Career Worth Living For!
Communication Skills
What If Your Boss is Clueless?
Aug 2nd
Just a few days back, a student of mine, let’s call him Perry, messaged me on RenRen.com (China’s answer to Facebook) and told me that he is having a lot of problems at his new-found job.
Specifically, he was recently chastised by his immediate supervisor for his very brief PPT content, which I taught in class. His supervisor said that a PPT is meant to be sent to the audience to READ and so, must contain ALL the information necessary.
At his last count, the PPT had more than 200 slides (pages) and growing. (I wonder how long the presentation will last since a good guide is 10 slides for every 20 minutes)
In other words, his supervisor is asking him to write a book (or at least a report) using Powerpoint and also use it as a presentation tool at the same time. : )
Hmm… it doesn’t seem his supervisor has heard of WORD… But it can’t be. This supervisor of Perry’s is only 1 year his senior and graduated from Beijing Normal University only last year. There is no way he is such a techno dinosaur.
I think the problem lies in the wrong perception of what a presentation is and how to deliver an excellent presentation. Of course, this incorrect perception is not confined to Perry’s supervisor alone. It is widespread in mainland China (as can be seen in many presentations spotting lengthy, paragraphs of PPT content) and many parts of the world where a presentation is thought to be just about delivering the content.
This can’t be more wrong.
A presentation is never about the content. In fact, good communication is never about the message. Nobody will care about your message content if the message means nothing to them, doesn’t engage nor interest them, and doesn’t give them value in any way. In other words, such communication is a waste of your audience’s time.
Good communication is ALWAYS about the response that you get from your intended audience.
In other words, what do you want the outcome of your communication to be (even before you start communicating)? What do you want your audience to know, think, feel, do? How do you want them to respond to your message?
Only after deciding very clearly what the outcome and objective(s) are of your communication (whether presentation or otherwise), then you should decide on the message and how to package and deliver it in a way that will achieve your intended outcomes.
Although Perry knows well how the content of a PPT should be structured in order for it to be effective, his supervisor doesn’t. Yet, his supervisor, being the “boss”, is blinded by his misconception and, perhaps, authority.
In other words, Perry’s supervisor is clueless and doesn’t know he is clueless. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
So, what can Perry do? Is this not a communication problem?
If we keep to the principle of “the quality of your communication is the response that you get,” what should Perry do to improve the quality of communication with his young, inexperienced supervisor?
Do you do any investing?
Jul 23rd
Every so often, I get calls from telemarketing companies trying to sell me something. Usually, the sale is about broadband network subscription, mobile phone subscription, insurance, unsecured credit/loans, etc.
The calls are usually anonymous, meaning the caller numbers are withheld. I usually would not answer any call that has its source number withheld but sometimes, I do expect overseas calls and so, will answer those no-number calls inevitably.
On the other hand, if the caller number is displayed, I am more inclined to answer the call although I am getting more cautious of this practice since many telemarketing firms are starting not to withhold their numbers.
Just today, I received a called and this lady said (translated from Cantonese), “Hi Sir, I am Ms. Wong representing On Shun Investments. May I know if you do any investing?”
Obviously, by Ms. Wong’s “Hi Sir,” she didn’t know who she was calling. She was simply going down the list of phone numbers given to her by her supervisor.
Since Ms. Wong is a stranger to me, my immediate thought was “I’m not interested to answer your questions.” *Click*
I used to be much nicer and would spend several minutes listening to what Ms. Wong has to say and then, gently rejecting her.
After several years of doing this, I found it much easier for me to end the conversation faster so that both of us can go on with our lives.
I mean, obviously, Ms. Wong wasn’t really interested in whether I do any investing. She’s just interested to sell me whatever she’s supposed to sell.
Nevertheless, I think people in telemarketing have remarkable stamina, courage and determination. Everyday, they get phones slammed on them and they get rejections more than 90% of the time (and this is an underestimate). Yet, they continue with their list because statistics show that every 100 phone calls they make, at least X number will say, “Yes” to them.
They are simply playing a number game.
