Creating Corporate and Community Cultures Where Truth Is Championed
and Morale is High
Why Organizations Need PowerPhrases
Every Day of the Week
Welcome,
You get a sense of a corporate culture from the second you walk in the door.
You can tell if morale is high or low, if employees feel appreciated or disparaged and if it’s an environment where everyone gives their best or just enough to get by.
Most of us have experienced dysfunctional business cultures. I have. Managers and executives had a defensive posture toward employees. Ideas were often dismissed, reasonable accommodations denied and initiative regarded with suspicion. As a result, many of my colleagues did not even consider discussing their ideas or concerns with managers. Another result was that I chose not to stay as long as I might have.
Morale isn’t the only thing that suffers when organizations have negative or dysfunctional communication patterns. The bottom line suffers as well. Every day, poor business decisions go unchallenged by subordinates who don't agree, but are afraid to speak up. Every day, organizations and employees look the other way from incompetence and illegal or unethical activities.
All too frequently, offhand comments by CEOs are turned into de facto policy by overeager managers. Often, leaders who themselves recognize problems do not initiate the difficult conversations necessary to address them.
At Speak Strong I help organizations break down the barriers of hierarchical communication. I provide words designed to create an environment that encourages forthright communication and where leaders tap into the insight and expertise of all staff members to make well-informed internal and external business decisions.
Organizations Need Openness to Be Functional
I often talk about how a relationship is as healthy as the things the individuals in it can talk about. The same is true of organizations. If members of an organization can openly address issues, the organization is likely to be healthy. If members harbor resentment, suppress ideas and ignore concerns, the organization will suffer.
Some executives and organizational leaders claim to want employees to be open, but their actions send a different message. They are often unaware that their own signals keep employees from telling them things they need to know.
While most employees reflexively resist new policies and systems under the best of circumstances, that resistance is less when communication is free-flowing on every level.
That’s Why Organizations Need PowerPhrases to Clearly Communicate
Here at SpeakStrong, I help organizations break the barriers of interdepartmental and intradepartmental communication.
Explore my articles such as The Four C’s of Communication published by the American Management Association. (Let me know if you figure out who George and John are.)
Order one or all of my four books, including How to Say It: Performance Reviews, published by Penguin. This book details a revolutionary approach to performance management.
Enroll for my free weekly newsletter called A PowerPhrase a Week. It’s packed with words, phrases and tools that executives, managers and employees can apply immediately.
Bring me in for a series of workshops such as Creating Corporate Cultures Where Truth Is Championed. I can observe meetings and other communications, coach your managers and executives, write for your newsletter and provide concrete support for opening up communication.
Hire me to be your personal fast track to exceptional communication skill.
It’s About Knowing What You Have to Say and Having the Words to Say It
I’m not about theory and concepts. I’m about concrete action steps to create breakthroughs and transform communication.
It’s time to address the barriers to a healthy culture.
Most people delay hot button conversations because they didn’t know what to say or you didn’t want to rock the boat. But some boats need to be rocked. Most people have also initiated hot button conversations with reckless abandon and later regretted their words. You can rock the boat without sinking it.
In my years of speaking and writing, I’ve yet to meet a group of people that are free from hot button issues that people avoid. It might be an issue of too much perfume or speaking too loud or stealing an idea or supporting bad policy without attempting to speak up. But every group I’ve ever worked with has something that needs to be said, and once spoken in an environment of safety, positive changes ensue.
Communication skill is your key to a positive culture.
If people don’t speak openly with colleagues, board members, customers, clients and employees, they’ll make things up.
If words are unclear, confusion reigns.
If language is inflammatory, fires get started.
Imagine a world where everyone says what they mean and mean what they say without being mean when they say it. While the world isn’t like that, the closer your culture is to that ideal, the healthier your organization.
Check Out Our Resources to Improve Your Corporate Culture
Here’s a cool communication tool you can use immediately:
• Communication Style Inventory
Here are a couple of other tools you get free when you sign up for A PowerPhrase a Week newsletter:
• Standards of Effective Communication Downloadable Poster PDF
• The SpeakStrong List of the Top Ten Poison Phrases to avoid at all cost
It’s easier than you think.
I offer numerous formulas and the actual words you need to address those vexing and perplexing issues that affect you and your organization. But everything I teach is based on one simple formula. This formula is so straightforward you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. (If you did, you’ll wonder why you didn’t use it.) This formula is so effective you’ll wish you had it long ago. Once you learn this formula, you’ll be ready to address issues you had resigned yourself to long ago.
I apply this formula to help you find the perfect words for the situations you face every day. My words have been tested around the world for their power and effectiveness in business communication. They have been embraced by thousands of executives, and they will add power to your communication.
Are you ready to read the formula that is the basis of the most successful conversations you could ever have? People ask me, “What are your communication secrets?” My secrets are surprisingly simple. I have five concrete formulas that I apply repeatedly. When I need to Speak Strong I use a formula. When someone needs help with wording I use a formula. Speaking powerfully really is that easy.
I have five concrete formulas, but the most important formula I use…the formula that is the foundation of everything I say is…
Here goes…
Say what you mean and mean what you say…
without being mean when you say it.
Can it be that simple? Yes – and yet as simple as it is, so few people actually do it.
PowerPhrases aren’t just about confrontation. They are also about connection. PowerPhrases! will help you make that connection.
Hundreds of people (I’m not exaggerating) have told me that just using that formula they have transformed their communication. Start with that simple principle today. And search the site for more information to help with your specific communication challenges.
Here’s what others say about Speak Strong and Power Phrases.
I get a lot of comments on how useful the tools I provide are. Many of these comments are unsolicited. Here are a few.
"I recently purchased your book Power Phrases! and found it quite amazing. I would like to be added to the list that receives the newsletter. Thank you for writing such a useful book. I will keep it with me and refer to it often!" ~ Kathy L.
"Your content is significant, your delivery truly special. Thank you."
~ Lynn P.
"My thanks go to YOU for such a valuable tool and service that you provide! Keep up the good work and my friends and I will continue to look forward to all of the newsletters, phrases, and success stories, among the features!" ~ Joan S.
Here at SpeakStrong, you can get books, CDs, DVDs, newsletters and articles that you can use right away
Information gives out. Communication gets through.
Isn’t it time your words got through?
Others may talk about communication, but here at Speak Strong we help you find the exact words to speak.
I help you to say what you mean and mean what you say
without being mean when you say it.
Go ahead - leisurely explore my site.
You'll find my bookstore loaded with practical resources, the newsletter packed with beneficial information you can use immediately, and the site brimming with illuminating articles. I even respond to questions personally.
If there is something you need to say, I can help.
If you aren't already receiving A Power Phrase a Week or you haven't taken the Say What You Mean eCourse, click on those links now.
"I actually look forward to Wednesday just because I know the newsletter will give me new and useful information and has even made me rethink how I write correspondence and speak to people." ~ Bob H.
"I have gained more useful information and communication skills from the weekly Power Phrase than any other communication training I've taken. Please keep up the good work." ~ Ebby F.
If you want to take the fast track to effective communication, visit our SpeakStrong bookstore for tools you can use immediately.
"Your book has saved my professional and personal self-confidence with communicating. It’s a ready reference for phrases that are specific and short, but quick and to the point." ~ Kim Hawks, Financial Manager
Thanks for visiting my site. Put PowerPhrases to work for you NOW!
~ Meryl
