Do You Want to Become a More Influential Supervisor?

The highly popular Bud to Boss Workshop, presented by the Kevin Eikenberry Group, offers these tips to make your communication more powerful, persuasive and meaningful: 

1. Speak with people, not to them. Ask more questions. Make fewer assertions.  
2. Speak with people the way that they want to be spoken with. In this case, ignore the Golden Rule. It doesn’t matter how you would prefer to be spoken with. Adjust your communication to meet each employee’s needs.  
3. Demonstrate unqualified respect. Listen attentively. Don’t use belittling language or body language. Recognize that each team member has something to offer.  
4. Speak about what you want rather than what you don’t want. Keep your communication affirmative, whenever possible. Give positive feedback when you see behaviors that you want to encourage.

What communication rules do you live by?

[Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/9110880@N04.]