University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
How To Say It for First-Time Managers
Book

How To Say It for First-Time Managers

Winning Words and Strategies for Earning Your Team's Confidence

Jack Griffin
Prentice Hall Press, 2010
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Managers must be able to communicate with their employees. However, new supervisors generally do not get promoted on the basis of their communication skills. The executives who promote them assume, often mistakenly, that terrific salespeople or bookkeepers magically will become strong communicators. If newly appointed managers can’t communicate their ideas, directions and instructions, the areas they supervise will fall apart. Jack Griffin’s valuable book on communication for novice managers dictates what they need to say and how and when they need to say it. He suggests the best words to use and those to avoid, and even the body language inexperienced managers should adopt. getAbstract finds this book insightful, informative and comprehensive, filled with useful tips and techniques that will benefit anyone who wants to communicate.

Summary

You Can’t Manage If You Can’t Communicate

To manage people, you must be able to communicate. Effective communication depends on fluency in “the language of leadership,” a capability you can develop, starting with building a strong “leadership vocabulary” that is “both verbal and nonverbal.” Managers must be aware of the messages their facial expressions and physical gestures convey since people communicate as much with body language as with words.

Negative body language can sabotage a manager’s efforts to direct, energize or motivate employees. Try to impart “a sense of relaxed energy.” Keep your eyes wide open during direct communications. Don’t fidget or yawn. To signal your engagement, nod or lean forward as the other person speaks. Avoid the dreaded “dead-fish handshake,” but don’t break the other person’s hand, either. Don’t rub your nose, ears or eyes – that signals doubt. Scratching your head signals confusion. Smile.

Do You Speak in Business Terms?

Leadership language fluency helps new managers establish authority and credibility. Supervisors always should “speak the language of business,” which concerns money and time. Talk in terms of “money...

About the Author

Jack Griffin wrote How to Say It at Work and How to Say It Best.

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