By Heather Campbell >> Effective communication is key to business & leadership success For business leaders, the ability to communicate effectively is vital. Get it wrong and you lose your ability to lead, motivate and engage. And organisations are little more than the sum of the conversations that take place every day – boardroom conversations, sales conversations, conversations in team meetings, even water-cooler conversations. To become and remain successful, organisations need to adopt best practices in managing the conversations that drive their ...

By Heather Campbell >> When you want your boss, or colleague, or customer to say ‘Yes’ to one of your great ideas and instead you get the answer ‘No’ – how do you respond? Chances are you do one of two things: you either push your point more strongly or you back off. And neither of these gets the results you need. Pushing the same point annoys the other person and makes you look like an idiot as they refuse your request ...

By Heather Campbell >> My interest in how best to help people interact with one another at work has recently led me to explore the potential impact of Generation Y on the workplace. Depending on what you read, Gen Y consists of those individuals born late 1970s/early ’80s through to mid/late 1990s. Although my specific interest is how people relate to one another, my research opened up a range of different paths about the impact this group (and it’s a big group ...

By Heather Campbell >> With the spectre of recession looming over us and a reported 7 out of 10 business leaders preparing for more tough times, employees naturally become extra sensitive about what this means for job security. Business leaders must therefore become extra sensitive about what they are communicating. If they do not, they risk building unnecessary worries that reduce motivation, morale and commitment across the workforce. Two words in particular – ‘restructuring’ and ‘efficiencies’ – bring fear. They are inevitably ...

By Heather Campbell >> I was at a networking event recently; something I rarely do, as the idea of getting together purely to meet other people – rather than to work on or explore something that is a shared interest – still makes me wary. One of the reasons for that wariness is that so many networking events are all about broadcasting to others information about ourselves – whether they want to hear it or not. This is the absolute antithesis of ...

By Heather Campbell >> Ongoing economic woes mean that many business leaders are spending yet another year giving tough messages to employees. Pay freezes or reductions, job losses and fewer opportunities for career progression are sadly still the order of the day for many businesses. But despite the depressing regularity of this type of conversation, we must ensure we do not underestimate the importance of handling them sensitively. Hearing a clear, direct message, delivered in person by another human being, continues to ...