http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog Helping international professionals improve their communication skills Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:30:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A dictionary definition will only take you so far. A business English resource may give you the list. But what about the ‘feeling’ or the subtle shades of meaning that individual expressions create? As the last parting words of your e-mail, sign offs are the perfect example of a feature ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=217 Some great communicators are born, and some work hard at it. Steve Jobs works incredibly hard at it, more than you may know. If you are anywhere near a computer these days, you have either personally seen or heard the buzz around Jobs’ top rate presentations. Perhaps you’ve often wondered ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=209 Being a great communicator is not rocket science, even if your native language is not English. Communication habits that are noticed, and effective, are deceptively easy. Consider the simplicity of the following approaches: Use some one’s name, especially on the phone. Doing this even once or twice, which is usually enough, ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=203 It is very hard to fix language and communication errors when you do not know what you are doing wrong. This is where feedback is useful, and herein lies the problem. Many non-Native English speakers express frustration that their colleagues do not point out language mistakes, written or verbal, or do ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=179 I was about to start a training session with a client the other day when she casually interrupted and proceeded to tell me exactly what she wanted and did not want from our program. It wasn’t so much her approach to the conversation which took me by surprise, but the ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=174 The power to change your writing begins with you, not the resources you have come to rely on--blogs, articles, books and the “7 tried-and-true methods of professional e-mailing.” All these tools will help to build you up, without question, but they cannot replace self effort. Ironically, and often the case ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=169 To get promoted you must excel at what you do. To get promoted faster, you must be noticed for excellence. In 1963 advertising executive William A. Marsteller said, “Don’t waste your ability – write articles, make speeches. Stand out from the crowd or be lost in the crowd.” Four-and-a-half decades ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=163 As a non-native speaker of English, sometimes it might be challenging for a native English speaker to understand you, and for you to therefore get your message across. This is true regardless of where you are speaking: at a meeting, a networking event, or a presentation to prospective customer. In ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=144 When you think of networking do you imagine an intimidating room of successful business people who are effortlessly mingling?  Not a particularly inviting picture, is it?   That’s maybe why so many people shy away from formal networking events. Cutting to the chase… Don’t shy away from networking.  Risk taking is an essential ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=128 Striving to be noticed can be one of the biggest challenges, and for an international job candidate in the U.S., this especially rings true.  A business owner once gave me the advice, “You can be the prettiest or you can be the ugliest, just don’t be in between.”  What he ... http://springboardsconsulting.com/sbblog/?p=11