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Goal Setting

10 Ways Executive Coaching Can Help Hone Effective Communication

By | Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Goal Setting

Clear and effective communication underpins the running of any successful organization.

If you’re in an executive role, communication takes on many forms. Mastering the art will give you a precious edge in performance so don’t be afraid to engage a coach to bring out the best in you.

With research showing that either written or verbal communication is involved in fully 90% of business transactions, neglecting the art of communication is ill-advised.

Whether you’re communicating internally or with your client base, whether you’re interviewing or trying to get departments to work collaboratively on a project, getting your message across is only half the battle. You need to make sure that message is understood.

10 Ways a Coach Can Help You To Communicate More Effectively

As with any skill, the best executive coach can help you hone your ability to communicate.

We’ll outline 10 key areas where a solid executive coach can work with the skills you already have in place and help you to communicate with devastating effect, an effect that can dramatically impact the bottom line of your organization.

1) Accept Full Responsibility for Breakdown in Communication

Communication is not communication unless the transmission is fully understood.

In your leadership role, you’re invariably the primary communicator. You’re not only responsible for sharing a message, but also making sure that message hits home.

Beyond this, communicating is about more than simply imparting information. You can better understand the people you work with through effective communication. You can also improve your relationships both within the organization and with clients.

With this in mind, if your message has not been adequately understood, communication has been incomplete. You have failed in your job.

If this happens, don’t pass the buck. The easiest thing is to blame someone else. The much tougher but far more effective approach is to ask yourself what you did wrong, and to bear full responsibility for this breakdown in communication.

In terms of remedying the issue, take a leaf from Michael Jordan’s book. He assiduously reviewed all his past games to identify and work on mistakes. You don’t need to go to the lengths of recording your conversations, but take any failures in communication to your coach and he’ll help you work through the problem, help you to achieve a better outcome next time around.

2) Are You Really Listening or Just Waiting for an Opportunity to Speak?

This is an area where an executive coach can really drill you.

Have you heard the expression, “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason”?

I’m saying this not to be rude but it’s a truism well worth bearing in mind when you’re communicating in the workplace.

Ask yourself if you’re genuinely listening to the other party or simply waiting to slip your next point in. Without listening attentively, you’re unlikely to get the optimum outcome for both parties from any interchange.

Your coach can help you here by making sure you feed back what you’re hearing. Not only does this crystallize and clarify things in your mind, it makes the other party feel like you’re really listening to them.

3) Ask Yourself What’s In It For Your Audience

It goes unsaid you need to think about your own needs when you’re communicating. You shouldn’t neglect what you want from any given exchange, but neither should you overlook what’s equally important…

What’s in it for your audience?

Whether you’re talking one-on-one or presenting to a large group, you should always keep the needs and different perspectives of your audience uppermost in mind.

I mention perspectives because these differ according to someone’s position in an organization, their motivations and their various needs. A one-size-fits-all solution rarely works.

By remaining fluid and ready to switch up your style when required, you’ll be better placed to cater to everyone’s needs without compromising your own.

4) Keep Conversation a Two-Way Street

This might seem like a statement of the obvious but it bears keeping firmly in mind.

When you’re communicating, you should pay close attention not only to the words you hear, but you should also drill down on whether or not you fully understand what the other person means.

Equally as important as what someone says is what they don’t say. Reading between the lines is a crucial skill your coach can help you develop and sharpen. You don’t need to be a mind reader but your coach can make sure you don’t miss out on subtle pointers where someone might be implying something by omission.

Delivering a monologue is a surefire way to bore your listener and put them off interacting fully. Your coach will make absolutely certain your listening skills are equally polished as your spoken delivery.

5) Never Be Afraid of Repetition: I Repeat, Never Be Afraid of Repetition

This might seem like the antithesis of clear and effective communication, but I’m talking about a very specific type of repetition here…

By repeating the way in which someone has interpreted what you’ve said back to them, you can ensure that they really have understood what’s been asked of them.

You can also flip this neatly on its head by asking your audience to paraphrase what you’ve said to them. This will make it clear whether or not you’re on the same page. You can then plug any gap in comprehension by drilling down with more precision.

6) Non-Verbal Communication Counts

Non-verbal communication, according to this study, accounts for more than half of an audience’s perception of the presenter. This holds true whether you’re communicating to a group or an individual. It also works in both directions.

You should never underestimate the value of learning the basics of body language. Proper posture, eye contact and movement can seriously enhance the impact of your words. This is another area where your coach can give you a helping hand.

