Hr | Effective Communication in a MultiCultural World

Unsolicited, Appreciated and Good for the soul !

Feeding Feedback Forward – Dr. Annette Clancy of the Quinn School of Business was our Guest Speaker marking the launch our Breakfast Series for this year. To say she had us all thoroughly engaged would be an understatement – the room buzzing with plenty of lively dialogue and the feedback has been, well just fantastic.

Be it good, bad or indifferent, feedback is what I appreciate to make sure we’re on track and don’t make assumptions.

So in ‘the Words of Others’ .. here are a few snippets..

I was delighted to attend your networking event this morning – all speakers were amazing and really had something great to add to any organisation. Áine O’Donogue

Well done. It was a great start to the day and the energy in the room was really engaging. Sarah Bird

Janie, I was glued to Annette’s every word! She is so dynamic and great at imparting her message. Mairead Dillon

And in my words – If ever you should have the opportunity to hear Dr. Annette Clancy speak, jump at the opportunity. Do not hesitate. She is a joy to hear, a consummate professional. To be inspired, to learn from someone who is generous with their knowledge and delivers a clear message in such a memorable way is a gift which continues long after its presentation. Janie Lazar.

Talking about making assumptions, our next breakfast event will be on the 22nd March at the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Centre, Montrose. If you want to be part of this next conversation ‘challenging assumptions’ you’ll need to book in online. Places will be limited. Booking advisable.

Click here for details of our March 22nd Breakfast Event

7.45 Registration. 8am prompt start. Ends c. 9.30. am

kindly hosted by Bank of Ireland, Montrose Centre, mega thanks to Gavin Leech and Jan Cooke for making us and our guests so very welcome

Email:

And if you’d like to talk with me, Janie – 086 857 2005. There’s always time for a good, if not great conversation over coffee

On-line/Off-line

PERSONAL CONGRUENCE MATTERS…

What can we really know about a person from on-line profiles? How true are they to the person behind that all singing, all dancing, slick on-line image? How much do our profiles really tell us, potential clients, potential employees, potential friends? Our Workplace can be a really emotional place, sometimes when we’ve things on our minds and our reaction to a situation, a comment can be out of proportion. Someone’s ‘pushed’ our buttons and triggered a response that under normal circumstances wouldn’t bother us but hey, too late. We’ve pushed the send button or the words have leapt out of our mouths before we’ve had time to blink. Too late. In person it is easier to make amends. On-line, it’s gone.

Congruency matters. On-line or off-line, it is you, what you do and how you do it that makes all the difference.

Whether you are standing up in front of an audience or emailing someone, talking on the phone or blogging. You are putting yourself ‘out there’. It is taking a leap of faith especially on-line where once it’s gone, you’ve pushed that send/publish/share button and you’re showing yourself to the world, What you’ve created is an imprint. The question is, is it really you?

A company whose values align with your own, that you are proud to be part of benefits from having employees who know who they are and what they stand for. People who are proud to be working for them, as after all, employees are ‘brand ambassadors’ and make no mistake, people who work for themselves are walking advertisements for themselves too. An an Employee or Business Owner, you need to be able to express yourself, voice your opinion in a way which shows respect and appreciate another’s point of view. When someone has the courage to say ‘I’m not sure about this, can you help me’ or perhaps ‘Do you think there’s a better way of explaining the problem’ or quite simply ‘Can I ask you what you think’, it’s a real indicator that there is space for growth, for improved performance, a willingness to expand one’s horizons.

Sometimes I find myself technically challenged. Spending time working out how to use a new phone, a new app, embrace a new way of getting my message out there I find hard. I am sure I am not the only one. Once a ‘twit-nit’ does not mean forever and now I’ve asked for help, though a slow learner know it will get easier!

Being able to be yourself matters. To express yourself matters. Congruency matters – on and off-line…

Join us for breakfast and be part of the conversation

Are you or your employees missing out?

Lack of Confidence can mean missing out

I learnt plenty from my early years of working. Mainly that training is different now. Our needs as human beings are recognised. Looking back, I can see the inadvertent and destructive way in which I was given feedback succeeded only in knocking me back, which is why I so strongly believe that the workplace is indeed an emotional arena and every possible support needs to be given. Yes, our experiences and emotions do indeed shape us and perhaps as confident as the ‘millenials’ may appear to be, they need all the help available to really connect. On-line is not the same as ‘Off-line’. and the work needed in building self awareness is an individual continuous journey.

