SpeakSTRONG NEWSLETTER
March 22, 2011

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Why my heart is singing

What a month since I sent my last newsletter.

I had surgery on one eye and can see things I never saw before - including colors and street-signs. I'm having surgery on the other eye tomorrow.

I played Scrabble in Cincinnati with my 91-year old dad and it was so much fun. I'm going back for another round this Sunday.

And I spoke at a Lean Manufacturing conference for the Young Presidents' Organization and fell in love with Lean Manufacturing. I'm going back for another Lean conference next week.

Now, it might seem a bit odd to say I fell in love with a manufacturing system. But my associates have their heart in what they do, and I found out why. It's eloquent. It is based on comprehensive values. It's concrete. It's beautiful. I got that sense where you seem so at home with someone it's like you've known them your whole life.

I talk about my experience on a radio interview on Lean Nation Radio. You can listen to the podcast.

Why Lean? Well, I'm still figuring that out myself, but I will say that I love how Lean is as dynamic as the world is and as my approach to communication is.

And that's why my heart is singing. More later.

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Communication pet peeves results are in

The results are in for our communication Pet Peeve survey, and the winner is:

- Staying silent and complaining later.

The very close second is:

- Being blind-sided because people didn’t tell me about problems.

Both submitters will receive a free year-long subscription to my "Say What You Mean eCourse." Thanks for playing.

Interesting that the highest scoring bad practices are both passive behaviors. We tend to think overly-aggressive communicators are the ones who create the problems. This survey indicates otherwise.

I didn't get enough submissions on the good communication practices to start a competition for that, but if people post enough, I'll create one for that. You can post about communication practices that you like here.

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Teleconference for CEUs: "Applying Classroom Learning to Workplace Reality"

Thursday, March 24  1:30 – 3:00 PM Eastern Time

There's a difference between learning how to do something—and actually doing it. There's a difference between having the tools to make changes and actually changing things. The best information in the world is useless without the essential pieces to put it into practice. I'm offering a teleconference to bridge the gap.

This conference is presented through Professional Development University - and there is a fee for each registration. Everyone who attends earns CEUs.

I'll be talking about what made last week's Young Presidents' Organization conference so effective as an example of well designed training.
More info

PowerPhrase: What do you need to make your job easier?

My husband asked Lalena, the young woman who cleans our house,

• Is there anything you need to make your job easier?

Lalena replied that a new mop would be nice since the one we have falls apart. Such a simple thing - and yet she didn't think to ask for it until she got the offer. Are there people in your life who make do with what they have when a simple improvement would make a big difference for them? Why not ask and find out?

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Why am I so keen on Lean?

What's the fuss over Lean all about? At the YPO Lean conference, I felt like I was transported to an alternate universe where leaders don't think efficiency happens at the cost of connection and humanness. That's worth fussing over.

Lean is a dynamic process. It's about continuous improvement - not improving occasionally or in chunks - but bit by bit, step by step. It's organic - you take a step and that movement changes the whole situation. You check out the new situation before you plan the next improvement.

Here's what that can mean on a communication level. If sarcasm is an issue for you, you find yourself getting defensive over criticism and you don't set boundaries well, you might decide to change all that at once. 

But if instead, you start by eliminating sarcasm from your communication, your other concerns will shift. Chances are you uncover new problems, overcome old ones, or both. A dynamic approach allows for your next step to be completely appropriate for the new reality.

Linear thinking, operating and communicating is at its best when it leaves room for the dynamic world we actually live in. Lean does just that.

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I have several more blog posts for you

Lean
A fun video from one of the Lean Manufacturers at the YPO conference. For his company, continuous improvement is fun.

The Social Network: A Docudrama Dilemma
Here are my thoughts about fictionalized biographies. What are yours?

Nuclear Honesty
A pretty scary admission from someone who didn't want his name on a potential disaster

The Day-to-day Conversations of Lean Management
The kind of conversations that get people on board with initiatives like Lean

PowerPhrase: I respond more quickly to short emails
A clarification phrase that gets people to be more succinct

Lean Nation Radio
You can hear my interview on Lean Nation Radio where I talk about what happened at the YPO lean conference

PowerPhrase: I own this space Dan Mulhern
Is your presence as big as you expertise?

A financial argument for a moral and safety decision
Your reason for supporting or opposing a project might be a moral and/or a safety concern. But your best argument could still be financial.

About Me and SpeakSTRONG

I help you communicate your ideas so people understand the big picture, engage in exploring possibilities and partner with you to make things happen.

I love to attend conferences and present a customized closing keynote summary of the event in terms of what conversations participants will want to have after the event to implement the learning. I base the presentation on my own expertise, the information presented during the conference and conversations and comments from participants. This takes the information out of the realm of theory and makes it actionable.

I wrote eight books about effective communication with phrases to help you find the perfect words to cut through the clutter of a busy and dynamic world. I offer a very generous books-buy-the-box discount that includes a free half-hour webinar about how to move from book learning to workplace reality.

I can customize a webinar for you, present in-house or support your communication efforts in a variety of other ways.

Contact me for more information.

© 2011 · Meryl Runion and SpeakStrong, Inc · All Rights Reserved

Speak STRONG, Inc

4265 Outpost Rd

Cascade CO 80809

(719) 684-2633

www.speakstrong.com