Tip #297: 7 Tips About Your Corporate Authenticity

According to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer (the PR firm's annual survey on trust and credibility), transparency now affects a company's reputation more than the quality of their products or services. Just look at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and what the lack of transparency has done to BP.

Demand For Corporate Authenticity Is At An All-Time High.

When a client or prospect interacts with your company they are also experiencing your company. Every press release, every phone call, every e-mail, every face-to-face meeting contributes to a prospect's total experience. The less positive those experiences are, the less likely a client or prospect is to engage your business any further. To help your business operate more transparently, we came up with seven tips every leader should know.

7 Tips About Corporate Authenticity Every Business Leader Should Know:

1. Every Client And Prospect Adds Up Their Experience With Your Business - Clients and prospects experience your business from the very first e-mail or phone call they receive to the moment they walk through your door. Every sound, every sight, every smell shapes their opinions of your business' operation. Once every member of your staff understands this, you will be well ahead of your competition.

2. Experiences Can Be Designed For Someone - Do not confuse "designing" an experience with fabricating one. Knowing who your prospects are well enough to tailor an experience to suit their needs, wants and tastes will only strengthen their interest in your business. Look at what Disney does at its parks around the world.

3. A "Designed" Experience Does Not Mean Performed - Prospects do not want their experience with your company to feel like a performance. If a company delivers the illusion of reality how is it possibly authentic? It is important for leaders to understand the difference between designing an experience (tailoring it to suit the tastes of its clients and prospects) and fabricating one. People are smarter than ever and can quickly see through a corporate veil.

4. Consider Your Employees' Experience Too - Your employees deserve the same experience as your clients and prospects. Keep that in mind when you look at the environment people work in, how they are trained, your corporate culture and their balance with family life.

5. Avoid Experience Gaps At All Costs - In the advertising world, experience gaps are sometimes referred to as "brand gaps" - when the message and the experience do not align. Imagine staying at a 5-star hotel only to discover there is no running water. That is a huge disconnect, - one that compromises what the hotel promises and what they actually deliver. Put simply, talk is cheap. If you say you'll deliver, then deliver.

6. A Bad Experience CAN Be Fixed - Let's face it, businesses are run by people and people are not perfect. Mistakes are bound to happen. That does not mean a business should not strive for perfection. In the meanwhile, when a mistake does happen, be sure to react immediately and do everything in your power to remedy the mistake.

7. No One Has An "Indifferent" Experience - If a client engages your business once but does not return, chances are something went wrong. Learning what went wrong is critical in helping your business become more authentic. So instead of dismissing clients that do not return, survey them about their experience in an effort to improve your operation.

Summary: Recent events and studies have proven the need for corporate authenticity (honesty and transparency) is absolutely essential. To achieve this, businesses leaders need to ensure their operation is welcoming to clients and prospects. For example, avoid rigid scripts when making phone calls and make sure your salespeople talk to prospects like real people, not actors reciting lines in a play. The more you know about your business, the easier you can design an experience that will resonate with new opportunities.

Tip #296: 8 Tips To Help Grow Your Business

Now is perhaps the most interesting time ever to be running a business. On the one hand, there is much more for you to do and worry about. On the other hand, juggling all those responsibilities has been made easier thanks to the rapid development of technology, particularly the Internet.

Despite this, some business owners still tend to fall short when it comes to growing their business. Usually this is because they fail to do anything differently, even though there are scores of new and different ways to get ahead in the business world. With that in mind, we came up with eight tips to help any business grow.

8 Tips To Help Grow Your Business:

1. Don't Focus On The Economy - Obviously you need to keep track of how the economy influences your prospect's buying behavior, but you should otherwise avoid focusing on it too much. So long as what you offer is of value to people, there will always be a number of prospects you can sell to.
2. Offer Something New - When people stop buying something they used to, the knee jerk reaction most businesses have is to cut prices. However, this devalues what you offer in the eyes of your prospects. Instead, try to add new or more value to an existing product or service by updating them or bring something new to the table altogether.
3. Talk To Prospects - The only way to give your prospects and clients what they want is to learn what they want, and that is best accomplished through surveying. To make this happen, use an e-mail hosting tool that gives you the option to e-mail a survey. Keep it simple and flexible.

Click here to get a list of possible customer and employee survey questions.

