HMS Musings
You know how certain themes start appearing in your life? Self-talk has been my communications topic of late. I appreciate how different people address the same issue. Looking through a variety of lenses helps to understand how different people process information. Taking this variety of information into account, one can begin to address making changes in our own self-talk.
Perhaps my favorite take on this inner dialogue and overthinking comes from Jeff Acuff, who has a new book on the subject, Soundtracks. It came to me by way of the Stanford d school, which offers amazing e-learning. Jeff approaches our inner dialog through soundtracks we play over and over in our brain. Some can be helpful, but others are broken. He uses a version of Rumi’s three questions to evaluate your soundtracks. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Kind? If your soundtrack doesn’t make it through those three gates, RETIRE it! Replace it with a more helpful track and put it in Repeat. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we can take control of that inner space and be our own DJ. Research supports that we tend to focus on the negative. We may have done 99 things correctly, but what does our brain choose to focus on? The one we didn’t do well. Left unsupervised, our brains can be real jerks. Remember phrases like, “You are your own worst enemy?’ or “You’re your own worst critic?” Your brain is also at the mercy of memories changing over time and a tendency to believe what it already thinks is true. It is up to us to stand up and retire old, untruthful soundtracks and replace them with hip, new and positive ones. Now, place that on REPEAT. Another perspective is to develop a relationship with your inner critic. Realizing that perhaps that inner voice is really your inner child, just trying to protect you and keep you from risking or getting hurt. Imagine 8-year-old “you” and give this voice a name. I chose Minnie (mini me). The dynamic changes when you can visualize your inner dialogue this way. You are kinder to this voice. Explain why you have the tools and the strength to pursue a new dream. Write them a letter. Finally, there is the embodiment of, “I am my own worst critic.” This is the crappy voice that says, “You are never good enough.” This voice never gives you a break. Its poster mantra is, “Good, better, best. never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best.” Motivational? Maybe. What happens when you don’t meet expectations? Lots of negative feedback. This thing is, would you ever talk to a friend the way you talk to yourself? The answer is no. This is where it is important to challenge that inner self talk. Challenge it to fit through the gates – Is it true, is it necessary, is it kind. Most often the negative thoughts don’t pass the test. How you talk to yourself impacts your attitude, self-confidence, and ability to take risks. If you talk to yourself as your own biggest supporter, there is no telling what you can achieve. It is so interesting how information presented in different ways can resonate with different people. Whatever perspective you choose to apply, the time you take to become aware of your inner dialogue and address the “broken soundtracks,” will be well worth it.
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So, you want to do a refresh of your brand as a part of your marketing strategy. It is a great way to communicate to others what your company stands for and create a recognizable thread in all your communications through a consistent look and feel.
Holland Management Services has been in business for over 20 years and has gone through several iterations. Primarily, it was an association management, consulting, and freelance writing company. The focus was primarily equine and education. In recent years, HMS has added data analytics and outcomes research to our services with the addition of Dr. Rob Holland, DVM, PhD. We expanded into animal health and brought the communications focus to our work there as well. The company was looking very different as it grew, so we felt some visioning and rebranding was in order. Rebranding is an opportunity to focus in on who you are and what you want to be as a company. The imagery of your corporate brand communicates a lot about you. It is a good time to revisit and update your mission and vision. Making sure you are aligned in your focus moving forward will help you to make better decisions. One of the challenges of a small company is the temptation to accept projects that are outside of the scope of what you really do well. Having this lens at the forefront can keep you focused on your ultimate goals and avoid distractions. In our case, we wanted to focus on a tagline of Integrity, Quality, and Innovation. Developing our logo, we chose a lighthouse, as it provides direction in a storm, and a castle to represent security and standing the test of time. We used Bulloch Harbour in Ireland as our inspiration, as it is one of our favorite places to be. I had taken a photo of the little lighthouse there with the castle in the background. Our daughter, Sofia, took the first stab at the design after hearing about the thought process. Her logo is the basis of what we present today. You never know where your assets are and, in this case, it means more to us to have her talents be a part of our new look. My friend and amazing graphic designer, Nicole Miller of Millermark Creations took the design and perfected it, helping us to add the color scheme and making it usable in all those marvelous formats. You will be surprised how many different versions you might need for various applications. As we developed advertising posts and website backgrounds, we have kept with the ocean and lighthouse themes. The images themselves communicate a certain feel. For example, in our ad for difficult conversations, I chose a turbulent sea for the background. For clear communications, I chose a calm sea to give the feel of crystal-clear waters, reinforcing the feeling of clear communications. Our detail sheets describing what our services are include images of the internal staircases of lighthouses. The visual underscores the steps we take in solving problems, communicating a concept, or evaluating data. We hope you enjoy our new look! Fear is in the air around Halloween. Humans even choose to be scared by movies and haunted houses, just for the thrill of it! Most of the time, fear is not so great. It makes us question ourselves and often keeps us from doing things we want to, because fear makes us doubt.
