Communication Tips Archives - The Pathway Communication Company

Working from home – the effect on new starters

jacquihanbury@hotmail.co.uk — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:57:43 +0000

There are still many conversations going on in all sorts of businesses about whether to bring home working colleagues back to the office, let them stay at home or create a hybrid working environment. For more information on that have a look at our article here.

However this article considers those at the beginning of their careers or those who are starting a new role. What do we need to think about for them?

It’s my first job!

Those who are just starting in their careers and those who are starting a new role struggle to work from home all of the time. It’s hard to ask questions that you consider stupid when you need to type them in a Team’s chat box! Far easier to ask the person sitting next to you in a casual way! (Stupid questions are rarely stupid by the way, it is just our perception of the question!) Working from home means that the vital information that you need to do your job takes longer to learn. In addition, there is no one who can watch over your shoulder. I have caught many mistakes made by new colleagues by just listening to them speaking or taking a glance at their screens – mistakes that once caught are a great learning point, but if left that become a problem.

For those new to work, those coming directly from university or college learn more about work life than just how to do their job. Lessons about being in the office on time, how to dress, when to take breaks etc. are lessons that this group don’t learn when they work from home. I have had lots of conversations whilst mentoring apprentices that would not have been had if they and I had been at home such as:

no, it’s not appropriate to wear jeans with holes in them to a customer visit
don’t be late back from lunch every day, I’m not surprised your colleagues are irritated with you
playing table tennis all afternoon is not the same as working
It’s your responsibility to get yourself here on time, saying your mum forgot to wake you up is not an excuse

And these lessons are essential for their future careers.

What’s the answer?

Although new starters and those in their first job don’t need to be in the office the whole time I think a hybrid situation as a minimum is essential. Even if things change in time, those first few months it is essential to have some time with colleagues. This of course also means that we need other colleagues in the office too! So perhaps if we ask most colleagues to come into the office two or three days a week then that would accommodate the new starters’ needs but it would also allow flexibility for everyone else.

What else do we need to consider?

Communication! It’s great making these decisions but how do we communicate with all these groups? Talk to them! Don’t just impose rules without explaining why. Ensure that you ask for their concerns and answer them, don’t brush issues under the carpet, bring them back into the open, and help them talk through issues to come to a solution.

After all, if we want to make sure we have the best workforce, access the best people for the job, and accommodate all their needs then communicate your decisions.

If you need some help then speaking with a business coach can help you untangle your thoughts, if this would help you contact me for a chat.

Jacqui Hanbury is the Managing Director of The Pathway Communication Company Limited and is a specialist in helping you find the thing that is stopping your business from achieving as much as it could be. Follow her on LinkedIn to find out more.

The Pathway Communication Company Ltd provides a personalised plan to help you and your business move forward. We might help you set goals, a strategy, a communication plan, facilitate a meeting, be a coach or mentor. Whatever it takes. Find out more at: www.pathwaycc.co.uk

The post Working from home – the effect on new starters appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

The animal shift – a podcast

jacquihanbury@hotmail.co.uk — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 09:46:04 +0000

It was such a pleasure to meet Tom Flude and appear on his podcast series Through the Eye talking about business communications inside the engineering and manufacturing industries.

We chatted about my career in engineering and how, along the way, I learned about good (and bad!) communication and how this shaped my business. I explain what the animal shift was and how things have changed, and how I managed the good and bad managers I had!

I give a few communication tips too – enjoy!

You can also find it on Spotify and Amazon Music:

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/evz5VA_w
Amazon Music: https://lnkd.in/eyB4qkb8

and I would recommend subscribing to his YouTube channel too!

Let me know what you think. And if you need some help with communication in your business contact me now.

The post The animal shift – a podcast appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

How to write an email that people will read

jacquihanbury@hotmail.co.uk — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 15:38:35 +0000

In these days of email fatigue is it possible to write an email that is read by most people you send it to? Or – at least read enough so that the message will be understood? Yes!! How though? How can you write an email that people will read?

When we write emails we normally write them as we would want to receive them.

If you are a detailed person you will write all the details of your message in the email overwhelming those who just want to know what the key message is.

If you are someone who only reads the first paragraph then that is all you may write. And frustrate the detail people massively!

The problem is that if we write an email as we want to see it then it will only be read by those who are similar to us and read in the same way. But you have lots of different people in your company. And you want them all to get the message you are putting out there.

The most effective emails are written to accommodate all types of readers. Here are a few pointers to improve your emails:

Title: make this about the subject, no room for being mysterious here!
First few lines: summarise your message in a few short sentences or even bullet points. Some personality types will only read these few lines so you need to get the key parts of your message into their brains!
Rest of email: if you are one of those who only read the first few lines don’t be tempted to stop there. The detailed people will want more information so now write the detail! Include links and as much information as you need to give to the most detailed person you can think of!
Consider an image or diagram: some people don’t like reading, they may be dyslexic or maybe English is not their first language. Consider whether your message can be put into a diagram. If you need everyone to do something by a certain date – put that in an image. If this is your key message then even if that is all people read – you have a win!

An example of writing an email that people will read

Imagine you have a critical training course to roll out to your team. You send an email out telling everyone that they have to do the course, why they have to do it and by when. You are someone who likes to explain thoroughly the why, what, how and when of the task you are giving them. You write an email that if printed would be 2 pages long and it contains all the information that people will need to do the course, know when to do it and the outcomes you expect. Perfect!

