Category Archives: Communication

#225 Poetry in the workplace

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In the corporate world, simple communication is better than eloquent communication. Actually, simple is better when you need to be clear, so it is relevant in a variety of communication situations even outside the corporate world.

You want to avoid being poetic in your communications. Poetry has great value in entertainment because it is open to multiple interpretations and is designed stoke emotions. If you are sad or heartbroken, you will feel deep empathy with the poet who has written about sadness. Taken to the extreme, using this style in the workplace results in flowery writing and speech.

Bad habits can creep into your communication if you watch too much crime shows and court room battles on TV. Meaning, drama and suspense is good for entertainment, bad for communication in work situations where you want to get things done.

Your audience will react with mild annoyance, or with outright impatience. If you are guilt, this can be a hard habit to break. Perhaps this is how you think. Perhaps you need writing lessons. Perhaps you need to get a job where you don’t have to deal with business critical situations.

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#218 Advice

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There is no shortage of advice in this world. There are two reasons:

  • The advent of “content marketing” and nurture programs means that more and more individuals and companies are eager to show their thought leadership. You can get blogs, ebooks, white papers, and all kinds of cool info graphics to help you understand and solve your problem.
  • Culturally, we feel a sense of fulfillment when we give advice, and that advice is used to improve someone’s life. This leads to a frenzy of advice giving, hoping that out of quantity will come quality. Some cultures where the barriers to privacy are lower, almost every Tom, Dick, and Harry will give you advice on how to live your life and do your work.

Be open, but be careful. It is likely most advice givers are a waste of time, trying to further their agenda, not yours. Once you are clear about your goals, you can separate the good advice from the bad.

Don’t go around handing out advice like candy. Target your audience, not every advice you give will be accepted, but don’t train your audience to ignore you when you give advice.

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