Of course, those who cannot take the rejection will be out of the game very soon. These are the people who cannot see that the rejections are not personal. I mean, the people who reject them barely know them!
Whatever the case, I do hope Ms. Wong will ask better questions next time to gain attention and for the people she calls to be interested in what she has to say.
The old saying holds true: People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
What are some ways you can make cold calls and get the call receiver to listen to what you have to say?
Where is the Love?
Jun 22nd
Most people in Hong Kong and its immediate region would know who 施永青is. He is perhaps the “top salesman” in the real estate industry being the boss of Centaline 中原地产. And this is his column on the morning paper AM730.
You can tell that he is a sharp observer of communication – reiterating the fact that communication is not just about the words and the content but everything about being congruent with the entire body. Being congruent means that what you are saying with your words, your voice, and your body are the same.
Obviously, according to Mr Shi, Hong Kong CE Donald Tsang didn’t do a better job at the recent “live” reform debate because his body language (which makes up more than 55% of his communication) did not communicate the same message as his words and voice.
Shi further analyzed that Tsang, with the background of a bureaucrat under the British system, most likely didn’t believe strongly in what he is doing [about the electoral reform package] but still has a job to do. How can he possibly convince the people if his own belief about the issue at hand is not on solid ground?
We have the innate ability to immediately sense such inconsistency in the people we communicate with. If we are unsure of our message, then it will be tough trying to “sell” the message to our audience. It seems like Donald Tsang needs to work on his presentation skills if he is to do better at selling and promoting his government’s reform package.
The same thing applies to your communication during your job interview. Are you using your whole body to communicate with the interviewer? Or are you hoping that your qualifications and words will convince them?
Data and information doesn’t sell. Emotion does. Just look at all the advertisements and media around you.
This is why it is vital to specifically pair features of products and services with benefits that they provide. We much too often make decisions based on emotion and then justify the decisions using logic. Humans, after all, are not exactly very rational.
To do well in persuasion: Fall in love with what you do. And then, sell that love.
Remember this: People may not believe what you say, but they will believe what you do!
I want an iPhone 3GS
Dec 17th
My sister-in-law and her family visited my family over a weekend last month and we had a good time catching up. Her son, Ryan, is 11 years-old this year and although I have known him since his birth and have even taken care of him for a short spell 4 years ago, he is growing up to be his own man and, entering his teenage years, he now tends not to enjoy adult conversation nor company.
Ryan spent most of the entire visit glued to my laptop computer that was in the living room where everyone was. I would peek at what he was doing occasionally (mainly to ensure he was not messing up my files) and found him on the Apple Computer website.
Specifically, he was on the iPhone pages of the Apple website.
Before I knew it, he interrupted the adults who were happily chatting away over coffee.
“Mom, look! The iPhone 3GS is so thin and it’s so cool!”
Three minutes later, he shouted again, “Mom, the 3GS can take videos and upload them to YouTube! Isn’t that something?”
Another 5 minutes later, he exclaimed, “Mom, there is voice command for the 3GS! Wow!”
This time, his mother responded, “Ryan, you don’t need an iPhone. I’m not buying one for you. You already have a mobile phone.”
It turned out that Ryan had been bugging his mother over the past week to get him the latest iPhone 3GS. And when I asked him why he needed an iPhone, he said, “Everyone in school has one and it’s really cool” to which I responsed, “Ryan, the iPhone cannot make you cool. Only you can.”
Of course, Ryan didn’t understand what I meant and he also didn’t get the iPhone 3GS he coveted.
From this little episode, it reminded me of the way most of us try to persuade, influence and convince others of something – in other words, our “selling” strategy.
And guess what? Job-hunting is a “selling” process whether you like it or not.
Most people think that the best way to sell is to do what Ryan did – promote the features of the product or service: The iPhone is thin, it can take videos, access the internet, and issue commands via voice, etc.
In job-hunting terms, most people promote ONLY their features thinking that those will sell: Their degree(s), work experience, internship experience, special skills, awards, extra-curricular activities, community service, professional memberships, etc.