4. Keep Up With The Times - Technology continues to grow at an incredible rate, especially communication technology. That means newer, easier ways to stay in contact with your prospects. So instead of shying away from new technology, embrace it.
5. Build Up Your Databases - Building a strong database of prospects and referral sources has been a building block to business success since the beginning of time. Now it is just easier to do. Still, far too many businesses fall short in this department when it is one thing they should be constantly working on.
6. Emphasize Your Value - In this day and age there is no patience to be had for a pushy salesperson. Nobody wants to arbitrarily pay for more. Instead, a salesperson needs to be a problem solver who shows a prospect how their product or service is of value to their business.
7. Stay On Top Of Marketing - Marketing continues to be the most underleveraged area of many businesses. It also tends to be the first thing to go when budgets are tightened. Of course, this is a big mistake. The only way to keep your business on your prospect's minds is to market it.
8. Don't Go It Alone - Everyone is good at something, but nobody is good at everything, so don't try to be. Fortunately for you, the Internet makes it easier than ever to avoid running a solo operation. If you are unable to hire employees, use virtual assistants to take some of the load off your shoulders.

Summary: Sure, growing your business is hard work. But anything worth obtaining usually is. Remember that there are numerous tools available to you to help grow your business. But they won't magically start working for you on their own. At the end of the day, the trick is to get out there and get started. Take advantage of surveys and always approach a prospect from an angle of value and never stop marketing your business smartly.

Tip #295: 6 Ways A Leader Can Improve Their Communication Skills

Communication Doesn't Just Happen, It Requires Effort.

Most people agree there is really no excuse for poor communication or communication lock up. There are so many methods of communication available to us, and almost all of them are used in the workplace - face-to-face, phone, voicemail, e-mail, virtual conferencing to even text messaging. But even with these resources, communication still needs to be consciously executed, and that starts at the top.

6 Ways A Leader Can Improve Their Communication Skills At The Office:

1. Start By Developing A Management-Down Culture - A "management-down" culture is exactly what it sounds like: One in which the highest level executives pass along information and ensure it is driven all the way down to the foundation.

2. Sharing Corporate Strategy And Vision - Larger sized businesses tend to find small cliques forming within the company. When this happens, information that ought to be disseminated throughout the company winds up staying localized. As a leader, you need to be aware if this happens and deal with it sooner versus later in order to ensure a smooth transmission of information.

3. Update Employees Frequently - There should be a set schedule for communicating corporate initiatives, expectations and results. It could be monthly, it could be quarterly - whatever you feel works best for your company. Keeping everyone in the loop generates a sense of appreciation, equal footing and fuels motivation.

4. Synchronize Goals - Depending on the size of your business, certain divisions or departments may operate autonomously. When this is the case, leaders must ensure division and department goals align with the corporate goals. Leaving a department unattended may result in their goals becoming incongruent to the company's.

5. Be Transparent About Financials - Whether the news is good or bad, financial information (sales data, customer data, capital equipment purchases, public information, etc.) needs to be shared with everyone. If financial news is broken outside of formal channels employees tend to grow disillusioned. Even if the news is good, it might seem like executives are intentionally withholding information, which breeds distrust.

6. Always Celebrate Internal And External Successes - Success comes in all shapes and sizes, and every instance of success ought to be celebrated. Maintaining a positive attitude throughout the company not only provides everyone a nice pick-me-up, but it also helps combat external forces that employees have no control over, like the economy.

Click here to read inc.com's list of tips to increase communication

Summary: Effective communication doesn't just happen for most leaders; it takes planning and a conscious effort. And like any skill, it requires practice through regular use. In most businesses, higher-ups need to lead by example. Once you start passing information down the ladder, others will follow suit. Do this, and you will find that it creates a work environment founded in honesty - honesty that is appreciated by everyone.

Tip # 294: 5 Team Building Exercises For Your Business

Employee Morale Directly Affects A Company's Success.

Businesses are run by people, not machines. When businesses think solely in terms of "productivity," "efficiency" and "time management" they lose focus on what really generates their sales - the people. With that in mind, we did some research and found 5 team-building activities designed to strengthen employee camaraderie and improve morale.

5 Team Building Games Designed To
Re-energize Your Team:

1. Policies & Procedures Scavenger Hunt - Face it, employee manuals tend to be a boring read, so try thinking outside the box when teaching your policies and procedures. Design a scavenger hunt in which employees solve the answers to questions about your company's policies and procedures by exploring the entire workplace (e.g., take out a page from the manual and ask them to find the page and highlight key sections of a particular policy).

