Gina Abudi » Communication

12 tips to communicate your strategy effectively

Jeroen — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:30:01 +0000

International research confirms what communication adepts have advocated for years: organisations that excel in their internal communications also excel in their financial performance.

In fact, the study found that companies with highly effective communication practices have a 19 percent higher market premium, 57 percent higher shareholder returns over five years, and levels of employee [...]

Brainstorming Best Practices

Gina — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:30:54 +0000

Use brainstorming effectively within your business

Brainstorming is a great tool to increase innovation within your business. Frankly, you can brainstorm on your own to generate ideas; but for the purposes of this post we are going to focus on brainstorming with others.

Follow these tips to create a successful group brainstorming environment:

Set [...]

10 Simple Easy Ways to Reach Out to Clients

Gina — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:30:13 +0000

If you aren’t communicating with your customers regularly…you have problems!

Too often my clients (who sell services and/or products and rely on customers for their continued success) tell me that they don’t frequently reach out to their customers to gauge how things are going or even to share information. They assume that all is [...]

Steps to Take Prior to Having That Difficult Conversation

Gina — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:30:07 +0000

You can’t avoid it – so plan for it!

One thing we all dread is having a difficult conversation. It doesn’t matter what it’s about, whether personal or business related, it just puts a knot in our stomachs!

First, take a deep breath! Pushing the blame around doesn’t help anyone and certainly does not [...]

Recognizing Employees’ Efforts for Hard Work

Gina — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:30:19 +0000

It is so simple…

Honestly folks – recognizing employees for a job well done is so simple to do; yet I hear more and more frequently from friends working within companies that they never get that “pat on the back.” Frankly – I know where they are coming from! It’s so easy for employers [...]

Generations in the Workplace

Linda — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:30:48 +0000

How to Get Along

For years, the baby boomers represented the focus of much of society – from television programming, to advertisers’ focus to social media commentary from journalists and academics. But, today there is a new generation that is rapidly gaining attention and focus from these groups. Generation Y – born between [...]

Bring on the Critical Thinkers

Linda — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:30:30 +0000

Handling the Tough Employee Questions

There is a tendency in many organizations to hide from the tough questions that employees sometimes ask. In fact, in doing so, companies end up silencing input and feedback that can be extremely valuable to them. As a corporate communication professional I’ve always been interested to observe this phenomenon.

[...]

Creating and Delivering Effective Presentations

Gina — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:30:47 +0000

Whether you have to deliver presentations only on occasion or on a regular basis, it’s important to effectively prepare up front for the presentation to ensure you meet your goals. Remember that presentations are vital to business. They inform and educate your audience and enable the audience to get to know you and [...]

What Should My Employee Newsletter Contain

Rob — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:30:03 +0000

Communications continues to fragment with more and more sources for news and information. The internal newsletter for your Department, Division or Company is still critical for directing the flow of information.

What should the newsletter contain? Each company will have unique situations or needs to meet. However, there are a number of items [...]

How Much Research Do You Need To Do?

Linda — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:30:29 +0000

Moving forward with communication tactics without a good understanding of the target audience, their current attitudes and beliefs and the drivers that might lead them to positive action relative to your product or service is never a good idea. On the other hand, many companies – particularly smaller companies – don’t have the [...]

Do Your Employees Know What’s Going On?

Linda — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:30:32 +0000

I’m often surprised that the most overlooked audience when it comes to communicating with key constituents is the internal or employee audience. Companies are generally pretty good about recognizing that they need to communicate with customers and prospects, but employees tend to be an afterthought. This may be because of the assumption that [...]

Speaking in Plain English to Your Customers

Rob — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:30:48 +0000

Often, we are deluged with junk mail. Recently, my credit card company decided to increase the value of my credit card statements by making them easier to read. My Clarity Commitment TM Credit Card “Is intended to provide you with a clear and straightforward description of your Bank of America credit card rates and [...]

Focus on Effective Employee Communications

Linda — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:30:07 +0000

A recent study by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork, the 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey,suggests that actions that companies have taken during the recession have had a negative impact on employee morale and commitment – particularly on the morale of high performers.Top performers were 20 percent less likely to recommend others take jobs at [...]

7 Important Facilitation Skills

Paul — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:30:25 +0000

In order for a facilitator to ensure their group delivers to the best of their ability he/she needs to use a set of seven skills at all times.

1. Leading

It’s down to the facilitator to determine how they are going to lead the group from their starting position through [...]

Don’t Forget About Gathering Client Feedback

Gina — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:30:26 +0000

It is important for service-oriented organizations to regularly gather feedback from their clients. Unfortunately, too many organizations don’t bother to check in with their clients to see how things are going. The feedback you gather from clients will help in many ways, including:

Determining what is working or not working in the services you [...]

Methods for Distributing Information on Projects

Gina — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:30:11 +0000

Ensuring that the right people (such as stakeholders, project team members, project sponsors, etc.) get the right information at the right time for project status and to make decisions on projects requires a great deal of planning. Effective distribution of information relies on the selection of the right tools and methods to ensure you [...]

The Five Stages of Team Development – Every Team Goes Through Them! (Part I)

Gina — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:20:13 +0000

The first four stages of team growth were first developed by Bruce Wayne Tuckman and published in 1965. His theory, called “Tuckman’s Stages” was based on research he conducted on team dynamics. He believed (as is a common belief today) that these stages are inevitable in order for a team to grow to the [...]