Category: Sales & Marketing

We all know we probably could do a better job of listening. But have we really thought about what benefits could accrue to us and our relationships when we really listen? Listen to Doreen Johnson, founder of River Dreams™, a coaching business that helps people express their true nature. In an early corporate position, Doreen noticed herself checking her watch as meetings dragged on and on, and there was lots of talking but much less listening. She made a conscious decision to remove her watch and focus on really listening to what people were saying. She listened to the whole person, trying to determine the whole message, not just the words. Over time, she noticed her meetings were becoming less contentious, more productive, and shorter. People noticed that meetings were so much better, but they didn’t really understand what had changed. So started my conversation with Doreen, and after this story, I hung onto her every word.

True listening is not a set of skills as much as it is a state of mind. If you listen habitually, you will react to what others say. You will cut them off if they tend to go on and on. You will argue with them if they don’t agree with you. You will tune them out if you know where they are going because you have heard it all before. The result of this kind of listening is patterned behaviors which are repeated endlessly and often at length. I picture each of us enclosed in our private capsules, bumping into one another like so many bumper cars, each talking to hear ourselves. Noisy and funny sometimes, but also repetitive and somewhat meaningless. (Kind of like our meetings, only without the humor?)

Now what happens when you apply a number of listening skill rules? You know the ones; make good eye contact, nod, and say “uh huh” a lot. You can do all this and yet not really be listening. Now we are in our capsules, knocking into each other, and pretending to listen. Maybe we are listening to the words, but we still aren’t connecting at more than a superficial level. Applying technique and rules really doesn’t do much until we are ready to make the radical leap to true listening.

When you make a clear, conscious choice to simply listen without judgment, but listen to fully understand, you are listening with your heart as well as your head and your ears. You automatically take in the whole of the communication; what is being said and what is not. What the nonverbals are telling you. The tone of voice. The expression on the face. The concerns and fears the other person is saying behind the words.

The amazing thing when you truly listen is that the other person knows it, feels heard, and doesn’t feel the need to keep repeating themselves, taking up more and more time as they try again and again to be heard. You will also notice when you listen in this manner, it takes an enormous amount of mental focus and energy to sustain. Listening is work!

One mental technique that can help is to imagine a clear dome over the two (or more) of you as you listen. Everything outside the dome is unimportant (no more checking your watch or looking at your phone.) Everything inside the dome is important. No more capsules keeping us apart. We are together in this communication. You make yourself 100% present in the moment. You let go of your own agendas and intentions to influence, control, or direct. You are simply and profoundly listening.

According to Doreen, leaders who learn to listen in this way are rare. But those who do inspire greater trust and enjoy greater mutual respect. In addition, they arouse not only accountability, but loyalty. You develop trust in a more profound outcome, rather than trying to control others or have your way.

My guess is true listeners spend much less time rehashing the same old, same old, therefore wasting less time in unproductive meetings and conversations. I encourage you to try it for yourself; start with one or two conversations today and truly be present to listen to the other person. I would love to know how this feels and whether in the end it is worthwhile.

Doreen Johnson can be reached at her website: www.riverdreamsintuition.com

A Technical Writer creates and compiles a range of documents. This is especially true when the product involves multiple divisions, departments, or projects. By working across these multiple channels all knowledge gained will be incorporated within several documents. Product specifications, deployment manuals, instructional material, operational manuals, forms manuals, brochures, etc., may need to be written. Within each document, the Technical Writer will communicate what is relevant and be able to present it in a creative manner. Creativity is important when constructing tables, charts, graphics, or diagrams to simplify and enhance details of procedures, processes, business reports, etc. Besides relevancy and creativity, there are other core requirements for specific types of documents. Below are some standard forms of documentation frequently generated during a product’s life cycle. Under each type of document are some fundamental elements.

Requirement Documents (created at the initiation of a project) contain:

• Date and authorization,
• Project scope/overview,
• Task proposal,
• Proposal validation,
• Business goals,
• Specifications,
• Time and expenses,
• Resources and support.

Software and Functional Specification Documents (created for Developers and Analysts) contain:

• Technical details of the product,
• Detailed tasks,
• Database design and schema location,
• Client needs,
• Program functionality,
• System platforms ,
• User Interface,
• Security,
• Error messages.

User /Operations /Training Documents (created for guidance and instruction) contain:

• Guide description,
• Product description,
• Installation and/or log-on procedures,
• Program functionality,
• Required information,
• Prompts and error messages,
• Trouble-shooting section,
• Glossary,
• Reference sheet.

Reference/Cheat Sheets (created as a quick look-up) contain:

• Brief program overview,
• Brief explanation of each functionality,
• Quick ways to accomplish a task,
• Brief trouble-shooting section,
• Index and cross reference sheets.