2. The Employee P.I. - In many mid to large sized businesses, employees may know of someone but do not necessarily know them. To change this, have employees take a stab at playing private investigator. Gather your employees, pair them up, then have each employee ask their partner 5 - 10 questions. When everyone has been interviewed, have each person give a 45-second overview on what they learned about the other person to the rest of the group.

3. The Connection Web - Have your employees meet and instruct them to form a circle. Take a ball of string or yarn and tell them something you did to help a customer or improve a process/procedure. Then, holding on to one end of the string, toss the rest of it across the circle to another employee and have them repeat what you did. By the end you will have created a huge web that shows how every employee shares something in common.

4. The Business Board Game - Flex some creativity by building a board game out of poster board and base it around your business. Design question cards that will test your employees' knowledge about the company's history and product/service line. Then turn it over to employees to play in small groups. This game makes for a more interesting way to explore and learn a company's dynamics.

5. Respect A Mentor - Everyone has had a mentor in their life, whether it is someone they worked for, their mother, father or an outside business leader. Have employees share who their mentors have been so everyone can learn a bit about one another's values and interests. Team unity strengthens when employees look at each other and see more than a job role.

The Key Is To Follow-Up A Team Building Event.

Keep in mind that if a team building event that doesn't have a follow-up plan in place, your staff will become jaded and regard it as waste of time and energy. Due to recent downsizing and cost cutting by most businesses, people feel as if they are already doing more with fewer resources. So when you plan your team building events, keep in mind what the purpose or objective will be. Quite simply, it is to open communication and let people know your organization is stronger when everyone is working toward a common goal.

Summary: Although there are many successful companies in today's business world, they all share one common element: A High level of employee happiness. So take a page from some of these companies and shake things up a bit to find ways to make the mundane more fun. Not only will your employees appreciate it, but so will you.

Tip #293: 8 Sales Secrets Used By Winning Salespeople

Being a great salesperson means being personable, approachable, adaptive, flexible and dynamic. If a salesperson follows a rigid process when asking questions or reading a script they tend to come off more like a machine rather than a person. Remember, people want to enjoy buying, so make it enjoyable for them. With that in mind, we collected eight tips that have proven to be invaluable from rookie salespeople to veterans alike.

8 Sales Secrets Used By Winning Salespeople:

1. Avoid Prime Business Hours When Trying To Catch That Tough Prospective Buyer - This may seem counter-intuitive, but think about it for a moment. During prime business hours a prospect is more likely to be hard at work and unable to field any of your calls. But if you call at 8:00 a.m. or 5:15 p.m. they may be more willing not only to answer the phone but also hear you out.

2. Ask Business Related Questions - Prospects want to be presented with products or services that are of value to them, and the only way to learn what they want or need is to ask them questions about THEIR business. Additionally, asking questions will show a prospect you are genuinely interested in them on a one-on-one level and not just going through a routine.

Click Here For A List Of 20 Questions Every Salesperson Should Ask A Prospect

3. Speak In Terms Of Benefits - That is to say, do not simply run down your company's list of features and benefits. Sculpt each sales story on a case-by-case basis so that every prospect you speak with feels that you are discussing services they would benefit from directly.

4. ALWAYS Follow-up With A Prospective Buyer - Over the years, I have seen too many salespeople stop calling a prospective buyer after their first unsuccessful attempt at getting the sales process started. Just because someone is not interested in what you are selling today does not mean they will not be interested tomorrow. Remember, the salesperson that does not stay in touch is quickly forgotten by a prospect ready to buy.

5. Give Your Prospects Something Of Value - People like information sent to them about their industry or ways to make a more educated purchase. By sending a prospective buyer an article or information they might find of interest you show them that you are thinking of them. It also adds a more personal touch to your interactions.

6. Self-Assess Your Cold Calls - Self-assessment is one of the most useful tools at your disposal. There are numerous ways to record phone calls, so find one that suits you and record one of your cold calls so you can review your approach and learn what your strengths and weakness are. I also recommend you keep track of the calls you make in order to keep yourself honest. I have seen many salespeople fail due to lack of consistency when calling their database of prospective buyers.