Just like Ryan’s mother, the features of the iPhone 3GS meant nothing to her. They may be cool to Ryan but they do not appeal to his mother at all. In fact, an iPhone is expensive to buy and to maintain, especially for an 11 year-old.
Remember: To an employer, you are always on the right-hand end of this simple equation:
Profit = Revenue – Cost
To make business sense, you will only be hired IF:
1. You are affordable (i.e. low cost), and
2. You can generate sufficient value (or revenue) to cover the cost of employing you (i.e. high benefits).
And so, your features may be cool to you, but they will only be cool to the employer IF and ONLY IF they can generate benefits to the employer.
In order to sell successfully to employers, you must approach from the BENEFIT angle: How exactly will the employer benefit from having you on the team? What value can you bring.
No doubt, features can be part of the selling process to provide support for the benefits but features should never be the main focus.
Remember: We don’t buy features. We buy only benefits.
When Ryan understands this, he will be in time to get an iPhone 3GS for Christmas.
Write Me a Reference Letter
Nov 10th
It is graduate school application season and loads of students (that I know of in or from mainland China) are attempting to go overseas for their Master’s degree next September.
Other than the standardized tests like GMAT, TOEFL, GRE, and IELTS, many universities requirement a personal statement and at least 2 reference letters from every applicant.
Over the past 2 weeks, I have been approached (“ambushed” is a better word) by more than 10 students asking me to write them recommendation letters and/or personal statements. And these requests all came with deadlines, “I would like the letter by this weekend and I want 15 copies of it.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m always happy to help.
But these students are not doing it right.
First of all, they have not kept in touch since the final exams last semester (which ended in June 2009). For that matter, most of them didn’t even bother to know me or let me know them. So, out of the blue, I get students (yes, I do recognize their faces but…) suddenly appearing in my path or in my email inbox when they have never previously bothered to talk to me.
Secondly, they are outright demanding without being considerate. To ask me to do them a favour today (Tuesday) and give me a deadline of this weekend is presumptuous that I have all the time in the world, just sitting around as their beck-and-call.
Thirdly, they think they are the only ones asking me to help.
As more students approach me with the same request, I get the feeling that I am simply being used. For I know that, after getting what they want, they will once again disappear from my sights and email inbox. And Ethan Pang will only be a distant memory.
They have yet to learn that this world functions on the principle of reciprocity. In the real world, it’ll be very hard for future requests if there are no goodwill or favours returned for the current one.
Your Resume is Ordinary!
Apr 14th
If you are part of the 90% of the job-hunting population, your
resume is ordinary, boring, unattractive and … useless.
I say “useless” in the sense that it is not serving the purpose
that it was written for.
A resume is a personal leaflet intended to bring the potential
employer’s attention to the job-applicant’s capabilities,
competences, experiences, character and personality. It is meant to
“show-off” your features and the value that you can bring to the
company.
However, too many job-apllicants simply do not put in any effort
into crafting their resume (and, might I add, their cover-letter)
and opt to “follow the herd” without using their minds
appropriately to market and promote themselves (they search the
Internet for templates or buy resume-writting books from the
bookstore). After all, job-hunting IS a personal marketing and
promotion exercise.
How, then, do you market yourself through your resume? Here are the
top 10 resume tips you won’t get from anywhere else:
1. Keep your resume to 2 pages at most! Employers are busy and do
not have time to read (in fact, they don’t read, they skimp).
2. Give your resume a professional look. Make it look like it was
created by a professional instead of an amateur or student. Would
you read a leaflet or brochure that looks amateurish even if it was
stuffed in your face?
3. Your resume MUST carry a CORE message – that is, how do you fit
the job? What value will you bring if hired? Instead of stating
your “Career Objective,” I’d suggest that you state your unique
job-match message. Look at it this way, employers are not
interested in what you want, they are interested in knowing what
you can do for the company.
4. State your achievements in ALL your experiences, including
education. Most people will simply state what they have done (job
responsibilities/duties) and what education they have gone through.
What’s the point of telling employers that you have done
photocopying without telling them HOW WELL you did it? This is
similar to receiving your university results transcript that gives
only the subjects you have done but without the grades you have
achieved.