Quality Assurance/ Test Plan Documents (created for testing) contain:

• Program description and client needs,
• System requirements,
• Program accessibility,
• Functionality,
• Tasks and scenarios,
• Expectations,
• Regression testing,
• Problems and resolution.

SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) Documents (created for routine tasks) contain:

• Purpose,
• People involved/affected,
• Guidelines,
• Revision instructions.
• Procedures,
• Appendix,
• Glossary.

Each of the above documents will be elaborated on in future posts. There are many other types of documents that a Technical Writer produces. The above were selected because they are generally the most common. If there are others that you wish more information on, please leave a comment.

Communicating on the Internet allows you to be part of a community and along with that stems network etiquette rules. Corresponding, writing, or having a conversation on the Internet is no different from having a face-to-face conversation with someone, except that your dialogue takes place over a network. Because a conversation takes place over a network, the standard conversational etiquette rules have been expanded to Netiquette rules.

Some basic ‘Do Not’ guidelines are:

• Do not be rude via the Internet nor email. There are a number of communication avenues, i.e., posts, Facebook, Twitter, etc. No matter which method is used, people should be cordial and respectful to whom they are writing. Would you be happy if someone sent you a critical or cutting remark? As the saying goes, ‘If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything’.
• Do not pass on other people’s information. No one is allowed to pass on a person’s information without the approval of the individual. This is a crucial rule to commit to memory especially if you are thinking of passing someone’s personal information. This could lead to a serious offense, so do not even consider it.
• Do not use all capitals when writing as its connotation implies yelling. Bear in mind that the reader cannot see your face and can easily misinterpret its meaning. Appending an emoticon to the capital letters to imply a tease could even be misconstrued as a sarcastic remark. So pay attention to the use of capital letters and only use them for, e.g., acronyms.
• Do not change someone else’s words. What a person writes belongs to them. Do not change someone’s content to be spiteful, harmful, or hurtful.
• Do not send chain letters nor inappropriate links. Not everyone enjoys receiving chain letters. This will just annoy the receiver. If you send someone a chain letter and they respond to you with a ‘please do not send’, then respect their wishes and do not send anymore.
• Do not send spam. Spam is any unwanted email. Set your email options to forward all spam email to either a spam or trash folder where they can all be deleted without any harmful effects.
• Do not spread private chats nor conversations. This is a malicious offense. The conversation you have with someone is private and should remain as private unless they say it is ok to pass the conversation to others. Not following this rule can be damaging and libelous.
• Do not continuously send chat messages to someone who does not reply. Seeing someone on chat doesn’t mean you have to speak with them. Be respectful- if someone does not reply on chat, then they are probably busy.
• Do not send out an email to everyone (i.e., co-workers and managers ) and do not click Reply to All if only one person needs to be the recipient. This is especially true if the other people are not involved with the subject matter. This will only displease fellow associates as they probably receive more emails than they want on a daily basis.

The key rules to remember are to be responsible and respectful. You are accountable for your actions as well as for what you write, so make note of the ‘Do Not’ rules.

Part 3: For Organizations

You have probably heard that you should have a communication strategy in place for major change. But what does that look like, who is involved, and how do you do it? Timing is also a very important factor. For example, when two major airlines merge – it is kind of hard to keep it a secret. It is all over the news and in the papers. And, to complicate things even more, the list of stakeholders spans the globe and covers everyone from internal employees to contractors, to paying customers!

In my experience helping clients navigate large scale change, these are some of the key aspects that should be included in a communication strategy.

1. Clarify the WIIFM for all stakeholders. You may be aware of the need for the change, and for how it benefits your organization. But at the same time, each group affected needs to know how it will impact them. What’s in it for me? This is the rallying cry of each individual, team and department. Good to think it through and be sure this part of the message is front and center.

2. Select credible leaders to deliver the message. This should be someone who has rapport and credibility with those who receive the message. If people automatically delete emails coming from “Leader X,” that is not the person to communicate change. Similarly, don’t send out leaders to talk about the change unless they are fully informed, on board, committed to the change, and prepared thoroughly for the presentation.

3. Make communication face to face as much as possible. It may not be as efficient as email or broadcast announcements or Twitter, but the human side of change is so powerful, it really should be communicated in person. Body language, voice inflections and facial expressions matter in getting the whole message across. Responding to questions, even heated ones, can help clear the air and keep the rumor mill in check.

