Best Communication Skills for Workplace Success

Best Communication Skills for Workplace SuccessBest Communication Skills for Workplace Success You might be a put-your-head-down-and-get-things-done kind of employee, but no matter your work style, you cant avoid communicating at the office- on a screen or in rolle. In 2019, we Slack, ping, text, Zoom, email, call, and meet face-to-face, says Jill Jacinto , a millennial career expert. But, she adds, no matter which method you use, youll need to need to develop an appropriate method to interact with your coworkers or employees. But beyond having to communicate in the office, honing your communication skills can influence your career- and your daily success at work. According to career coach Hallie Crawford , How well you communicate impacts efficiency, effectiveness, trust between employees, your brand and how you come across as a professional, and much more. Here are seven essential communication skills every employee and boss needs to hone. Being respectful of otherbei peoples space and time is important- especially if you need to talk about a touchy subject, says Crawford. And while we may not think of showing respect as a communication skill, it is, because respect comes down to how we talk and listen to people. Avoid talking down to someone, this does not foment a positive environment at work. Respect the other persons feelings and strengths and perspective, says Crawford.Active listening is an essential part of any job, says Jacinto. Being a bad listener- such as someone who interrupts or doesnt make eye contact when another person speaks to you- can compromise your position at work. If you dont listen well, You might not understand the full objective for a project or the tool you were just trained on, she says.3. Displaying positive body language. You may not realize it, but your body language communicates more than words, Crawford says. So, Crawford encourages you to be aware of the overall energy you emit with actions and movem ents. Ask, are your arms crossed, or do you avoid eye contact? Crawford says. If you do, try to correct these behaviors by uncrossing your arms and making eye contact. When youre a new employee at a company- or if youre a recent college graduate - you might be afraid of asking questions of coworkers or your managers. But the ability and willingness to ask questions is a crucial communication skill. Asking questions helps to clarify things at work, whether you are talking about a project or a problem with a coworker, says Crawford. If youre a leader at work, this applies to you too Instead of giving direction, try asking questions to guide someone to a correct conclusion, she says. In 2019, most of the communication we do is via email or another online platform. Theres always that one person who is too detailed and sends a novel back to you, says Jacinto, who adds, dont be this person. Know how to break up an email, add bullet points, and be concise. Jacinto recommends asking yourse lf, does the receiver need all this information, before hitting send, or even, would this be better as a phone chat instead? Jacinto says.Staying open-minded is a very important communication skill- especially for entry-level employees, Crawford says. If an employee is an entry-level or new to their position, its important for them to be able to connect with his or her coworkers and understand the corporate culture of the organization, Crawford explains. How do you do that? Be open to new ways of doing things and dont shut down if your new team members have a different process or methodology for completing a task than you are used to, Crawford instructs. 7. A willingness to give feedback . This communication skill is important for senior-level employees to help their employees and business to grow, says Crawford. This doesnt always mean correcting mistakes- it could be commending someone for a job well done. But what about when you do need to call out someones mistake? If you do need to correct mistakes, make sure to commend an employee first, Crawford says. This makes it easier to accept any negative feedback .

