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The Purple Elephant in Our Country

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

By Dr. Renae Sanders

The election has come and gone.  And thankfully so, on one hand, the airwaves are now free of the barrage of the negative political ads that bombarded the airwaves, especially, in the swing states where the ads had become a minute by minute occurrence. On the other hand, for some reality that their candidate had not won would come another day. The tragedy is that we do not have rules or regulations around political advertising when we are asked to make informed decisions about whom we should vote; but that is a separate article.

Today, let’s focus on the proverbial Purple Elephant in our country. The silent, yet ever-present and dangerous animal, that under writes our beliefs, attitudes, and actions.  Yes, its race. And it continues to fester below the surface of our great country. This is bigger than an apology. It’s bigger than reparations. It’s about our collective courage to face, own, and acknowledge that race is as much a part of our current cultural landscape as the air we breathe.

Emotional intelligence experts tell us that we must first be aware of our own emotions and what they are if we are to self-regulate our attitudes and thereby our actions.   Very simply, this means its o.k. to feel what you feel, but it’s unacceptable to act any way you want to act in response to those feelings; especially, if they are negative emotions.  Of course, this holds true for any negative response to emotions; but today – we talk race. Secondly, our emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) is higher if we then have an understanding of how emotion may affect those with whom we interact and how to leverage our awareness of emotions in our dealings – personally, professionally, or politically.

A rising tide floats all boats. Well, all decently constructed ones.  But you get the point. Therefore, the notion that the strength of America’s growing minority population will somehow erode the wealth and stature of America’s wealthiest is less than rational. Believing that in a global environment self-imposed segregation is beneficial and will help our kids cope with the rapid changes occurring in our country or their ability to compete is a response to beliefs of loss. Providing a superior education to the economically advantaged and then blame the poor for not doing more to take care of themselves is less than rational as well. The answers to curing the ills of our society lie in our collective engagement toward solving problems, self-awareness, emotional and social intelligence.

This election, and the last, exposed to many what they have feared with the growing demographic changes – that the democratic process would change the course of history. Surely, the British felt the same way, which is why the American Revolution occurred. In order for us to become a more perfect union, we must change as our country changes and we must respect what we have always seen in the defining moments in our history, “the minority will be heard, but the majority shall rule”.   This festering of unchallenged ideology has the potential to harm communities and create underperforming businesses, as morale, trust, teamwork, and knowledge sharing are compromised.

Author David Walsh wrote in his book, “Conversations with God”, that at our actions and decisions are based on the two primal emotions, love and fear. If we drilled down to the source of our behaviors, we are either acting out of love or on fear. War, segregation, political spin, bullying, analysis paralysis, and the inability to reconcile our sorted history are all based on fear.

It’s appropriate to quote, now, the lyrics from one of Dianna Ross’ megahits, “what the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…”

Dr. Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational development and relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Dr. Sanders works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal practices and relationships. Email info@krsconsult.com to book an engagement or meeting with Dr. Sanders.

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Posted in Diversity & Inclusion, Dr. Renae Sanders, Leadership, Multicultural, Organization Relationships, Organizational Change, Productivity, Small Business, Trust, Workforce Development | No Comments »

The Office Tyrant

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Dr. Renae Sanders

Imagine a workplace where the top official is a tyrant, a bully, a complete “donkey”! Belittling employees, frequent soliloquies (dialogue just does not occur), broken promises, subpar pay and boastful attitudes occur in many organizations and in some companies a litany of behaviors maybe documented. Bad behavior is occurs more in this down market than it did during the economic hay day of the past. This behavior is rampant in large and small organizations. But what toll does this take on organizations and its employees?

The impact of incivility on productivity and revenue in organizations are real, yet most business leaders are blind to the role they play in these circumstances and the impact of poor behavior on bottom-line results is clouded by perceptions of external factors and blaming “others” for organizational results. The truth is when you repeatedly chip away at coworker and employee confidence, self esteem, and creativity you are shooting your organization in the proverbial foot!