4. Create a cascade-down, feedback-up loop. Make sure all your messages are consistent, so that the initial town hall meeting is reinforced by department meetings, and by team meetings or daily huddles. The messages will get more specific as you get to the team level, but they need to remain consistent from the top all the way to the team level. As issues, questions and details are hammered out at the implementation level, a feedback loop should communicate upward about what is working and what needs to be
adjusted or addressed.

5. Keep communicating all the way to the end. If you communicate once and expect compliance and acceptance for the change, good luck: it probably just won’t work that way. Constant communication helps sustain and coordinate efforts to make the change sustainable. People need to know that it is still important, in the works, and that they should continue their efforts on the change.

As you have seen in this series, communicating for effective change requires rigorous thought, strategy, and execution. You must stay focused on the change, find the right champions, be visible, and keep communicating the merits of the change every step of the way. Leaders who put in this effort can definitely reap the rewards of a well-communicated change effort.

Managing large-scale change is usually not accomplished as a grass-roots effort. It requires leaders to pave the way and set aside budget and resources for change management and communications. Every successful change that I have worked on has had adequate resource and visibility assigned to change/management and communications. Where this visibility is minimal or sub-optimal, failure is not far to follow!

In today’s world, a Technical Writer wears many hats and possesses many traits. A Technical Writer will wear hats as an Interviewer, Researcher, Analyst, Editor, and Tester, just to mention a few. The one trait they all have in common is that they must be extremely detailed. The Technical Writer has to be a detail-oriented individual with the ability to communicate to their audience via text and images. The Technical Writer has to have a sense of curiosity in order to understand and write about the framework of a product or technical information. Whether it’s as simple as writing about how and when to press a key or as complex as describing the steps involved in building a new application from inception to completion, the writer will need to be able to communicate every detail effectively.

Some other qualities that a Technical Writer has are:

Interviewing Skills:

The Technical Writer needs to be able to interview subject matter experts, project managers, co-workers, users, and clients in order to gather any relevant information needed to complete a set of documentation. They will use their interpersonal skills to understand the target audience and to find out what they need in order to complete the documentation. They will also use these skills to work with subject matter experts to gather information such as the background of a project, the steps for running routine processes or finding out what changes to the product were needed, made, and why.

Research Skills:

The Technical Writer may need to perform research for various types of tools needed to complete a document. They may need to research for an appropriate storyboard or animation tool to use along with the document to add visual clarity. If the document contains a lot of data, a suitable data diagramming tool may be needed where you can define elements and their attributes, or a querying tool to present relevant data effectively.

Analyst Skills:

The Technical Writer may need to gather and analyze data to produce certain types of requested reports, or to create data files and be able to report on them to management. By knowing how the data was gathered and the mechanisms used to derive the results, the writer could then translate the information, and be able to format and present it in simpler terms. For example, if a computer hardware problem affected data results, the writer would work with those involved to summarize the incident, define the causes, and recommend solutions for presentations to other teams or for future referral.

Testing Skills:

The Technical Writer may need to perform tests to ensure that everything documented was accurate and valid. For example, if Test Plans for the Quality Assurance group were needed to be written, the Technical Writer must write clearly and concisely about reviewed processes, procedures, hardware, and/or software applications as a part of the test plan. To further the example, if an application field that accepts data needs to be tested, the test plan would need to contain every possible scenario imaginable to test out that particular field.

Information Sensitivity Skills:

The Technical Writer has to have an eye for detail and be able to write what the reader needs to know, especially when it comes to confidential information. They have to be able to distinguish what is important to document and what is not. This can be determined by reviewing the requirements of an end user‘s purpose of the document. For example, an IT Systems requirement document could be used by a business sponsor to justify the project expenditure and an IT project manager would use it to make sure all of the high level requirements are a part of the project plan.

So, how do you know if you have the aptitude or talent to be a Technical Writer? If you are a good listener, enjoy learning and enjoy sharing information with others, then you can be a Technical Writer. What distinguishes some writers as Technical writers is that they write about technical subjects within different industries and have the industry knowledge to do so. They could be working within a software, manufacturing, financial, automobile, pharmaceutical, or publishing company and must have familiarity with the industry terminology.

But what types of documents does a Technical Writer create? That question will be answered in the next post. I hope you will enjoy these posts on technical writing as much as I enjoy writing them. If you have any questions or would like more detail on certain topics, please leave a comment.

Part Two: For front line supervisors and managers:

As we noted last time, communicating change at all levels is critical for a successful change effort. As a front line manager or supervisor, recognize that you are the key change agent in your circle of influence. Your people look to you as they move through the change. Are you for it? Against it? Dragging your feet? They probably take their cues from you. If you are inexperienced, unskilled or uncomfortable about communicating change, learning how to do it effectively is a huge development opportunity for you. Some of the key skills to practice include:

1. Empathetic listening.

2. Helping direct employees reframe thoughts and beliefs.

3. Reinforce and support new behaviors.

Most of this work is done through your team huddles, meetings and one on one coaching. You may also assign self-study, recommend reading and discussion, or even hold a workshop or class to help your direct reports to work through change.

