How to help your international employees adjust to life in the USA as a new resident

Are you planning to move to the USA in 2015, or will you be bringing international employees to the USA? There's more to welcoming them effectively than a simple "hello, we're glad you are here!".

New residents coming from other countries to study or work here are often surprised by details that are different from their native countries' ways of doing things. As one example, post offices in the USA handle mail - and only mail. They do not have banking functions, as they do in some other countries.

Speaking of banking, Americans use checks sometimes, in addition to credit and debit cards. Newcomers who establish bank accounts here should know how to write a check for the occasional place or situation in which a credit or debit card is not accepted.

Coming to the USA is a concise e-book that was written based on the questions of many professionals who moved here from Europe and S America. Get details on topics ranging from insurance to mailboxes, and much more! The more you understand, the easier life will be here for you and your family. And if you are on your way to the USA as you read this, welcome!

Workplace Motivation: What Gets People Enthusiastic?

Lack of employee engagement is a serious problem in today's workplace, as many employees "go through the motions". This leads to expensive employee turnover, with associated costs that we all pay for in terms of employee recruitment and training. These are added to the costs of the products and services we purchase. In addition, lack of employee engagement could lead to increased costs for legal and safety issues.

Here is a fascinating article describing 7 studies on employee engagement. The conclusions show simple techniques that most managers should be able to use - if they know about them. Read the article at  http://blog.ted.com/2013/04/10/what-motivates-us-at-work-7-fascinating-studies-that-give-insights/

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive coaching in verbal skills, including communication strategies for leadership development. We also offer an e-book on this topic, packed with tips on 18 critical leadership communication skills,  for inclusion in leadership development curriculi.

Four Ways to Help Your New International Colleague at Work

If you have an international colleague at work, you have an interesting learning opportunity, going both ways.

Americans are more individualistic, in general, while many international employees are taught to think first of their work group, not themselves. Therefore, while Americans might ask for what they need, in some countries, other employees could expect their work group to offer this help first.

For example, if you have a new international employee, slowly and clearly explain the American concept of various types of insurance. Insurance is done differently in various countries.

If the employee is new, offer to talk about the corporate culture, or the culture of your particular unit.
What is important to your boss or mission? What changes are being planned for the near future? Does the unit do any group activities, such as a day for volunteering, or cross-departmental project teams?

Some communities have an online calendar of community events. Show that to the newcomer, as well as telling about special events you like in the community that may take place yearly. Offer to take him or her to one of these. Also offer to answer questions about general life in the community, such as schools,  recycling or recreation.

If the person's pronunciation is hard to understand, this can affect his willingness to talk in some cases.  Business speech training is available in various formats for employees; talk to Training and Development or Human Resources about this to see if the company will sponsor this training.

Business Speech Improvement offers intensive training in American English pronunciation improvement for non-native professionals, as well as related e-books and mp3 files. Speech training in general diction, learning to speak slower, presentation skills, and executive communication skills are also available.

Front line staff and your PR program

What are the first people prospective customers/clients/patients see doing to increase your organization's public relations?

In one healthcare organization I visited yesterday, the first employee I was directed to see appeared ironically to be very sick. When I asked her why she was at work, she told me that her department had let many employees go, and was very short-staffed. The next person I was sent to had her head down on the desk. When I expressed concern about her health, apparently conscious that everyone in a crowded waiting area could hear her, she self-consciously laughed and said she was mostly bored - despite the place being very busy. If this facility took such poor care of the front line employees, I wondered how they expected the employees to take exceptional care of their patients.

Regardless of your industry, how are you taking care of your front line employees? What are you doing to show them that you care about them? Are you teaching them the critical role they play in getting new customers or patients? Are you doing it with frequent spoken and written compliments, flowers, occasional free meals or gift cards, making sure they take time off when they need to, a career ladder to help them develop skills for other jobs, or some other method? Times are tough in many companies, but often without meaning to, front liners can derail your expensive public relations efforts.

Please let us know your company's efforts to make your front line team feel special!

Dealing with someone in emotional distress

What is the best thing you can do to help a co-worker, friend, neighbor or other person who is grieving? Often it is to express your sympathy, be quiet, and then simply listen. Use non-verbal language
(eye contact, nodding or other facial expressions, lean forward to show interest), and let the other person talk it out. Depending on the situation, this may need to be done many times. We all grieve differently.

When the person is calm, it may be time to paraphrase some of the essential details in a non-judgmental way if the situation is not due to a death but to an accident or another event. Eventually, the person may be ready to move on to necessary action relating to the event.

Many companies have qualified counselors on staff, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or some other resource if that is needed. If the person dealing with grief changes behaviors drastically or threatens to harm himself or others, professional counseling should be sought immediately for the survivor. If a person was cared for by a hospice, trained counselors may be available to the family. However, often a listening ear, and time, show that someone cares.