In fact, it seems these individuals get promoted rather than being dismissed. In this regard, short-term gains are given greater weight than long-term costs related to turnover, absenteeism, and increased healthcare costs (depression, hypertension, and stress), and even lawsuits from employees placed in harm’s way when a disgruntled, offended employee goes “postal” on colleagues.

Many books and articles have been written advising employees on how to cope with workplace tyrants and bullies. Yet, the real culprits are the organizational leaders who turn a blind eye on the bullies citing improved performance. Or the tyrannical leader who believes his or her behavior is the “authoritarian” style of leadership and who are blind to their own behavior.

You are an Office Tyrant if you believe:

  • Your way is always the best or only way to be successful.
  • Everyone is an imbecile except you
  • Others can only hear you if you yell at them
  • Employees should be able to read your mind
  • Employees work for you and not for themselves or their families
  • Insults are an effective motivational tool
  • People have no value unless they are driving revenue (even if you hired them in a non-revenue generating role)
  • If there were more people just like you in the world, the world would be a better place for everyone

As an employee, your ability to survive working for a tyrant is likely if your leadership team recognizes bad behavior as uncivil and costly to the organization and works to rectify the behavior via coaching, therapy, performance feedback, or time away for the office offender. Otherwise, your best bet is to find a new role away from these individuals and continue to contribute to your organization’s success. Unless, you are challenged by this type of work environment! 

In large well branded companies, these behaviors may get lost or be hidden in the complexity of the organization, but in small companies that rely more heavily on employee loyalty, customer referrals, and reputation. Such behavior can have detrimental, often immediate, effects on the bottom-line. Thanks to technology and social media the world fits in the palm of everyone’s hands. Your business’ future rests on the influence of others’ tweets or Facebook posts.

If you are the tyrant, discover what beliefs you hold about others and leadership and modulate /correct bad behavior. We are all on the same team!

Related Articles

In the Workplace: It’s the Tyrants Who Prosper

How to Turn the Table on Bully Bosses and Workplace Tyrants

Dr. Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Dr. Sanders works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach Dr. Sanders at info@krsconsult.com.

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Are Women Managers also Contributing to the Salary Gap?

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

By Dr. Renae Sanders

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why in 2011 women still make significantly less money than men?” It’s an interesting question given the strides women have made towards leadership in organizations. Here are some of the facts about the women’s worforce:

  • In 2006, women, in Fortune 500 companies, made up 15.6% of the 10,000 plus corporate officer positions according to Catalyst Women (2006).
  • In 2008, “women accounted for 51% of all persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).
  •  Additionally, Lowrey (2006) reported, through the U.S. Small Business Administration, women owned 28.2% or 6.5 million of nonfarm United States (U.S.) firms, and 14% of women owned businesses accounted for 7.1 million workers.

Even though women are rising into positions of management and leadership, the income gap for women (white,  African American, and Latina) remains $.67 per $1 earned by white men (WomenMedia, 2009). Can women afford to blame men for the salary chasm? Do women also play a supporting role in perpetuating the income gap? It should hardly be surprising if they do.

There is a plethora of research indicating that despite the nurturing and supportive nature of women’s friendships, these relationships are often peppered with behaviors such as exclusion, gossip, competition, and aggression (Cantor, et al., 2004). Work relationships are subject to these behaviors too, based on perceptions of power and status (Betero, 2003; Duncan & Owen-Smith, 2006). Add all of this women’s socialization (i.e. the direct and indirect messages) that men are stronger leaders, more analytical, heads of households, and the ultimate prize and the complexities of women’s leadership takes on a whole new light.

Much of the competition between women has a lot to with “men being the ultimate prize”.  Chesler (2001) wrote in the book Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman discussed a long held notion that women lack trust of other women, especially when a “handsome” man was involved. In fact, the author highlighted a perspective of male attorneys that in the case of a rape of a woman by an attractive man, the lawyers should put more women on the jury, as women tended to sympathize with the man! Who knew?  Well, it’s no secret women blame the other woman when her spouse or partner cheats. Given that men by and large are the corporate leaders, then women are also trying to win the approval and attention of their male bosses. All of these dynamics must impact the salary question and answers!

