Apr 11 2006
Communicating In The 21st Century!
Hi Everyone,
Wow, my first blog…How cool! Communicating in the 21st Century is certainly different than it was in the twentieth. Think about the technology available to us today and how easy it is to connect with others. I cannot believe we ever lived without computers or me without electricity all those years ago.
Communication is the key to building long lasting relationships. A short note, a quick email or a brief phone message makes the difference between losing touch or staying in touch. For those of you involved in the network marketing industry, I’m sure you’re discovering just how important communication is to your business success.
When you improve your ability to communicate clearly and efficiently with others, you increase your value dramatically! What does it require to earn more money? You must increase your perceived value to the people with the money. In other words, I am a leader. You deserve to partner with me in business because I know where I am going and I can lead you there, too. Do you say that to someone or is there a way to convey that in actions, attitude, and thought emanations without having to actually speak the words? Yes, to all of the above!
Sometimes you may speak your confidence out loud, other times you will write it in an email or note. However more times than not, you will project your capacity to lead by way of your posture. Your posture is synonymous with your attitude, belief, inner strength and your conviction. People love to associate with someone who instills confidence in them, especially in business.
Over the course of the next few days, I’ll share more suggestions and strategies on becoming a better communicator. I appreciate your comments and questions on this topic!
L 
Lisa,
You are right on the money when it comes to the importance of effective communication - PARTICULARLY as we become more dependant on technology to communicate.
Email, Instant Message, and now blogs, do not include the inflection of your voice, your body language or other cues we get from a person to determine what, exactly, they are trying to communicate, so it’s all that much more important to pay attention to your choice of words to be sure you are conveying the message you intend to send.
As I tell my team members (and my kids, too!), the greater command you have of your language (particularly in the written form), the greater respect you will be given in the business world (and every other area of your life, as well!)
So, yes, at the end of the day, your language arts teacher DID have something of value to convey to you when he/she was teaching you proper grammar and punctuation!
Suzanne
So very true….communication is definitely key in building and maintaining relationships
Unless we are clear in communicating with others, there’s room for misunderstanding.
In this world of hurry, hurry, and so many people doing a variety of things, seemingly all at once, it is very important to be sure to minimize the possibility of misunderstandings. That can all be accomplished by making sure, when we verbally speak to others, that our attention is on them and that our focus is on the topic of the conversation. It doesn’t matter whether the conversation is 30 seconds in length, several minutes, or a lot longer. Be present in the conversation so that a true connection takes place. More will be accomplished and it will feel far better to all involved.
Email is another great way to communicate. When writing an email, I like to ask myself, is this a note that I’d personally like to receive from someone? By that I mean, is it clear, in terms of my intention, does it have a conversational feel, so that the person reading it feels a connection, and is it as short as possible, but still complete? If I can answer “YES” to all of that, I press SEND.
Communication is like anything else, the more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll become doing it, and the more creative ways you’ll find to express yourself.