7. Pace Yourself When Prospecting For New Business - Prospecting for your next sale not only takes a lot of time it also takes a huge amount of effort and mental energy. To help you achieve sales success each month, pace your daily prospecting activities and maintain a set schedule. Taking this approach to prospecting not only prevents you from getting burned out or frustrated it also keeps your sales pipeline full.

8. Be Casual And Inviting - As mentioned earlier, people like to buy from people they like and trust. And the most successful salespeople I have met are the ones who made a prospect feel at ease, smile or laugh. Remember, you are having a conversation with a prospect, not interrogating them.

Click Here For A List Of 20 Questions Every Salesperson Should Ask A Prospect

Summary: Sales is hard work, there is no doubt about it. That is why it is so important to have a game plan and to always be looking for ways to improve your technique. There is a reason professional athletes practice in the offseason - no one stays on top of their game without regularly honing their skills through assessment and training. This rings true for salespeople, too.

Tip #292: 5 Secrets To Boost Your Public Speaking Confidence

According to studies, public speaking it is one of the most feared things a person can do. Of course, this is something of a problem considering how most people are expected to speak publicly at some point in their lives - especially in the business world. Production meetings, addressing a team, client presentations and executing a presentation are just a few of the common public speaking venues held in the workplace.

Successful Public Speaking Starts With Your Preparation.

If there is one piece of advice I can provide you about public speaking, it is be prepared. Most people who are nervous about public speaking are nervous about being put on the spot, about making a fool of themselves. This concern is easily remedied as the proper preparation instills confidence, and confidence combats nervousness. With that in mind, here are five public speaking tips to ensure you remain cool, calm and collected.

5 Public Speaking Secrets That Will Guarantee Your Success:

1. Know Who Your Audience Is - The first thing to consider when speaking publicly is your audience. Understanding who you will be speaking to provides tremendous insight. For example, how familiar is your audience with the subject you are covering? If it is something they already know about, you can forego the need of an explanation or definition of terms. However, if it is new to them, a certain degree of background information will need to be explained.

2. Become An Expert On Your Topic - This is the cornerstone of public speaking preparation. You want to know what you will be speaking about inside and out. That way when you stand in front of the group, information will just pour out of you, as opposed to stumbling about in your delivery. Becoming a relative expert also allows you to field questions without trouble.

3. Work Through Your Self-Consciousness - Public speaking involves standing in front of a group, so it is natural for your self-consciousness to be at a high level. Concern over your hair, posture, voice or the clothes you are wearing could contribute to anxiety, which in turn could affect how well you speak. Practicing your speech and staying focused on the materials will help keep you from feeling self-conscious.

4. Prepare Yourself Mentally And Physically - For some, nervousness over public speaking will not only manifest mentally, but also physically. Physical signs of nervousness include an accelerated heart rate, sweating, shaking and stuttering. There are a number of calming techniques you can investigate that will even out breathing and relax your muscles. The more relaxed you go into a public speaking venue the more focused you will be.

5. Connect With Your Audience - The easiest way to work on connecting with your audience is to bring personal stories about your topic into your presentation or discussion. As I tell everyone, public speaking is nothing more than a one-on-one conversation in a larger proportion. So make eye contact, speak dynamically and most importantly, be approachable so your audience feels comfortable with you.

Summary: Bottom line, the best way to overcome nervousness about public speaking is to prevent nervousness about public speaking. If you are assigned a public speaking task, prepare, prepare and prepare again. The more certain you are about what you are saying the more confident you will be when put on the spot. Research the subject extensively and commit that information to memory so that it can be accessed immediately. Also, be sure to perform at least one practice-run before the real deal. It will amaze you how much this will help.

Tip #291: A Crash Course On Problem Solving (Part 2 of 2)

Tips 5 - 8 On Ways To Improve Your Problem Solving Process:

5. Be Mindful Of What You Are NOT Looking For - By design, people have individual perceptions that allow them to quickly notice or think of one thing, but may block out another. The only real way around this obstacle is to be consciously aware of what you instinctively may not be looking at in a particular problem. It also helps to assemble a diverse team to aid you through a problem, where each team member complements one another in a unique way.

6. Be Sure To Cover The Bases - As we have said, there is no easy solution to fix problems, especially since no two problems are exactly alike. That does not mean you shouldn't follow a systematic approach each time in order to cover the bases. Problem solving is typically a matter of piecing things together. Having a rundown list is a smart way to prevent overlooking anything. When a process is followed, errors, mistakes and oversights are minimized.