So the questions are do women give men higher salaries and raises than they do women? Do men limit the amount of salaries and increases women can provide to workers? What about women of color and out lesbians? OR are women, in general, just more frugal with corporate assets than men?  Whatever the answer, the salary gap is a shared responsibility and organizational leaders, men and women, must clearly understand their motivations when making salary and performance evaluations if we are to ever see shrinkage in the salary gap between the sexes.

References

Bertero, M. G. (2003). Indirect aggression amongst women in investment banking. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Wright Institute Graduate School of Psychology.

Bureau of Labor and Statistics. (2009). Women in the labor force: A databook (2009 ed.). Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-intro-2009.htm

Cantor, D., Goodheart, C., Haber, S., McGrath, E., Rubenstien, A., Walker, L., Zager, K., with Thompson, A. (2004). Finding your voice: A women’s guide to using self-talk for fulfilling relationships, work, and life. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Catalyst Women. (2006). 2005 Catalyst census of women corporate officers and top earners of the Fortune 500. Retrieved October 21, 2006, from www.catalyst.org

Chesler, P. (2001). Woman’s inhumanity to woman. Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books: New York, NY.

Duncan, L., & Owen-Smith, A. (2006). Powerlessness and the use of indirect aggression in friendships. Sex Roes. 55, 493-502.

Kolb, D., Williams, J., and Frohlinger, C. (2009). Confronting the gender gap in wages. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from http://www.womensmedia.com/money/107-confronting-the-gender-gap-in-wages.html

Lowrey, Y. (2006, August). Women in business, 2006: A Demographic review of women’s business ownership. Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration, 280. Retrieved October 21, 2006, from www.sba.gov/advo

Related articles

Confronting the Gender Gap in Wages

Dr. Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach Dr. Sanders at info@krsconsult.com.

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Office Saboteurs

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

Office saboteurs run amuck in nearly every organization. Like spies, saboteurs feign friendship and support, while working double time to destroy your efforts or that of the team to achieve specified goals.  According to the dictionary, a saboteur is “one who intentionally causes destruction – in order to hinder the efforts of his/her enemy”. Unlike hole-finders, saboteurs are often subversive and covert. It’s harder to determine the identity of this rogue operative.

Saboteurs may be your lunch buddies, coffee partners, project team members, and the like. These office mates are often so close you never see them as the ‘internal mole’. But many times, the saboteur is so emotionally charged they do not hide their disdain for their self-imposed enemy. The target of their rage: the new manager hired or promoted over the saboteur; the manager’s sacred cow (i.e., office pet); the coworker who just completed a master’s program; the only female or person of color on the team; the person with the foreign accent; the employee who just dresses too well; the person with all the bright ideas; in short, the target of the saboteur is the person perceived to be a threat the work wrecker.

The Best Offense is a Good Defense

Coping with an Office Saboteur can be frustrating and an effort to expose the saboteur often backfires. An undercover coworker’s ultimate goal is cause unhappiness and to shatter others’ belief in your trustworthiness. The best strategies for dealing with saboteurs are basic professional activities and behaviors:

  1. Speak positively publicly and to others about the saboteur. The old adage says, “kill them with kindness” or “you can get more bees with honey” holds true. Public acknowledgement of the saboteur’s productive work makes him/her appear petty. Make nice, but honest comments about the saboteur.
  2. You must stay on your game. The saboteur uses any misuse of company time and resources in his or her crusade against you. Be on time to work and meetings; do not abuse lunch hours; or spend too much time on personal calls.
  3. Maintain your emotional distance from the detractor. Of course, you must remain pleasant and professional; just keep in mind that for the moment you are in the crosshairs of someone who perceives you as the enemy.
  4. Avoid attempts to draw the saboteur into the open. While this strategy works in espionage stories, focusing on them means you aren’t focused on the work at hand. At best, make sure to communicate your achievements and successes and the accomplishments of your team.