7) Over-Communicate When Sharing New Ideas

It’s commonplace to overestimate just how much a listener understands, doubly so if you’re talking about a complex or unfamiliar topic.

Just because you see a nodding head or hear a “Sure”, that doesn’t always equate to your message hitting home in full.

While you should communicate clearly and concisely, don’t confuse this with needing to gloss over important details too quickly. Over-communicating an idea followed up with summarizing that idea is a solid strategy to guarantee your audience absorbs the full weight of what you’re saying.

An executive coach can work through a number of exercises to check you get this skill on lock.

8) Remain on Point At All Times

While I’ve talked about repetition used strategically and also about over-communication, keep in mind that you should also stay on message at all times. Avoid verbiage. Resist the temptation to add anything extraneous to the conversation.

Your coach can assist you here by keeping you fully focused on the goal or goals of your communication. 

9) Skip The Visual Aids Where Possible

Steve Jobs famously banned all PowerPoint presentations at Apple.

Facebook also instituted a similar veto on visual aids.

Needless to say, both of these global giants communicate brilliantly at the very highest level.

When you sidestep relying too much on props, you’ll be forced to draw your audience in with words alone. Combining the art of storytelling with non-verbal cues can be far more impactful than rolling out a few tired old slides.

10) Think About Whether What You’re Saying Really Makes Sense

Feedback is pivotal when you’re trying to ascertain whether your message is really punching home.

The listening skills you’ve polished with your coach will come fully to the fore here, along with your ability to take on board what your listener is feeding back to you verbally, non-verbally, and with what they are not saying. Put all these elements together and you can determine how much your message is sinking in.

You can say that communication has been truly effective when all parties can agree that “It makes sense.”

What To Do Next

If you’re looking to enhance your communication skills through the power of coaching, put it into practice right now.

Get in touch and schedule an appointment. I’ll help you to help yourself and, in turn, your audience and your organization.

New Leaders Council-Atlanta ” Work-Life-Balance

By | Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Goal Setting

 

Work- LifeBalance is, at best, an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth according to the Harvard Business Review. I do believe it is attainable. The idea of balance allows leaders to choose how they will interact with work, family and community.

But what is balance? It is critical to understand what it is so that you can practice it for yourself. What balance is for you may not be balance for the next person. Over time, life changes and we look at balance differently than when we are single versus when we are married or having children or dealing with ill parents. So, achieving balance is like hitting a moving target on most days.

Balance can be in achieving optimal fulfillment in the areas of work, family, fun, health, spirituality and community.

Balance:

  • Is your schedule balanced?
  • Have you planned your approach to balance?
  • How did you fit the essential compartments of balance into your routine?
  • What is keeping you from maintaining balance?

Beliefs:

  • Do you lead with your authentic self?
  • What do you believe about yourself?
  • Where are the incongruences in your life?

Values:

  • What are the values that guide you?
  • Where my values and beliefs in alignment this week?
  • What am I doing to mature your values?

Behaviors:

  • Are your choices and actions causing you pain?
  • How you project yourself each day?
  • Am you saying yes when you know that you should say no and why?

 

Six Simple Steps to Achieving Balance

  1. Decide how much time is ideal for you in each of the important areas of your life.
  2. Be patient with your yourself
  3. Wisely manage the technology you use everyday.
  4. Create a support network
  5. Get your rest
  6. Make YOU your biggest priority

 

 

 

 

 

Executive Coaching – 2016 is the year for to achieve the results you always wanted to experience.

By | Athlete Life Coaching, atlanta anger management, Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Goal Setting

Executive Coaching

Do you want to nail this years projections?

Is your business scaling this year and you want to focus on the processes with your goals?

Are you that business person who is looking for support in one key area?

Then book a call or Zoom session with me today.

Book Your Future!!!

Secrets to Achievement and Change

By | Athlete Life Coaching, atlanta anger management, Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Free Life Coaching, Goal Setting, Good Relationship Advice, how to deal with anger, Life Coach Atlanta News, Life Coach Atlanta Resources, Life Coaching Tools, Offers and Promo, Online Life Coach Case Studies, Relationships

I Speak Life Coaching

Do you have something you want to change or achieve in your life? Maybe you’d like to…

=> Start a business
=> Find new love
=> Get a new career (or a raise)
=> Lose weight
=> Get your child(ren) to behave better
 => Or something else

No matter what you’d like to change or achieve, the secrets to success are the same…

#1: Get clear. As specifically as possible, decide what you want. The more clear you are on what you want to have in your life, the more likely you are to achieve it.

