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New Women Managers

January 23, 2012 By Kari

Communication Strategies that Promote Success

by Kari F. Uman, M.Ed., President, Uman Resources Associates, Inc.

Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce NewsletterWomen who are new to management positions sometimes discover that their learned communication style works better in personal rather than professional settings. Here are three solid communication strategies that will help you manage yourself and work more effectively with your superiors, peers and employees:

    1. Set limits and learn to say “no”
      Many women in new managerial positions want to succeed so they do whatever peers, superiors and even their subordinates ask of them. This leads to resentment and burnout. Here are some guidelines to consider when setting limits:Know what you want and don’t want to do by assessing your:

      Time – how long will what is asked of you take?
      Energy – how much energy will you have to expand? Will it fill up or drain you?
      Skills – are these skills you already have? Do you want a new challenge that will increase yours skills?
      Desire – how much do you really want to do this? And what will be the benefit to you and/or the organization?

      If you suspect that saying no is damaging to your career, suggest a workable compromise so that you don’t have to take on the whole task.

    2. Make complete requests
      If you need to get others to take action, requests need to be clear, have a time frame, and any specific information that is pertinent to the success of the request. Make sure you include the following components:

      Requester: who is asking? (not, “we need to do this”)
      Listener: who is being asked? (not, “will someone do this for me?”)
      Future Action: What do I want you to do?
      Condition of Satisfaction: How will I know it’s been done?
      Establish a shared context: Verify assumptions. What does “review” mean?
      Time: by when?

      Here’s an example of a complete request: “Claudia, please review this document for me and correct my mistakes. This includes correcting typos and spelling, changing grammar, and re-writing any sentences that are not clear. I need to have this finished by 5 o’clock today. Do you need any further information?”

    3. Give clear, direct feedback
      If you need to give an employee negative feedback, use the “DESC” feedback model–it can help you communicate all the information effectively:

      Describe the behavior or event without any judgments or assumptions about intent. Be specific as if you are videotaping a scenario. Say, “Yesterday, when you came into the meeting 20 minutes late…” rather than “You always come late to meetings.” Otherwise, the employee can legitimately identify times when he/she was not late and therefore can dismiss the message.

      Express your feelings or explain the impact the person’s actions had on you or others. Say, “I was embarrassed because the CEO was there and it reflects badly on me and our office.” Yes, it is OK to express feelings. Your body language is expressing your feelings anyway so you may as well acknowledge them.

      Specify what you want the person to do in the future. Say, “In the future, I’m counting on you to arrive to meetings on time.”

      Communicate your belief in their ability to change. Positive reinforcement tends to motivate and move people towards action more effectively. “Your contribution is always valuable and I have no doubt you will be sensitive to my concern.”

      Following these tips will go a long way towards your success as a manager.

© Kari Uman 2004

Filed Under: Articles, Kari Uman, Women at Work Tagged With: kari uman, managers, strategies, success, women

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Marsha Hughes-Rease - Senior Associate

After fifteen years of coaching and consulting experience and over twenty five years of leadership experience at different organizational levels, Marsha Hughes-Rease partners with senior leaders and managers to address what she calls “swamp issues”, those really messy and complex challenges that can greatly diminish productivity, stakeholder satisfaction, financial performance and personal effectiveness in any organization.

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Ira Chaleff - President

Ira Chaleff is the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates. He has been named one of the top 100 leadership thinkers by Executive Excellence Magazine. He practices the high-stakes art of helping talented people prepare for and succeed in senior level roles. Whether working in the public sector with Senior Executive Service leaders or in the private sector with CEOs and leadership teams, he brings clarity to core success issues, and provides savvy and supportive guidance in tackling them.

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Beverly Jones - Senior Associate

Beverly Jones helps executives bring new productivity to their organizations, and works with professionals to restructure and re-energize their work lives. Throughout her varied career, Bev has engaged in leadership and change management activities, and today she coaches accomplished professionals and executives who want to become more effective. Bev’s current and recent coaching clients include attorneys, other professionals and small business owners, and also executives with university systems, with a national laboratory, and with a major brokerage firm.

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Mandeep Singh - Senior Associate

Mandeep partners with leaders who want to bring their own vision and passions into service for the world. This necessarily means deep inner work – increasing self-awareness and personal mastery, taking ownership and accountability, and expanding the ability to influence people and networks from within the system. While this may sound like hard work, in practice it tends to be completely natural, energizing, satisfying and fun. “Serious” and “impactful” are not correlated. Mandeep’s natural style is gentle, and his clients and he tend to forge long term, easy, trusted partnerships.

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Rosa Maria Barreiro - Strategic Management & Human Resources Consultant

Rosa María Barreiro is an innovative leader, business strategist and change agent with an extensive background and success in global operating environments throughout the USA and Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Rosa María has repeatedly been recruited to design and execute change management, employee engagement, leadership development and performance improvement initiatives for a wide variety of organizations and companies.

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Kari Uman - Senior Associate

Kari Uman, Senior Associate of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates in Fairfax, VA, has more than twenty-five years’ experience as a coach, consultant, and trainer. Her particular experience and interest in gender issues, and their impact on relationships and performance, enables her to help individuals change behaviors that are undermining their best efforts.

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David Grau - Senior Associate

David Grau is an executive and leadership coach in Bethesda, MD, with an in-depth consulting background in organization development and change management. He has over 17 years of coaching and consulting experience in the corporate, government, and non-profit sectors. He has particular abilities in assisting executives in identifying and making maximum and appropriate use of their strengths and identifying their opportunities for increased effectiveness as a leader.

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Emily Barnes - Senior Associate

To organizations and individuals adjusting to recent, current or anticipated change, Emily Barnes brings the strategic focus and competencies gained during fifteen years of diverse experience with various leadership, relationship, performance and communication challenges. A consultant and strategy coach, Ms. Barnes helps clients create and implement new success strategies.

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