7. Develop A Unique System For Your Company - After resolving enough problems using a system, the people at your company will start to follow a pattern or rhythm to problem solving. That rhythm, when blended with bits and pieces of problem solving techniques, can be developed into a unique system for your company. Again, a process won't guarantee you a quick and easy solution to your problem, but it will facilitate the problem solving process in a much more efficient and effective manner.

8. Take The Time To Do Research - Research is the difference between learning the hard way - on the fly - versus the easy way - being prepared. There are scores of books about problem solving techniques available. Employ some preventative measures by picking a few of these books to create your own unique system based on the techniques you like. By taking extra time in advance means spending less time dealing with some frustrations in the future.

Summary: Problem solving in the work place is a lot like detective work. For starters, it calls for a lot of fact-finding and data gathering. There is also a lot to be said about the value of research as a preventative measure. Knowing where other people have been and how they got through their own ordeals can be an invaluable tool during your own efforts. If nothing else, exploring other techniques may reveal a new way of approaching a problem you might not consider normally.

Tip #290: A Crash Course On Problem Solving (Part 1 of 2)

Problems: They are something every business will inevitably face. And because problems are inevitable, having a problem solving procedure is crucial in the workplace. Unfortunately, there is no Satisfaction Guaranteed emergency problem solving kit that you can purchase and pull out in times of crisis. No, problem solving requires an adaptive mind and the ability to stay cool under pressure.

Solving A Problem Requires A Plan.

Countless experts have explored a variety of approaches one can take to face down problems. While no one tactic will ensure success, there are still ideas from these tactics that can help you through a problem a lot better than flying blindly.

8 Ways To Improve Your Problem Solving Process (Tips 1-4 today; Tips 5 - 8 Next Week):

1. Know Where You Are Going - When a problem arises and a team sits down to sort it out, the first thing you should identify is your goal. However, you want to avoid being overly simple or vague, like stating your goal as "to fix the problem." A vague definition is a useless definition. More importantly, if you don't know where you are going it will be much more difficult to get there. Instead of being vague, flesh out and thoroughly define the state you are trying to achieve. Breaking down the desired state into several components will help paint a clearer picture as to what must be done to reach it.

2. Identify The Problem - And not just once. Several times. Your understanding of the problem initially tends to be incomplete since little to no data on the issue has been gathered. But the more that data accumulates, the more the problem comes into focus. And with that clarity comes a more detailed definition of your problem and your goals. So by re-evaluating and re-identifying the problem you will stay on top of the matter a great deal more effectively.

3. Define Goals And Objectives - Most people's instinct is to rush to the rescue when a problem shows up. And while some scenarios do in fact call for quick thinking and even quicker response, just as many benefit from careful analysis and a thoughtful approach. In other words, problem solving benefits from organization. Assemble a team and hold a meeting to discuss the problem in detail. Clearly define the issue, define your goals and define your objectives so that the problem solving process moves forward as smoothly as possible.

4. Create A Visual Picture Of Your Problem - Another often-overlooked approach to problem solving preparation is visualization. Many people work considerably better when working with something visually. For example, you could map out a diagram of the problem, its source and the paths to its solution on a large whiteboard, then step back and observe the problem from this perspective; it may help you see something that was not immediately apparent before.

Summary: In many cases, problem-solving benefits most from keeping a level head and responding to the situation with a calm, cool and collected approach. Instead of tackling a problem head on, take the extra time to bring in a well-rounded team and map out a plan of attack. The more you define the problem and the more prepared you are the easier solving a problem becomes. Rushing to the rescue could prove detrimental, resulting in additional problems that spring up and warp a single issue into a series of issues. Remember, tips 5 - 8 will be featured in next week's tip.

Tip #289: Jump-Start Creative Thinking In The Workplace

When it comes to creativity, there is no definable or surefire process that works for everyone. Still, there are techniques that you can employ to help jump-start creativity, or at least foster its growth. And sure, some people are more creative than others, but everyone can benefit from exercising these simple yet powerful techniques.

The Business World Is Constantly Changing

. . . And So Should You.

Without creative thinking, today's innovative ideas will become stagnant tomorrow. And if your business makes the mistake of playing it safe, it will open the door for an innovative competitor - a door that will not only take market share from you but also clients.