Fear escalates during uncertainty. The pandemic certainly has served up a big share of uncertainty. When humans are in fear mode, they tend towards one of two reactions – fight or flight. You can see this playing out in our society. Violence is escalating, rants are common on social media and even in real life. People are becoming entrenched in beliefs to the point of no reasoning or compromise works. On the other side, people are risk averse. Not wanting to try new things. According to Psychology Today “Fear is a common but counterproductive response to uncertainty. When fear dominates, the creative brain shuts down.” Fear is toxic to communications. You can see this in work cultures. Those who lead by fear get very little input from their people. “Keep your head down and just work.” Is a common attitude. Great leaders foster a culture of participation, trust, and yes, vulnerability. According to Simon Sinek, “A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.” Trust is the opposite end of fear. Navigating communication is challenging during times like we are living in. Even if you have a great work culture, remember there is a ton of uncertainty and fear in people’s lives right now. Words matter, so think carefully about what you say. Be honest and clear in what you want to communicate. Ask for feedback and listen to that feedback carefully. Show people that you care about them. This will build trust. It often takes courage to have honest conversations. Be brave. “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune http://changingminds.org/explanations/trust/trust_fear.htm https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/conversational-intelligence/201404/minimize-fear-maximize-trust Did you ever have the experience of hearing someone retell an interaction and wonder, “Were we in the same conversation?” It is amazing how 2 people can hear the same things and yet come away with vastly different perceptions of what was said. Sometimes, it is a matter of people listening only for what they want to hear. Other times they only catch bits and pieces due to lack of attention. Whatever the reason, such miscommunication is at the root of many problems.
What does this mean for effective communication to groups? You can take steps to minimize the confusion.
Sometimes communication is more informal, but you can ask effective questions to confirm what you have said was understood as intended. Open ended questions like, “How do you feel about that?” or “How do you think we can implement this effectively?” Can ensure they really listened to what you have to say. Words matter. Use them intentionally! Communication is about more than just words, although I contend words are powerful and words matter! Last weekend, I had the opportunity to focus on sound as a component of communication at a virtual event - Roger Love's Voice of Success. Three days full of how to use your voice to make more of an impact. I came away with many insights.