The workplace is known for supplying its share of workplace fodder for soap operas; but there is also no dearth of suspense, drama, and other covert affairs to maneuver. It’s all in a days work.

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at info@krsconsult.com.

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People Leave Managers – Not Companies

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

by Renae Sanders

I have said time and time again. People do not leave companies. They leave their managers. Employees who feel valued, trusted, and empowered generally have good functional relationships with their managers. Conversely, disgruntled, unhappy employees have poor relationships with their managers.

People have the capacity to handle high volumes of tedious, unrewarding work if they did it with and for people they like and who like them. But why, aren’t their more managers who are able to connect and get what they need done? The answer may just lie in reasons they became managers in the first place.

The catalyst for this article, was a comment made by a college student, who exclaimed, “managers just boss other people around; I can’t wait to become manager so I can tell other people what to do”! It was then that I knew enormous misconceptions exist regarding the role of managers in the workplace.

The manager’s role is to ensure the resources and processes are used and operate efficiently.  Their focus is internal. Their skills lie in making sure the activities of the organizations meet its goals. Indeed, good managers try to find ways to motivate workers to remain engaged and productive.

Indeed, if managers see themselves as owners of the resources or processes, how they behave may be less pleasant for workers than those who realize some resources are people and should be handled differently than non-human resources. According to Buckingham & Coffman (1999), a manager’s job is to help employees become more of who they already are. Indeed, helping workers develop their talents is far more helpful than coaching employees to become more like themselves.

Clearly, overbearing, disrespectful, and defensive styles of management negatively affect performance and productivity. Further, such styles should not be confused with being authoritative; which does not give an individual license to behave inappropriately behind the veil of management.  If workers are not performing or are incapable of performing, most organizations have processes in place to assist with improving performance or separating workers.

Positive relationships in organizations are beneficial to teams and organizations. Employees who feel a kinship or a positive connection with managers also feel more loyalty and commitment to the company; and lower internal costs, i.e. we act more quickly for our friends than those with whom we do not have a relationship.

Being manager does not make us better than others; we just have additional and sometimes different responsibilities.

 Reference

Buckingham, M., Coffman, C. (1999). First, Break All the Rules. Simon & Schuster: New York, NY.

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at info@krsconsult.com. 

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Do You Promote or Hinder Employee Empowerment?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

It’s no secret. Employees do not leave companies they leave their managers. The strongest link between employee empowerment and engagement is the relationship between employees and their immediate managers. When the relationship between manager and employee is great, the employee’s feeling of value and loyalty to the company is strong. The inverse is also true; got turnover?  Look in the mirror, then look at your managers.

Oh, sure! Many external issues can sour a relationship, but a strong manager with average to high intelligence quotients in the areas of communication, empathy, and emotion can manage poor performance with grace. Greater still is the influence of leaders and managers on the workplace environment that has the greatest impact on workers. Are you and your leadership team trustworthy? Is transparency an authentic aspect of your organization?

 Trust contributes to a positive working environment characterized by honest, supportive relationships. Trust enables the open exchange of ideas and the quality and quantity of information exchanged (Moye & Henkin, 2005); Employee empowerment is enabling rather than delegating. It’s enhancing others’ sense of value and confidence. Managers with a clear sense of self as connected, not duplicated or separate, are able to build performance which leverages the diverse talents of team members rather than focusing on difference or trying to create a team of mirror images of the manager.

Trust is important to constructive relationships and well-functioning organizations (Moye & Henkin, 2005). The trust and relationship employees have with supervisors and managers can increase innovative behaviors and satisfaction with the boss. At its best empowered employees have the confidence and motivation to make decisions which benefit the organization. Empowerment and organizational effectiveness are linked.

If your organization or team does not have the depth or commitment from workers focused on a common goal, or where the relationships among managers and workers does not inspire esprit de corps; then take a long hard look at the relationships between managers and workers.

Reference

Moye, M.J. & Henkin, A.B. (2005). Exploring associations between employee empowerment and interpersonal trust in managers. The Journal of Management. 25(2), 101-117.