#2: Get perspective. Most people don’t tell anyone what they want or what they are struggling with and because of that they don’t get an outside perspective.

#3: Get support. Very few people (if any) achieve anything great alone. Sports stars have teammates and coaches

Be willing to ask the people in your life to support you.

** Special ZERO COST “Rapid Change” Coaching Session **

Call me at 404-453-9110 or email me David @dsmith.creativexmedia.net

The secret to getting more out of your team.

By | Athlete Life Coaching, atlanta anger management, Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Free Life Coaching, Goal Setting, Life Coach Atlanta News, Life Coach Atlanta Resources, Life Coaching Tools, Offers and Promo, Online Life Coach Case Studies

 

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If you want to get more out of your team for any of these reasons:

=> Because the number of people on your team has been reduced and yet you’re expected to produce the same or better results.

=> Your team is not producing the results that are expected from you and your team and you’re concerned that your bosses and/or superiors and peers are not going to be happy about that.

=> Members of your team are undermining each other or worse undermining you, causing conflicts and frustrations for you and you’d like to turn your team in to a well-oiled machine.

Then, I’d like to help you squeeze the most out of your team as possible by offering you a special one-on-one “Modern Leadership Mastery Coaching Session.”

During this session we will…

=> Create a crystal clear vision for the results that you want your team to produce, for the way that you’d like your team to interact with each other and for the kind of people you would like to have on your team.

=> Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success with leadership and team building.

=> You’ll leave the session renewed, reenergized and inspired to create a powerful results- driven team that gets things done so that you can be the office hero and still have a flourishing personal life.

Contact me at David@dsmith.creativexmedia.net or 404-453-9110 to get the results you desire and deserve.

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1 in 6 Married Men are on Ashley Madison

By | atlanta anger management, Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Goal Setting, Good Relationship Advice, Life Coach Atlanta News, Life Coach Atlanta Resources, Life Coaching Tools, Offers and Promo, Online Life Coach Case Studies, Relationships

1 in 6 Married Men are on Ashley Madison website.

 

Marriage is one of the toughest jobs to do, according to a friend, who has been married for twenty years. She went on to say it is harder than “picking cotton” and of course, I laughed out loud at the notion of marriage being that difficult. If anyone knows anything about picking cotton, it is extremely difficult and hard to manage and maintain. As a Life Coach whose clients are predominately female and married the issue of balancing work, family, and civic duties seems to be a driving force in our work together. Women who are working really hard to be their best at work and at home. However with the latest hacking scandal of Ashley Madison, I’m wondering what work are men doing to be their best selves.

 

One author recently wrote that this is a “wake up call for women” and I would like to add for men as well. Men who are bored, underwhelmed, checked-out, lonely, angry and those who feel entitled to have what they want and how they want it, find themselves seeking affection, pleasure and sensations outside of their marriage is in a crisis as well. This hack of Ashley Madison is our wake up call.

 

In my relationship series “ 6 Steps To Creating Lasting Intimacy”, I deal with the true nature of what is missing as it relates to a deeper connection. I’m not creating a one-stop shop fix it for marriage but I’m helping people start the process of asking for what they need within a healthy monogamous relationship.

 

If you want to grow in intimacy, communication, connection, meaningful touch then go to www.ispeaklifecoaching.com and sign up for my email newsletter to learn more about my new powerful relationship series.

Executive Coaching- Leadership, Behaviors and Change

By | Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Goal Setting, Life Coach Atlanta News, Life Coach Atlanta Resources, Life Coaching Tools

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Organizational leadership is serious business. Leaders impact the climate, culture and environment of their organizations. Organizational leadership behaviors have a direct influence on actions in the work environment that enable growth and change. Leading requires the use of a diverse set of communication techniques to deliver appropriate messages, solicit feedback, create readiness with a sense of urgency and motivate recipients to act. Leaders are responsible for communicating to the organization any new strategies or a new direction for the future. In order for leaders to get employees to participate and produce they must be able to trust you and your leadership style. Leadership style is a driving force for any organization. One of the more effective leadership styles is Transformational Leadership.