5. Leave out unnecessary and irrelevant items from your resume like
whether you are married, your passport/ID number, your photograph
(unless required or you are applying for a sales position),
referees.
6. There is no need to list your referees in your resumes. There is
also no need to say “Referees available upon request.” It is a
given that you have referees ready for work verification and
experience checking.
7. List items in reversed chronological order in each section. This
means, the most recent ones should be listed first.
8. If you are a freshgraduate, your education section should come
first (after your particulars, job-match message, and brief
professional profile) followed by experience, affiliations,
awards, non-work involvements, skills.
9. If you are have work experience, exhibit your experience section
before education.
10. Make the resume content easily readable. Use active verbs and
tangible numbers and percentages (e.g. Increased the company market
share by 100%) with bullet points instead of paragraphs of
description.
Remember this: If you follow the herd, you will step on sh*t. : )
Communicate to Succeed
Jan 21st
How strong are your communication skills?
In this day and age in which technology is abundant, the way that we communicate with one another has evolved within the business world. While face-to-face communication is still important, learning how to communicate using digital technology is also crucial when entering the work force. To succeed in your career, seek to master your communication face-to-face, within a group, over the telephone and through email.
Face-to-Face Communication
There will be numerous opportunities for you to communicate with co-workers and superiors within your chosen career. There are a few things to keep in mind when working to display strong communication skills, including:
> Always make eye contact with the individual speaking to you
> Turn off all other electronic devices within a meeting to eliminate distractions
> Actively listen- seeking to understand what the speaker is saying by asking probing and clarifying questions as needed. Use statements like, “I may be wrong but what you are saying is …”
> Sit up straight and model your body language to match that of the person speaking to you (this established rapport)
> We unconsciously like people who are similar to ourselves. And a very easy work to establish rapport with someone is to behave like them through matching or mirroring body language, voice tone, tempo and pitch of speech.
Group Meeting Communication
In most organizations, group meetings are commonplace. You may be required to attend conferences, staff meetings or training sessions throughout your service within an organization. Follow these tips to increase your communication skills when within a group setting:
- > Sit near the front of the group or near the speaker
- > Take notes to show the speaker that you are engaged in what they are saying
- > Remain focused on the meeting’s objective(s)
- > Hold all questions until the designated question and answer session; refrain from interrupting the speaker
- > Use questions to clarify a point or communciate a point
- > If your question would benefit the group as a whole, ask it at the appropriate time
- > If your question is more individual in nature, speak with the speaker privately
- > To increase your credibility even if you don’t have a question, formulate a question that would show insight and attention to the subject matter and ask it during the question and answer portion of the presentation
Teleconference Communication
A growing number of organizations are using teleconferencing (sometimes called “conference calls”) or even webcasts to communicate messages to a large corporate audience. If you are on a teleconference, be sure to adhere to the following etiquette:
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> Place your phone on mute to eliminate any background noise while on the call
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> Participate in the call from a landline, not a cell phone to reduce interference or background noise or dropping from the call
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> Take notes to refer to after the call as well as to note any questions you have about the material being covered
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> Some teleconference call systems allows recording for retrieval and reference later. You can check with the teleconference organisor for information on this.
Email Communication
Email is the standard of communication in most organizations. Whether you are a student or professional, you should set aside time each day to handle emails. Here are some quick tips on communicating through emails:
- > Always proofread emails prior to sending them
- > Spell and grammar check all emails prior to sending them
- > Emails are made up by only words which lacks the necessary tone and body language to construct the intended meaning. Hence, use email sparingly to have conversations instead as the nature of an email can often be misconstrued and misinterpreted. Instead, schedule a phone call, teleconference or face-to-face meetings to discuss issues and matters.
- > When using emails at the workplace, avoid including personal comments or opinions (especially negative ones) as emails are hard records which can be forwarded (whether intentionally or not) or referenced.
- > Always review the “reply all” function to ensure that material is being sent to the correct parties. Be cautious when forwarding or replying an email to all or a distribution list as the content of one email may contain sensitive or private information not suitable for unintended recipients.
By working to master communication in each of these media, you will be improving your overall corporate communication.
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