Related article(s)

Are Disengaged Employees Killing Your Business?

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Holding Company Growth Hostage – The Role of Stereotypes

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

Stereotypes are the generalized beliefs we hold about the world around us. We hold stereotypes about situations, people, places and things. We are often blind to our views or unaware that do not treat people of other cultures or backgrounds with respect or that we judge others’ value based on media portrayals of beauty, education, intelligence, and ability. We also hold stereotypes about ourselves based on what we are told by others; we judge ourselves to be good or bad, worthy or unworthy, righteous or sinful, all knowing or clueless.

Stereotypical beliefs drive positive (or menacing) affects on businesses. For example, if we hold that the product is great and has value we execute strategy related to the product more passionately than if we did hold a positive perception. If you believe your staff or key members of the team are inept, we treat them accordingly; which leads to lower performance over time.  If we believe entire populations of consumers are poor, under-educated, illegal, or unable to understand English, our marketing and sales efforts to those populations and how we treat employees from those groups will not yield positive results or you may miss a vastly important opportunity to grow. In fact, it is conceivable to say we create an environment of self-fulfilling prophecy when act based on stereotypes.

Beliefs > Attitude / Behaviors > Outcomes

To position the business for success, leaders should find ways to challenge their beliefs. Researchers use triangulation to validate assumptions. Triangulation requires three different sources of information. If you rely on a single source for information (such as friends, parents or television), you might consider reading white papers or research papers on the subject and speak with experts for and against your ideas.  When it comes to dispelling beliefs about people, get to know them as individuals. We often see people of color and other differences as groups; we don’t allow them to be individuals. It’s common for people of color to be asked about the “collective” views of their entire group. Ask yourself, “Why do I feel/think this way? Is there information that supports a different view?”  Another approach is to learn about the contributions all groups have made to our society. As long as we hold one view of history, we remain unaware of a more accurate portrayal of cultural groups as contributing members of society.

Learning to challenge long held beliefs prepares us to make better strategic decisions about the business and challenges our views about the people who work for us and markets we serve. The motto at the University of South Carolina reads, “Emollit mores nec sinit ese feros”, when translated suggests, learning humanizes men and permits them not to be cruel.

Don’t allow stereotypes to stifle your growth or the growth of your business.

Related articles

Workplace Stereotyping: A Silent Productivity Destroyer

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at renae@krsconsult.com.

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Diversity from the Inside Out

Monday, April 26th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

As the world grows smaller, the opportunity to conduct business with or through culturally diverse individuals increases significantly. The days of homogeneous organizations are dwindling among large organizations, but homogeneity is remains common among small businesses. Organizational makeup with standing, the greatest opportunity to succeed in business is the ability to penetrate diverse markets.

According to the US Census, 52% of the U.S. population will be people of color by 2050, with the Latino population representing 25% of the population. DiversityInc (2007) reported foreign born workers accounted for nearly 100% of the workforce growth between 1990-2005. Layer on generational differences, growth of the women’s workforce, increased cultural and ethnic diversity and organization leaders will find themselves facing, for many, an eye opening demographic shift.

Business leaders are increasingly seeing the benefits of entering specific markets represented by businesses and professionals of diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnic origins. Companies that fail to learn about such markets or who resist the need to hire and retain a diverse workforce miss the extraordinary benefits of doing so.

Organizations skilled at harvesting the knowledge and perspectives of diverse groups (i.e. diverse cultures, religions, age, views and experiences) make better choices than those who are stuck in their homogeneous views; who respond predictably to problems. For instance, PepsiCo Inc.’s Hispanic employees were instrumental in helping the company develop the guacamole chip, which sold $100M of the new chips it first year. It also used their diverse employee base to provide insight into the successful launch of Code Red which sold 100 million cases and grew the Mountain Dew brand by 6% (Standford GSB News, 2004). While the size and scale of these examples are huge, the importance of being open to diversity and inclusion should not be lost on small businesses. Diversity and inclusion can help drive innovation, problem solving, employee retention and open doors to new markets. But don’t be confused. Hiring people of color as a silver bullet for entering new markets is a mistake. If employees of any age, gender, cultural origin, or religion do not feel valued or respected for the skills they bring to the organization the benefits of your efforts to grow or change will be difficult.