Dr. Annette Clancy, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at UCD College of Business shares invaluable insights as our key note speaker at our first Breakfast Meeting of 2017 for HR Specialists and people involved in Leadership roles. Book now

This event is kindly hosted by the Bank of Ireland at the new Enterprise Lounge at UCD, Montrose. Registration from 7.45 for 8am Start. Event ends c. 9.30. Join us for lively discussion around what we believe really matters.

Whether you are working and speaking in your own language or another, speaking from experience I can say hand on heart, self confidence is key to performance.

The first Dublin breakfast event for 2017 – Contact Janie on 087 8572005 or click on image to book your place.

Emotions for Breakfast

Calling HR Professionals: Be part of the conversation and join us as Dr. Annette Clancy shares invaluable insights at our first breakfast meeting of 2017 in Dublin at the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Centre, Montrose. Details here. Booking advisable.

Contact: Janie Lazar 086 857 2005

janie@muchmorethanwords.com

The Workplace as an Emotional Rollercoaster

Human Emotions shape us. They shape us professionally and personally. They also have a stronger influence on our overall performance and satisfaction with life than we care to realize.

In talking with participants of a Much More Than Words workshop we ran back in the Autumn, I was reminded of how strongly I too felt when working overseas about ‘not being who I thought I was’. What I mean by that is that in another country and not being as able to express myself as well as I might in my own language, I somehow felt ‘less’ and undoubtedly lost out, as did the company in different ways.

It was if I had lost part of my identity because I had mentally defined myself by what I did, rather than who I was. I felt as if someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and whisper ‘Psst… what are you doing here’ and that I was an imposter somehow because by the time I opened my mouth to say something, to contribute in team meetings, all too often the conversations moved on before I had a chance.The problem was not that I lacked the ability to speak in French, but I lacked the confidence to just say what I meant and not worry about speaking perfectly. I believe it was this lack of confidence in my early working life that led to emotions getting the better of me and working in the world of advertising, I needed to brave up fast, which I did but paid the price, a story or two for another day.

Lack of Confidence can mean missing out

But I learnt plenty from those early years. That our experiences and emotions do indeed shape us and as my career progressed, I had a responsibility to those who worked in my teams to make sure how I handled situations didn’t have a detrimental impact like some of my earlier experiences had on me. Whether you are working and speaking in your own language or another, self confidence is key to performance.

The first Dublin breakfast event for 2017 – Contact Janie on 087 8572005 or click on image to book your place.

Had I been a stronger, more resilient person and not so self conscious perhaps my ‘strangeness’, my identity as the girl from London could have been used to my advantage, as ‘a wild card’ and I would have played it stronger. But my emotions won and got the better of me.

In the workplace, how we see ourselves and others see us impact hugely on our ability to perform. How we are treated by our peers and those who lead the organisations we find ourselves in impact in ways previously considered less important perhaps than they are today.

The Organisation as an ‘Emotional Arena’

Dr. Annette Clancy from the Quinn School of Business in UCD will be sharing invaluable insights on the 18th January, at the first of our Breakfast Events for 2017 to be held at the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Centre, Montrose, Dublin. If you’re involved in HR or a leadership role and can make it, I feel sure this will be time well spent. If you’d like to know more, you can call me directly on 086 8572005.

simply click here to book your place.

Places limited. Booking advisable.

On Listening

This blog post by Dr. Annette Clancy, our keynote speaker for January 18th caught my eye

.. Many words will be written on the wind and the sand, or end up in some obscure digital vault. But the storytelling will go on until the last human being stops listening. Then we can send the great chronicle of humanity out into the endless universe.

Who knows? Maybe someone is out there, willing to listen … extract from Dr. Annette Clancy’s blog

Is it really a coincidence that both SILENT and LISTEN contain the same letters? I think not !

click here for details and to book your place

the organisation as an ’emotional arena’

Click to contact the Organiser – Janie Lazar

Constructive Conflict

I found this TED Talk via Dr. Annette Clancy’s blog where she writes ‘most of the time we like to surround ourselves with people ‘like us’ thereby minimising difference in an attempt to avoid conflict. It takes a degree of self confidence and assurance to be able to sit in the middle of this kind of disagreement and to think constructively about it.‘ For me, confidence underpins everything we do. It gives us the ability to work well, work collaboratively and to speak out, to challenge, to lead to greater things. The workplace is perhaps the most emotionally charged environment of all. Let the conversations continue.

Dr. Clancy is speaking at our first breakfast event of this year in Dublin, on the 18th January. Click here for details and to book your place.