Giving in Times of Disaster: What Do You Need?

When a community experiences a disaster, such as a weather-related one, it goes through specific steps. The first one is search and rescue. Outsiders should ask people if they are OK, and then be prepared to listen - often repeatedly - to what they went through. Before offering help, whether bottled water, clothes, toiletries or whatever, ask first "What do you most need?" Those asking may be surprised at the answers.

The disaster doesn't end in a few days when the news media tires of the story and goes on to something else. Take time to keep asking, "How are you doing? What do you need?"

Whether it's a listening ear, a sense of routine and calm, replacement furniture, batteries or specialized equipment, the answers keep changing. Disasters take a long time to recover from...and life will never be the same.

If you have never experienced a weather disaster, it's a great time now to get prepared. Visit www.ready.gov and follow their suggestions. Get a weather radio, and prepare for the most likely weather emergencies in your community. Make copies of the most important financial, legal and professional records you might need after a disaster, such as your homeowner's or renter's insurance documents, your car insurance papers, your licenses, diplomas and certificates - and send one set of these to a trusted family member or friend who lives in another state, to hold in case it is ever needed. Make a second set and put it where you could grab it in the event of an evacuation. Being prepared increases your feeling of control and may reduce the after-effects of a disaster.

You can't prevent disasters, but you can get prepared for them and listen carefully to those who have experienced one.

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides intensive training in verbal communication skills, such as listening and asking critical questions.

Want "the gift of Blarney"?

Many people who are shy wish they could strike up conversations with strangers.
"Small Talk:Connecting with Others" is a unique e-book that explains the techniques others use naturally. Learn to decide who wants to talk, how to start, continue and end a conversation graciously.

Imagine how your life could change if you could talk to strangers whenever you chose.
What would this do to your personal and professional life?

Download Small Talk:Connecting with Others today!

Hearing Loss and Your Employees

"Isolated", "frustrated", and "worried" were three words used recently by a group of corporate employees to describe their feelings about their hearing loss. Hearing loss affects 10% of the population, including 33% of those age 65. Now a worrisome 20% of late teens report some of the signs of hearing loss, for the first time in history. Yet few corporations offer training in techniques to cope with hearing loss.

Employees report that they may hesitate to speak during department meetings, because they are not certain of what has already been said or, sometimes, even the topic under discussion. When a group has a meeting in a noisy room, such as a restaurant, that makes the communication worse.

"What Did You Say? Strategies for Helping a Person with a Hearing Loss", is an e-book for helping supervisors, colleagues, friends and spouses learn better ways to communicate with people with hearing loss. It provides information on simple techniques that can
be easily implemented.

What will you be doing a year from today?

A friend reported that she feels she has wasted this past year. When I asked what she would like to be doing a year from today, she didn't know. As a sage put it, if you don't know where you're going, how will you get there?

Write down your goals of what you want to happen by a year from today. Think about goals relating to your health, your family or social life, your work, your involvement in the community, financial goals, leisure goals or whatever is most important. Make the goals specific, realistic and time-bound. Then figure out a tiny step you can take towards each of them this week. For example, in the financial goals, maybe you want to compare car insurance rates to see if you can save money, or brown-bag your lunch three times this week. For the health goal, maybe you could drink an extra glass of water or eat an extra serving of steamed vegetables each day. Then take a few minutes each day and imagine yourself in a year, having met your goals! Think of the self-confidence this would give you. This goal exercise is a great exercise for work or personal use.

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides intensive training in executive communication skills, accent modification, presentation skills and much more. Services are provided through in-person coaching and through e-books, available 24/7. Great speech makes business sense!

Executive Communication: Employee Motivational Strategies

When jobs become more plentiful, a lot of employees are going to be looking for new jobs. The loss of an experienced, valued employee can cost a lot of money, knowledge and sometimes goodwill. Managers and CEOs should work now on employee retention.

First, administer and evaluate the results of the Gallup Q-12 http://gmj.gallup.com/content/811/feedback-real.aspx . These vital questions can help unsuspecting managers see who may be likely to leave when the opportunity presents itself.

Second, see what drives the satisfied employees: public recognition, career growth opportunities, continuing education, private praise, or other rewards. Use them!

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides intensive coaching in executive communication skills, making presentations, accent, diction and other aspects of verbal communication. Training is offered through coaching and e-books. Great speech makes business sense!

Leadership Development: Executive Communication Skills

How can you tell when someone is a leader? How does a leader communicate?

When I posed this question to experts in training, they told me a leader listens well and with empathy, speaks clearly and concisely, gains listeners' trust, helps people formulate new ideas, and more.

How do you know by his or her communication style when someone is a leader?
Please share your thoughts on this with us!

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) offers seminars and e-books on executive communication skills, presentation skills, accent modification and more!