I come back to this perspective about diversity, “The power and beauty of diversity is everywhere. The challenge with diversity lies within each of us”.

Sources

DiversityInc. (2007). Facts and figures. Impact of immigrants.

Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2004). A more diverse workforce is good for business at Pepisco. Retrieved April 23, 2010 from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/vftt_reinemund.shtml

U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Retrieved April 21, 2010 for http://www.census.gov

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Your Vocal Image is Critical to Your Personal Brand

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

One of the primary roles of leaders is communication – the ability to express your ideas effectively. Vocal expression is the ability to communication emotion and credibility through the words we use and how we use them. Your vocal image strengthens your personal brand.

Your personal brand encompasses experience, values, behaviors, attitudes, appearance and voice. Voice is underrepresented in the realm of professional development. Regional accents play an enormous role in building trust and credibility; consider the New Yorker, the Southerner, and the Valley Girl dialects. Moreover, vocal register or pitch has a similar affect. High pitched, nasal sounds make us more uncomfortable than lower, deeper tones associated with the middle voice relative to the deep, commando tone which reminds us of our parent(s), a drill sergeant, or the mean old teacher; consider Dennis Haysbert vs. Fran Drescher, Sean Connery vs. Chris Tucker, or Oprah Winfrey vs. Rosie O’Donnell, different vocal ranges and speech patterns illicit different emotions.

If you are being questioned more at work than others, it maybe that your speaking style contributes to your lack of trustworthiness as determined by others; do you have an “up speak” at the end of your sentences? Or is your voice high and soft (male or female)? Your vocal presence can be changed just like learning to run a marathon, training to build stamina, or weight loss; with the exception of birth defects, your vocal presence can be improved.

It’s not about your level of intelligence or education. Don’t make it personal. It’s a physical thing. To become a better leader, personally or professionally, remember it’s often not what you say but HOW you say it!

Related articles

Speaking from a Podium: Tips to Get You Started

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at renae@krsconsult.com.

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Speaking of English: The Effects of Accents and Dialect in the World of Business

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

As the diversity of our society continues to increase so will multi-cultural business opportunities. Communica­tion across culture will be a critical competency for all parties. However, we still have much to learn about overcoming the multi-cultural communication barrier.

In many cultures, especially those with multiple dialects or even multiple languages spoken in a given region, English is the stan­dard language of business. In the U.S., however, not only is Eng­lish considered the standard, it is often seen as rude for bi-lingual or multi-lingual speakers to speak in their native languages in the presence of mono-linguists. One of the challenges  in cross cultural conversation is the meaning placed on the differences.

In the U.S., whether it’s a language barrier or a regional accent, how you sound signals perceptions of credibility, intelligence, and lifestyle. If your English is difficult to understand or you have a strong regional dialect it can affect the impression you make on others regardless of your Ivy League education, designer suit, or super, savvy portfolio. What you say and how you say it is as im­portant to your success as the experience you bring to the table.

The important thing to remember, irrespective of our beliefs, we cannot assess intelligence based on how someone sounds. Like a runner builds endurance to run a marathon, so can the basic skills of articulation be learned and mastered. Have you ever wondered how a British or Australian actor sounds “American” in movies? It’s training.

Learning how to balance sound so has not to elongate vowels (as we do in the South); over accentuate consonants (a common practice of North­erners); or learning the difference in how sounds are created between your primary language and English will go a long way toward improving inter-cultural and cross-cultural communication glitches.

Here are a few things to focus on to communicate your message clearly and confidently: Relax, inhale and speak on the exhale, not after the exhale. Emphasize key words, such as the company name and your name (first and last). Use inflection to create interest and a lower pitch to create confidence and authority. Communication is like a dance, the first person to speak controls the pace and feel of the dance.

Originally printed in October 2009 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

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