Watch out for these mistakes in communicating change:

Forgetting you are already ahead of the curve. You may have already had days or weeks to adjust to the upcoming change. By the time it is getting communicated, you may be well past any shock or surprise, already comfortable with the change. You may even have moved on to think about the next challenge. You may be ready for action and next steps, but your people may not. It is easy to forget that your direct reports, hearing about this change, may have emotional reactions they need to work through before they can get ready to implement it.

Underestimating your impact on others. If you seem to be “all business” about the change, while others are still reeling or dealing with emotions, they are bound to wonder why. They won’t understand that you have probably already “been there.” If they are worried about their jobs, roles, or how this is going to affect them, they won’t be ready or even able to hear your expectations. As a leader, you need to give them time and space to process the news in their time, not according to yours. Empathetic listening, working through and reframing thoughts and beliefs can take time you don’t feel you can afford. But not taking that time, rushing them to action before they are ready, can have a negative impact on the success of the change.

Not communicating early or often enough. Many times managers know the change is coming, but don’t have all the facts. Rather than talk about it with incomplete information, they stall. “I will communicate when I have the information” can sound to worried direct reports a lot like “I know but I don’t want to tell you because it is so awful.” Not communicating sends a message: it can make you look evasive, indecisive, not fully committed to the change, and not transparent. What is this doing to trust between you and your team? How much better to communicate early, saying “A change is on its way, and I don’t have all the information. What I can tell you now is this….and I will keep you informed as I learn more details.” It is not easy to face your people knowing they may be upset and knowing that you don’t have all the answers for them. But not communicating is so much more dangerous.

Most leaders underestimate the importance of their ability, willingness, and visibility in communicating about change efforts. You can reinforce and support your people as they move through the change by avoiding these common mistakes, and by taking proactive steps to help lead the way.

Surprise! Your organization is experiencing a major change…again. It’s a new process…or a merger…or reorganization…or a new product launch…or a new customer…OK, you get the picture. Just about the time you begin to feel comfortable with the last major change, here comes another one. It’s a sign of the times.

In this series, we will examine some aspects of leading yourself, you team, and your organization through change. Let’s start with you; if you are a supervisor, manager or leader at any level, you will be influential in the success of this change.

In my experience, most change efforts fail because either you have absentee sponsors or you have the wrong sponsor. Communication strategies, at all levels involved with the change must be thoughtfully planned out. It is understandable that leaders still have to do their “day job” but to be effective at leading change they need to plan enough time for their visibility and they must also carefully select their “doers” in order to accomplish their goals. Let’s look at what you can do to facilitate the change process.

For leaders:

1. Be visible. Don’t delegate the change to someone else to….don’t kick off the change and then retreat to your office or another project. You need to stay visible and involved all the way through the change. Leverage your current meeting rhythms, town hall meetings, whatever you do that gets you in front of the troops. If being visible is not your style or approach – get a coach and work on it. Remember not communicating is communicating something!

2. Take an active role. Get involved deeply in change efforts; ask for additional assignments. Working through a major change is a great opportunity for you to increase your own visibility and skills. Good leaders step up to communicating change. Make a presentation, deliver key messages, and go out to other locations to talk about the change. During a recent successful airline merger, senior executives made it a point to be highly visible and made all attempts to stay out in front and communicate what was going on. It really made a difference in how well they were able to move through the change.

3. Build a coalition of partners. Here is another chance to get outside your silo and engage with other leaders. Enlist them in the change. Develop key messages together about the change. Send out key communication briefings together. How much solidarity would you create by sending out a change message that comes jointly from, let’s say, Operations, IT, and HR, all reinforcing key messages about the change? Partner up!

4. Enlist your front line managers and supervisors. These are the people who are “in the trenches” throughout the change. This is where the change really takes place. Front line managers hear the concerns, help employees struggle with emotions, and see what adjustments are needed to make the change successful. Help managers develop their skills in change leadership by coaching or training them. This is the most effective level to manage change in organizations – managers and supervisor levels are the most trusted, and the closest to those impacted by the change.

5. Reinforce the troops. Take time to celebrate each milestone, providing plenty of appreciation, thanks and fun to help sustain momentum for the next steps. Examples might include a pizza party, picnic, town hall meeting with awards and live music, followed by cake and toasts.

We have taken an overview look at communication strategies you can take to help your organization move through change. Next time, we will look at some specifics for front line managers and supervisors.