First Impressions and Your New Contractor

many companies know of the importance of first impressions for new employers and customers. Sometimes they forget to think about new contractors brought in to provide services.

Contractors often charge by the hour. Are paperwork packets, procedures and often people in place when the new contractor begins his job? If ID issued by the organization is needed, is that ready to be issued? What about a map of the facility, list of names and contact information for relevant people, safety or emergency procedures and other vital information?

For contractors, time is money. A disorganized customer can not only create a negative impression in the contractor's mind, he can also waste a lot of money.

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides training in executive communication skills and other verbal communication skills. Training is offered through individual and group coaching as well as concise and practical e-books on many aspects of communication.

Characteristics of an excelent customer service representative

Today I experienced an unusually good customer service experience. In this case, it was in a retail store. However, as we all have customers, it could have been anywhere.
Four factors made it so good:
1. the salesperson had excellent verbal communication skills
2. she knew her products, their features and location well
3. she heard unspoken objections and offered a guarantee of satisfaction
4. she was clearly eager to please her customers by offering superb service
My congratulations to those who recruited, trained and supervise this salesperson!

What's the best customer service experience you have had recently? What made it so great?

What Does A Speech Coach Do and What Should I Look For In One?

Can you identify with any of these? All names and some details have been changed.

1. Li (not her real name) is a professional chemist with valued professional skills. However, despite speaking English, she has a lot of trouble being understood by her colleagues here. Her company hires a speech coach to teach her American English pronunciation.

2. Sue has a strong regional American accent. When she speaks to clients in another part of the country by telephone or in video-conferences, they focus on trying to understand her pronunciation and miss her message. Sue's boss calls for help for her.

3. Sara needs to improve her presentation skills to be able to keep her job. Her company course on presentation skills was very poor, and Sara wants one on one coaching.

4. Pablo is a leader, and he wants training in how to get more ideas from his team. He
also wants to be a more effective communicator with them. He wants executive communication coaching.

If one or more of those situations describes you, you want a speech coach who is a great communicator herself, who is experienced and is professionally trained. One example of such training is a master's in speech pathology with experience in the sub-specialty of corporate speech pathology. Such a coach has scientific background in anatomy and physiology of how we talk, as well as experience in applying this to the corporate environment. Ideally the person will have the initials CCC-SLP after his or her name.

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive, targeted coaching in verbal communication skills. Visit www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com for more details!

Cultural Sensitivity: From the Other Side

It was a rare experience. Yesterday, in my own community, I was in the midst of a large group of people from many countries, and the mono-lingual English speakers were in a minority.
As people from other countries explored our cultural differences with representatives from local agencies and businesses, I heard an American voice saying, "They speak Spanish so fast! If only they would slow down so I could understand them!"

Do you work with people from other countries who have moved here? Do you want to help them feel more comfortable with our customs? "Coming to the USA: American Cultural Differences" is an e-book that may be perfect for your new employees! They can read it before they arrive here and be more prepared for their new communities. Find it at http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?EBooks .

Communication secrets for better customer service

Communication is a crucial aspect of customer service. Think about all that can be done to make the service more convenient and effective from the customer's viewpoint.

Here are four techniques to use. First, never ask the customer to call back when someone is available. Always offer to take a message and make sure it gets to the right person. Do not have an outgoing message that promises to return all calls - unless you really mean ALL calls. If you promise to get back to the caller at a specific time or date, actually do so, because the caller may be waiting. Answer the phone in a cheerful tone of voice, and make sure your greeting consistently has clear diction so it can be clearly understood by the other party - even if you answer calls all day long. (After all, each caller usually only calls once on a given day.) How well does your staff do on each of these skills?

Business Speech Improvement (www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com) provides targeted communication improvement services through group and individual coaching, as well as e-books. Services include training in diction, accent modification, presentation skills, small talk, and more.

What's the best way to learn to speak English better?

One of the most common questions I get as a communication coach from my professional clients from other countries is, "How can I speak better English quickly?" I then ask them, "How much time do you speak English now?"

Many times people from other countries only speak a limited amount of English at work or when in the community shopping. At home they speak their native language, and many of their friends are from their native country, so they speak that language with them as well. Some also take English as a Second Language classes, or for those more fluent, classes in a local college.

But the best way to learn a language is to surround oneself with native speakers of that language and actually speak it as much as possible. At work, ask to get on company or departmental committees, or get involved in your neighborhood association or a recreational activity that involves speaking. This is not selfish; when you speak better English, you will be able to help your children and spouse with their English as well. The more you speak English, the easier it will be. Many communities and some companies have free classes available for spouses as well to help them become more involved in their new communities.

For those from other countries who want to improve their American English pronunciation, Business Speech Improvement offers a three day intensive class on Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals. Visit http://businessspeechimprovement.com/enabler/scripts/category.pl?Classes to enroll in the next session!