How Elephants Uses Their Tails to Chase Away Mosquitoes

How Elephants Uses Their Tails to Chase Away Mosquitoes How Elephants Uses Their Tails to Chase Away Mosquitoes How Elephants Uses Their Tails to Chase Away Mosquitoes When an elephants tail swats a mosquito on its back, it generates enough torque (350 newton meters) to accelerate a car. But why does it take so much energy to swat a mosquito or a fly?The question arose during a conversation between Marguerite Matzu sichne, a Ph.D. candidate at Georgia Tech, and David Hu, who heads the Laboratory for Biolocomotion at Georgia Tech.Matherne, who grew up riding horses outside New Orleans, met Hu when she took his fluid dynamics class as an undergraduate. I really liked when he talked about his own research, like how honeybees use their fine hairs to clean themselves, she said. It welches not only interesting, but it gave me a really different perspective on mechanical engineering.Although I applied to other graduate schools, I decided to stay because this is the area thats interesting to me she added. I also like the labs mission, which is to reverse engineer what evolution does well and apply it to make our lives make better.For You Autonomous Vehicle Industry Races to Fill Big Engineering Talent GapThe type of fly repellent fan used in the research. Image ShooawayWhen she started the Ph.D. program, Matherne had to pick an initial research project. Hair, honeybees, and horses helped her decide.We started talking about hair and honeybees, and then how horses use their tail to shoo away flies, she said. David asked me how that works, and I realized that I did not really know.To answer that question, Matherne went to a local zoo and horse farm and filmed animals swishing tails. She used video software to track the motion starting at the joint where the tail extends out from the body, where the tail bone ends and the hair begins, and at the end of the hair.When she began reviewing her video, she realized that she could model the tail accurately as a double pendulum. T hat led her to expect that it move at the speed of a gravity-driven pendulum, the type found in a grandfather clock or metronome. Instead, she found that elephants, zebras, and horses all swished their tails three times fasterand used 27 times more energy when they did.That was a surprise, she said. At first, I was stumped. They were obviously putting a lot of energy into this, but why?She initially believed animal tails knocked bugs out of the air. So, she went on Amazon and bought a stick with horse hairs glued to the end and tried swatting flying mosquitoes with it.We totally missed the mosquitoes, she said. But they took off as the hair flew past them. They had plenty of time to see it coming but didnt move until the tail passed and the wind disturbed them.That suggested the tail swish was not designed to kill mosquitoes, but to chase them away. To find out, Matherne designed an experiment to test her hypothesis.She released mosquitoes into a container topped with a ShooAway fly fan and slowed it down to the saatkorn speed as an animals tail. The mosquitoes naturally began to move upward. Yet half retreated back down the container when they felt the fans breeze.The other half pushed through the top. If the mosquitoes landed on the animal, it would have increased the energy behind its tail movement, turning a swish into a swat to smash bugs where they landed, she said.Her conclusion Animals swish their tails to chase away bugs and swat the ones that get through. This uses less energy than swatting every bug once it lands.She also discovered that ShooAway and other fans designed to keep insects from landing on food and people are probably moving too fast. That could lead to more sustainable fans in regions prone to mosquito-borne malaria.We could spin those fans more slowly and get the same results, she said.Read More Ice Stripes Could Mean the End of Frost on Airplanes, Cars, Wind Turbines Synthetic Ice GetsCloser to the Real Thing Cockroaches Inspire Tiny Robots that Fly, Walk, Swim, Dive For Further Discussion

Four Essential Steps for Product Planning

Four Essential Steps for Product Planning Four Essential Steps for Product Planning Product planning can be a difficult process. Even deciding to give a potential creation more than a cursory glance is a major choice. Before its money, its your time. But how to begin this process and make it as smooth as possible?Jonathan Cagan, a lab professor in mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, and co-author of Creating Breakthrough Products, looks at four gates in the product planning process, though he emphasizes some use as many as three or even more than 10.The Four GatesThe first gate is uncovering the needs and wants of the consumer. Once youve done that, the second phase is understanding the opportunity through research, defining the product, and deciding what its value attributes are. The third is the conceptual design. The fourth is realizing that opportunity by detailing the design and conducting the stress analysis.Cagan says if you miss any of behaup tung steps, your product could be in trouble, but the second is especially important. Mechanical engineers love to determine what theyll design and create but they dont stop to think about whether theyve really found the right product for the marketplace, he says. Its a complete waste of time unless you figure this out.Another key problem is not having a commitment from the group or company. If they dont have time to invest to achieve the valued product, then it can die as just another great concept. A further component of this is the discipline required for each facet of creation. Cagan says this becomes even more vital if youre creating a new technology as opposed to improving on what already exists. Its amazing when you dont have to invent something completely new, how quickly you can move, he says. We teach a semester class where you can get from a clean sheet to the patent stage in 16 weeks.Ask the Right QuestionsIts also vital to Cagan that you ask yourself these important que stions right from the startWhen getting to production do you want to patent it?Do you want to build a more refined prototype?How far do you want to go into the prototype process, or are you looking to go to the point of full tooling?Which brings us to Cagans last point It doesnt have to be all or nothing. Its better to have more money available than less, he says. But ask yourself if you can figure out whether its a go or no-go in a fraction of the cost. Maybe a final version would cost $5 million, but would $1 million tell you whether you can pull the plug?The bottom line is that product planning requires a vision you believe in because potentially, youll be living with it for long time. From planning to marketing, asking yourself if youre willing to go the distanceeven if that distance becomes extendedmay be the most important question of all.Eric Butterman is an independent writer.The bottom line is that product planning requires a vision you believe in because potentially, youll be living with it for a long time.