6 Tips To Jump-Start Your Creative Thinking Process:

1. Set Attainable Goals - Before sitting down with your team, draw up a list of your goals. These goals should not be handouts, but should not be impossible to reach either. Strike a balance so your team will still break a sweat, but won't burn themselves out struggling to reach their goals.

2. Prepare Before A Brainstorming Session - We suggest avoiding unplanned brainstorming sessions. Instead, we suggest giving your team advanced notice so they have time to prepare and get their creative engines running earlier.

3. Add A Visual Element To The Mix - The more dimensions a brainstorming session has the more likely it will produce something useful. We suggest having something to sketch on and have often times found large whiteboards as a way for everyone draw out their ideas.

4. Change Perspectives - After years of cultivating your company's unique attitude, you run the risk of being biased and inefficient at getting things done any other way. However, taking on a new persona when thinking creatively is an invaluable skill to possess, as it introduces adaptive thinking to the equation.

5. Think In Terms Of Opposites - Often times creative thinking sessions focus on the obvious. We have found unique ideas can come out from exploring the opposite. Reverse engineering an idea or process can yield an innovative thought.

6. Make Connections That Were Never An Option - One aspect of creative thinking is to approach something from a totally new angle, and one of the best ways to force that approach is to make connections between two or more seemingly unconnected items. During a brainstorming session, create a long list of ideas. Then pick two or three ideas at random and try to develop connections until the ideas blend together into one new, unique idea.

Summary: While no creative thinking technique can guarantee results, almost every technique you and your team use will contribute to a brainstorming session. In the end, if your goal is to breathe new life into a product or service or look at problems and solutions internally, you need derail yourself from your current business mind-set and adopt a more creative thought process. After all, when there is nothing to lose, there is everything to gain.

Tip #288: 6 Tips To Improve Listening Skills

Effective Listening Is Not Only Challenging, But A Learned Skill.

By nature, people tend to focus more on what they are saying than on what they are hearing. For example, you probably put more effort into leaving a voicemail than you do listening to voicemail left for you. This is because listening is, for most people, a very natural, passive action. And since we are always hearing, the idea of consciously listening to another person may not seem necessary. However, there is a world of difference between "hearing" and "listening." The difference is that listening requires effort.

6 Proven Ways To Improve Your Listening Skills.

1. Give A Speaker Your Complete Attention - All too often, people let their thoughts drift when someone is speaking. They think about a current project they are working on or a task that they have been assigned. They even think about matters unrelated to work. The best way to combat this distraction is to actively concentrate while listening. We recommend taking notes when someone is speaking as it forces you to maintain focus on the speaker.

2. Avoid Snap Judgments/Interrupting - Another thing listeners are prone to is early evaluation - that is, making a snap judgment based on something the speaker said without hearing them out completely. Snap judgments lead to interruption, which is not only rude but a sure sign of an ineffective listener. Whether you agree or disagree with a speaker, hear them out to the end before responding.

3. Listen To HOW Something Is Being Said - There is more to listening than just absorbing the words being spoken. A speaker's posture, their tone, inflection and any other gestures or motion need to be assimilated as well. How something is being said is every bit as important as what is being said.

4. Send Nonverbal Cues That You Are Listening - Communication is a two-way street; the listener may not be talking, but they are still expected to communicate with whomever they are listening to. Mostly, a speaker wants reassurance that they are being heard. Match their eye contact, nod your head when appropriate and learn forward with a look of intent and interest. This will also help with your focus.

5. Use Paraphrasing To Improve Your Listening - Like taking notes, paraphrasing is another technique that will help sharpen and hone your listening skills. Effective paraphrasing is completely dependent on how well you listened. Paraphrasing can also be used to show someone that their message was delivered successfully and understood.

6. Ask Questions - Not every message is understood on the first attempt, however, and might require clarification. But that clarification is the listener's responsibility. If you do not understand everything a speaker says, it is imperative that you ask questions. Follow-up questions are the truest sign of an attentive, active listener. More importantly, you cannot perform your job 100% if you do not have a clear understanding of what is expected of you.
   
   Summary: Effective listening starts with a conscious effort on your end. It is important to recognize the difference between hearing someone and listening to someone. When listening, display signs of interest. Taking notes will help you focus on a speaker, and will also supply you with material to use when paraphrasing or asking follow-up questions. Remember, communication in the workplace is absolutely essential, but it does not occur naturally - it takes practice.