Except maybe it isn’t. The two or three people in the company who read every email immediately, however long it is, are on it and finish the training. But in the system, you can’t see if anyone else has even started it yet. So you go and ask a few people and get various responses. “I saw how long it was and flagged it to read later when I have time”, ” I saw it was about a course but couldn’t easily see the link so will go back to it another time”, “I didn’t understand what I was meant to do”. Oh no, you thought your email contained everything people wanted and would be easy to understand! What could you have done differently?

I would recommend resending the email with a clear heading, then in the first few lines put the action you want everyone to do, when to do it and how to do it. Let’s see how it looks:

Course x must be completed by x

We want to ensure you are all safe at work so we are launching a new course that everyone needs to do:

Course name:
Date it must be completed by:
Link:
Time to complete:

Please let us know if you have any problems completing it by that date.

After this, you can put all the text from your first email explaining in more detail the why, what, how and when. Adding these bullet points to your message is unambiguous and will be understood by everyone! And those who want more information can keep reading!

It does take a bit longer, but nowhere near as long as chasing everyone to do the task!

What do you think?

This feels a bit different for most companies. Will people take it well, will it seem too much like an instruction? If you are struggling with writing an email like this add a little bit more context into the first paragraph before the bullet points. However always ensure the bullet points are visible when the email is opened, if someone has to scroll down to see them there will be no impact. Those who glance at it will not scroll down, that is for sure!

Will it work for your company? Will it help you write an email that people will read? Have a try and let me know what you think!

Note: These email tips are based on DISC, a simple-to-use and easy-to-understand personality profiling tool. I have found it can really help you understand your way of communicating and how others communicate too. Have you done DISC or maybe another personality profile tool? If so, think about your email and how the different types of personalities would read it – and try to ensure it has parts for them all. (If you are interested in DISC let me know – I can run a session for you )

The post How to write an email that people will read appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

A panther or a cat? 🐈‍⬛

jacquihanbury@hotmail.co.uk — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:08:57 +0000

Are you a panther? Whenever anyone tells you something they have done do you answer with a story about your life which makes their story seem small and insignificant? Do you acknowledge what they have said before you launch into your story? In that case, you may be a panther!

Or are you a cat? You hear their story, acknowledge it and ask questions to validate their story and viewpoint.

A panther or a cat?

Imagine you are a black cat. You are interesting, knowledgeable and a pleasure to be around. And then you speak to someone who seems to think they are better than you, bigger than you, more powerful than you – they believe they are a black panther!

This makes you feel less, less important, less seen and less heard.

By not listening to what they are having to say you are dismissing their story or viewpoint as worthless in your eyes. Instead of listening to what they have said and seeing if you can learn something you are relegating their words to just a prompt for your next story. This diminishes them and subconsciously they may be wary of speaking up again.

Maybe you recognise this in someone you work with. It is hard to have a conversation with someone who is always bigger/faster/more important than you.

What’s the solution?

If you are the panther…

If you feel you need to tell your own story or give your own viewpoint, then try (it’s hard!) to stop and listen instead and ask one question to show you have heard.

Tell me more
What happened next?
How did that make you feel?

The right question will be the one that fits into the narrative, the one that shows you are listening!

If you work with someone who is a panther…

After you have finished speaking and they start to tell you their viewpoint then interrupt and ask to continue to speak. Often this is enough to make them realise!

Of course in normal conversation we each tell our stories, that is how we learn from each other. And therefore this is OK most of the time. A black panther however will do it every single time! And you will notice! And if it is you – maybe now is the time to change

The post A panther or a cat? 🐈‍⬛ appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

Making meetings marvellous!

jacquihanbury@hotmail.co.uk — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 09:59:10 +0000

I have too many meetings where people are late, on their phones or laptops or just generally not paying attention, it drives me mad! There are things you can do to make your meeting more productive – and generally marvellous! Read on to find out the best tips

Let’s talk about what good meeting etiquette is and how to, gently(!) introduce it to your meetings.

That’s lovely – but how do I achieve that in my meetings?!?!

Good question!

I have found the easiest way is to agree on some meeting norms! As in rules of engagement. This is especially useful if it is a recurring meeting. Suggest to the participants that you agree what rules you will use within the meeting. And then stick to them!

Some suggestions are:

no phones (unless the participant has told you they are waiting on a specific call)
stick to the agenda – if someone starts talking about something else the group should stop them and agree to take that subject out of the meeting
no side conversations – only one conversation in the room at once!
set actions – always come out of the meeting with actions – so many meetings have no conclusions!
a red card – a bit unusual I know but if there are some strong characters in the room who dominate your meetings then the less domineering characters can struggle to speak. By having a red card these participants can raise the red card, signifying that they have something to say .
A tennis ball – those domineering characters can also sometimes get so engaged with a discussion that it just becomes repetitive and point scoring. For the rest of the participants, this feels like a tennis game with no winner! If this happens gently roll the ball to them – they will get the message

Of course, there are lots of other rules you can follow. I particularly like this from the UK government website:

The post Making meetings marvellous! appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.

Try using AND not BUT

jacquihanbury@hotmail.co.uk — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:56:41 +0000

When we are talking to people we often deliver a sentence that is upbeat and positive, and then start the next sentence with the word ‘but’. We especially do this when we are giving feedback (whether requested or not!).

This instantly takes away the power of the first sentence as we now use a negative word – but. This puts the listener on guard as to what is coming next and they forget the first positive statement!

Even if what we say next is not particularly negative and is just the second part of our feedback the effect is the same.

So try saying and instead of but next time you are talking to someone. It is so much more powerful and will allow the listener to truly hear all of what you want to say!

The post Try using AND not BUT appeared first on The Pathway Communication Company.