Sound is indeed a key component of communication. Delivered effectively, sound can make or break the impact of your words. If the words and sounds don't match, it will cause dissonance for the listener. How you sound is how you are perceived. Albert Mehrabian, a pioneer researcher of body language in the 1950's, found that the total impact of a message is about 7 percent verbal (words only) and 38 percent vocal (including tone of voice, inflection, and other sounds) and 55 percent nonverbal. Catching and holding people's attention these days is a challenge. It is likely a function of the information overload we are subjected to each day and the rise of social media scrolling. A key to capturing and holding attention in a presentation is variation. Lucky for us, there are multiple elements to choose from, including pitch, pace, tone, melody and volume. Try recording yourself and listening to your delivery. Yes, I know, we all hate to listen to ourselves, but truly, there is value here. Make sure you are not monotone in your delivery. Speaking on the same note will bore your audience and cause them to tune out, regardless of the awesome words you are trying to share. Maybe there is too much air in your voice, making people not want to take you seriously. Perhaps your delivery is monotone, loud and fast. Yikes, you sound angry! While you are listening to yourself, see if you add in the dreaded fillers. Ums, in particular. Guess what? There is a cure! Silence. It turns out fillers are our way to try to keep attention while our brains decide what to say next. Americans are especially uncomfortable with silence. A pause is actually effective. It allows your listener a chance to process what you have said. There is so much more to learn. You might want to check out Is Your Voice Ruining Your Life? TedX talk that Roger gave a few years ago. As a lifelong learner, this was a great way to enhance my communication skills. Keep learning, my friends!! Effective communication is all about knowing your audience. When I begin a writing project, my first question is always, "Who is going to be reading this?" Why? Because you present the same information in different ways depending on who you are trying to talk to.
Corporate communications, for example, can be very different depending upon the audience. Say you are going to launch a new product. Let's take an Animal Health product as an example. What do the people inside the company need to know? Employees need to understand the product, where people can buy it, how to use it, and be encouraged to promote it. They might need to know how to field questions and know any challenges the product might present and where to get more information. What do people outside the company need to know? Well, that depends. You may have a primary customer, who then resells to target customers. In this case, it would be a veterinarian. They would need to know the benefits of the product for their patients, what conditions it treats, if it is safe, and the science behind it. They also need to know why they would choose this new product over their current treatment plans. Finally, they would need to have support in marketing the product. A final customer in this case would be an animal owner. They would need to know it is safe and can help improve the life of their pet. They would want to know when to go see their veterinarian, who most owners rely upon for effective medical treatment. If it is a new product, you might want to write articles to gain the support from the scientific community. They would want to know all about the research behind it, how effective it is, how that was measured, the chemical makeup, and potential adverse events. Every target audience is going to respond to a different tone of voice in your communications. You want the communication to speak to them and their needs. A general customer would want easy to read, supportive language that ties them emotionally to their pet. A scientist would want a very high level, data specific presentation, with no fluff. You need to put yourself into the "shoes" of the audience and think - what would I want to know? Do I want quick and easy, or detailed with examples? In some cases, you need to write for a combination of these "listen-fors." It is amazing how you can take the same basic pieces of information and present it in different ways to cause your audience to move to action. If you ever need help in your communications, feel free to reach out to us at www.HollandManagementService.com or email me directly at [email protected] Greetings!
This is Liza and I will be using this space to share interesting challenges and solutions as we work daily with clients. I have recently returned full time to HMS after a stint as Executive Director of the Paso Fino Horse Association. Part of this change involved looking at new systems to track clients, tasks, deliverables and such. What I implemented for PFHA was not really what I needed for HMS, so I went on a search. In our situation, Rob and I need to be able to communicate and update one another on the progress of various projects and agree on who is going to cover what. After a good deal of exploration, we settled on Asana. It allows us to communicate easily, track tasks on the fly, and make sure no details are being missed. Many of the solutions I looked at could do a good job in these areas, I just preferred the look of Asana. Technology can be a game changer in solving problems and establishing systems. In fact, this search inspired us to identify a tech solution for Rob's Vet Business as well. We are now proud members of the Hippo Herd! Systems, whether they are technology based or just a procedure to follow, can be a key tool in continuous improvement. Any time there is a challenge, it is worth asking, "Is this a one singular event or might this situation come up again?" If it might re-occur, this is a perfect time to put a system in place to deal with the issue effectively the next time. In this day and age, technology solutions are often implemented. Business needs to focus on efficiency, productivity and customer service. Systems can help all three. |
Liza HollandLiza is Owner and Consultant of HMS. Archives
July 2022
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