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The new Language at Work course catalog will make planning and scheduling easier, quicker, and more comprehensive.  Here’s what to know:

  *   Download the catalog for easy reference
  *   Our well-loved traditional courses have had an upgrade
  *   We’ve introduced many new courses that reflect today’s training concerns

To celebrate the launch of our catalog, we’re offering a 10% discount for October bookings.  Let us help you pick the ones that will start your fall training with success.

Professional Development Tips

Strong communication skills are the basic requirement for every job.  Does your team know and practice these simple communication tools?

1.      Listening – This may be the most important skill, as it can give you information about your audience, demo your intent to engage, and lead to solutions.

2.      Clarity – Avoiding difficult parts of a message leads only to confusion.  Take time to be sure you are saying what you mean, not just what someone wants to hear.

3.      Understanding – Communication is not just about conveying information; it’s also about building relationships.  Find commonality and find cooperation.

See our catalog for the courses that help with these tools:   Listening for Results, Emotion Management, The Art of Conversation, Reframing: Turning Problems Into Opportunities, and others.

Quick Quiz

Question:  What is a feature of Active Listening?

  1.  No interruptions
  2.  No planning your response
  3.  Show that you understand by rephrasing what you hear
  4.  Ask if the speaker wants your opinion

Answer:  Lucky you!  All are correct.  See how easy it is?  Let us bring a Listening class to your group~ Listening can be the key to the improved communication we all want.

Join the Conversation

We’d like to hear your thoughts about Artificial Intelligence in your workplace.  What are the current concerns and issues with which improved communication skills could help?  Send us an email to: contactus@languageatwork.com

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com.

Thanks!
Judy

Judith Pollock, President
Language at Work
4931 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
Phone 646-491-1089
www.languageatwork.com

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Our new catalog of courses is designed to make planning and scheduling as efficient as the training itself.  In it you’ll find all of our familiar favorite courses along with many new titles – new courses that reflect the issues and concerns of today in the thoughtful and engaging format of all Language at Work training.

Let us send you your copy of the Language at Work Catalog of Courses.  Use it when you meet with colleagues, send it when a department asks for training suggestions, share it with those who wonder which course bests suits their needs.

Use it to book your 2023-2024 training!

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com.

Thanks!
Judy

Judith Pollock, President
Language at Work
4931 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
Phone 646-491-1089
www.languageatwork.com

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Grammar Gremlins

Building Boundaries

Speaking to Decision-Makers

Graceful Disagreements

Listen Up!

Put Power in Your Communication

Can’t decide?  Let us put together a session on your topic, or a series of topics on whatever your folks need.

—
Judy Pollock
President
Language at Work
646-491-1089
[http://languageatwork.com

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com.

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Ignore the Macbeth witches!  This time of year doesn’t have to mean anything unpleasant- never mind goblins, budgets, and leaf raking.

The Girls have the right idea.  They find the fun in the fall~ and so can you!

Find what works for you in our training catalog- packed with course ideas for every skill level, every problem, every need.  Every course has something good for your training schedule.

‘Double double, toil and trouble’ may be forecast, but we have the solution:  Something GOOD this way comes.

Need to see our catalog again?

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com.

Thanks!
Judy

The post Something Good This Way Comes appeared first on Language at Work.

Is workplace communication following this trend? Some people are hearing workplace conversations that seem to have adapted the power casual or business comfort style, in which messages are spared words or phrases that used to be the norm. Demands are easier to issue than requests. It’s much quicker to get to a salient point if one can avoid any softening commentary. No need to bother with the old style standards of discourse – just say what you mean. If one can speak casually or dismissively at home or at play, why put on formality just for the workplace?

Some of us were taught that the way we dress informs the way we behave, suggesting that in our sweats we couldn’t conduct a professional interaction, but that idea is being tested as we no longer insist that certain clothing items dictate our work behavior. Does the same hold for the way we speak to one another? Is work leisure a free pass on cordiality? Or can we still respect one another in our t-shirts?

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com. If it’s easier, call me directly at 202-298-7700. 

Thanks!
Judy

The post Business Casual Communication? appeared first on Language at Work.

How much time do you spend thinking about how workplace changes are affecting you and your colleagues?

How will you plan, meet, discuss, monitor, collaborate, evaluate or just toss around ideas in an environment devoid of actual people?

How will you position yourself for career growth? And what’s the best way to be sure your ideas are being heard and considered?

If your contribution style is nuanced, subtle, and thoughtful, how will you fare in short, infrequent group discussions in which the more assertive voices are more likely to be heard?

Changes in the way workplaces are structured will require many adjustments. Are you ready to adapt to them?

Communication skills will be more important than ever as you adapt to different demands on your time, patience, space, flexibility, and creativity.

Need help? Talk to us about communicating in the hybrid world of work. If it isn’t here yet for you – it will be.

The post The Future of Work- Hybrid? appeared first on Language at Work.

• Speaking with Power, Assertiveness, Managing Conflict & Confrontation, Listening for Results
• Develop Your Inner Leader, Influencing and Negotiating, Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving, Cross-Cultural Communication
• Collaboration, Making Feedback Work, Keeping Your Edge in the Virtual Workplace,  Handling Sticky Situations
• Better Business Writing, Grammar Gremlins

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com. If it’s easier, call me directly at 202-298-7700.

Thanks!
Judy

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Sometimes there’s a job for which there aren’t specific qualifications.  We look around to see who is has skills that can be adapted to this new job.  Someone whose skills and confidence will let them jump into a new task with ease.

Alice and Jane are not new to such requests.  While guarding the bird feeder might not be an appealing job to everyone, they find it a good fit for them.  Their communication skills make it clear that not everyone is welcome at the feeder, and they know how to present and offer reminders of this rule without offending their friends.  They offer comfort just by being nearby, their watchful monitoring of the water dish ensures that it will be filled, and adjusting their usual work space to working remotely is never a problem for them. They’re pretty confident that the training they’ve had will keep them in new and interesting jobs for as long as they want them.  And aren’t we glad we invested in that training!

Is your staff as job ready as are Alice and Jane?  If not, let us help you bring them along.  You never know when you’ll need someone to guard your bird feeder.

Visit our website to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations — www.languageatwork.com or call me directly at 202-298-7700.

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But what is happening to training during this time of change and transition?   Long regarded as the easiest corporate activity to ignore or postpone when everyone snaps to attention during a crisis, training may be sliding off everyone’s screen right now.

Big mistake.

Training is not only an arena for information exchange.  Training is where workers connect, share, and keep their career development engines humming.  As they navigate the advantages and disadvantages of however The Hybrid Workplace is affecting them, workers face some issues of their own.  Training can help them.

Training can:

• Minimize proximity bias
• Help individuals stay visible
• Promote networking
• Provide opportunities for contributing
• Allow continued access to other workers and departments
• Help balance control and trust

Organizing a new Hybrid Workplace without a strong training program is like a story without a strong plot line that starts off strong but veers off in disappointing directions.  Keep your story strong!

Call me directly at 202-298-7700 to learn more about how our courses and services could improve your operations.

Thanks!
Judy

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