time the golfers step up to the ball, whether that’s on the tee box, in the fairway, or on the green, each golfer goes through their own unique routine. When they hit the ball they weren’t far off their target. And there wasn’t one miss-hit. Watching them was like observing the mechanism inside a pocket watch.
That level of consistency is hard to find. When you’re in that rhythm or groove it’s an amazing feeling. The goal is to get to that state as often as we can. Consistency can lead to good results.
4) Act like a professional. Golf is a game of tradition. These golfers respect the game, the players, the course, the volunteers, and the spectators. They play the game how it should be played. The golfers have confidence in their abilities but they didn’t show an ego.
Etiquette is another important component. There was no goofing around, foul language, temper tantrums, or loud talking. The don’t show up their opponent. They extend courtesy to the other players.
Do we act like professionals or amateurs? Do we understand the rules, the history, and the inner workings of the industry we work in? Does our ego get the best of us?
5) Know when to ask for help. Each golfer can only rely on their abilities on the course. It’s ultimately up to the golfer what shot to hit and to execute on it. At the end of the day it’s their name on the leaderboard.
Behind every golfer is a team, some on the course and some behind the scenes. 90% of the women had a caddie with them. They’d ask the caddie the distance to the hole, what club to hit, and how to read the green; getting the perspective from another set of eyes.
A friend caddied during the tournament. Because the golfer he caddied for was nursing an injury she did not play any practice rounds, so the first time she played the course was during the opening round of the tournament. My friend knew the course and he helped her when needed. She could take the information to make a better decision on what to do next.
If a caddie or coach is good enough for a professional it should just as good for us. Good advice from a trusted friend can be invaluable.
6) Play your game. 144 women competed in the tournament. Every one of them had a different swing and a different approach to the game, although there were many similarities. Some of the women could just crush the ball, others couldn’t. It didn’t matter. They played to their strengths.
We often see others accomplish something and we try to copy what they do. Copying can be good in some regards, it can give us a blue print to success but we won’t be our best until we start to consistently do things in our own unique way. We need to ignore the competition and be true to ourselves.
7) Take calculated risks. Most times playing conservative golf is the way to go, but if you play aggressively at the right time it can pay off. The question is when is the right time to take a chance?
The golfers played their game and waited until a situation presented itself where it would be okay to be aggressive. When the downside wasn’t that bad and the upside was good, the golfers took chances. They were strategic in their decision making. They may be presented with an opportunity like that a few times a round. They waited for those moments.
You won’t always guess right when taking chances, but taking them when you know your success rate is higher than normal is a good time to attempt it. Don’t force it. Wait for the opportunity to come to you.
8) Focus on what’s in front of you. Golf is the ultimate game of living in the moment. You need to have laser-like focus on the shot at hand and only that shot. You can’t jump ahead and you can’t think about the past.
The golfers took their time and studied each shot for a long time before addressing the ball. Sometimes they’d step back and reconsider the shot again.
I’m like many of you. I’ve got so many thoughts running through my head and so many things competing for my time that I am easily distracted. When I’m focused I can churn out work without even feeling time pass. I need to get to that state more often.
9) Play with the big picture in mind. The PHC Classic was a three day event. Sometimes tournaments are four days. Golfers know that one bad shot isn’t going to ruin their round. They deal with what’s in front of them and move on to the next shot.
We think one mis-step is going to doom our project or ruin our career. A golfer doesn’t think like that. For the entire three days of the tournament there were sustained winds of 20-30 miles per hour. It was windy but the golfers didn’t give up. They got on with the task at hand and dealt with the situation. We need to utilize the same mentality. We need long-term thinking.
The 9 tips on how to be one of the best in the world can help you on the course, in the office, or at home. Next time you’ve got some of the best in the world in your town, go check them out. You’ll never know what you’ll  learn. What tips have you picked up watching the best do their thing?
Filed Under: Inspiration, Life Lessons Tagged With: , , , ,