Transformational Leadership involves five key elements:

1. Coaching– as process of improving performance and developing synergistic relationship

2. Communication– delivering relevant information with regard to the organization.

3. Motivating– is the influence or drive that causes us to behave in a specific manner.

4. Rewarding– a compensation that recognizes employees for the right performance.

5. Promoting Teamwork– enable members working cooperatively with one another to achieve more than working independently.

To be an effective leader understand your leadership style and your leadership philosophy.

Coaching: Strategy for Achievement and Change

By | Athlete Life Coaching, atlanta anger management, Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Free Life Coaching, Goal Setting, Good Relationship Advice, Life Coach Atlanta News, Life Coach Atlanta Resources, Life Coaching Tools

 

I Speak Life Coaching

 

Do you have something you want to change or achieve in your life?
Maybe you’d like to…
Start a business
Find a new love
Get a new career (or a raise)
Lose weight
Get your children to behave better
Or something else
No matter what you’d like to change or achieve, the secret to success are the same…
Get clear. As specifically as possible, decide what you want. The more clear you are on what you want to have in your life, the more likely you are to achieve it.
Get perspective. Most people don’t tell anyone what they want or what they are struggling with and because of that they don’t get an outside perspective.
Get support. Very few people (if any) achieve anything great alone. Sports stars have teammates and coaches.
Be willing to ask the people in your life to support you.

This has been your Monday Motivation from www.ispeaklifecoaching.com . To sign up for my “Rapid Change” session reply to this email or email me at David@ispeaklifeoaching.com.

Best,

David

” I Speak Life Coaching” Atlanta Solution Based Coaching

By | Athlete Life Coaching, atlanta anger management, Atlanta Life Coach Online, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, Executive Life Coaching, Free Life Coaching, Goal Setting, Good Relationship Advice, how to deal with anger, Life Coach Atlanta News, Life Coach Atlanta Resources, Life Coaching Tools, Online Life Coach Case Studies

‘I SPEAK LIFE COACHING’ OFFERS SOLUTION BASED COACHING AND ANGER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS FOR EXECUTIVES AND PLAIN FOLKS
Posted on July 6, 2015
People often think about doing a lot of things in their life but are not sure how to actually implement it in action. Hardships, disappointment, failures often lead to depression and people feel lost not knowing how to utilize their hidden potential. That’s when a Life Coach comes to the rescue to bring clarity into your life and achieve better balance among your professional and personal life. David Shawn Smith an Atlanta based executive whois a professional life coach, having had experience in human development of more than 15 years. Throughout these years, with his interaction with numerous people he has acquired deep knowledge about life and as a life coach he is willing to share his experiences with people who are thriving in life. People these days are evolving with their thoughts and seeking spirituality for which David provides them the right path.
David has expertise in offering executive coaching, life coaching and anger management. Executive Coaching is focused to the individuals and the organizations that are looking for solutions for various aspects. It teaches about the skills which can help develop effective leadership quality among the people in the organization. This program by David will help identify the strengths of the organization and measures that can be taken for the development process and help the managers and executive in overcoming the obstacles and problems they encounter. Executive coaching will also help the organization in succession planning, reducing turnover and conflict management.
Denise Williams, CEO of The Planning Company, LA says, “David has given me the skills to balance my life and remain effective in each job while maintaining balanced and peaceful inner life.”
Through his Life Coaching program David aims to bring out the best potential of the people. This program can help managers, entrepreneurs or anyone else in defining and achieving their goals, to be optimistic and stay happy. He helps people clarify their goals and achieve balance among their professional and personal life. This coaching program is a boon for those who are unable to figure out their purpose and what they want to do in life and helps them identify their passions, interests and the path that can be followed to achieve the same. “David knows how to ask the right questions to bring you to the truth. It’s not always easy work, but David does it with compassion. I’ve been lucky to have David’s ear, and it’s been a privilege to share his insights with my readers,” said Tom Guzzio, Editor, Prodigal’s Chair
The lifestyle changes have led to lack of patience among people, which leads to short tempered nature for which the Anger management program by David can really help. This program can help in building emotional intelligence, self control and developing patience among a person. It also helps a person in improving their communication skills and develops listening skills for better conversations.
More information about the solution focused coaching can be found at:
http://dsmith.creativexmedia.net/
Education Background of David Shawn Smith:
B.A. Communications and Rhetoric
M.S. Leadership and Coaching
Board Certified Executive Coach
Media Contact
Company Name: I Speak Life Coaching, LLC
Contact Person: David Shawn Smith
Email: Send Email
Phone: 404-453-9110
Country: United States
Website: www.ispeaklifecoaching.com