Communicating with influence Monday to Monday® includes being humble and kind, a characteristic we may have neglected due to the many challenges thrown at us daily.  Being humble and kind takes less effort yet has a much bigger reward.

3 Daily Actions

1. Pay Attention. Avoid multitasking during conversations.  The world will not end if you don’t send off that email, text or tweet immediately.  Give your undivided attention to the conversation and who you’re talking to.  Multitasking communicates that your agenda is more important than your listener and jeopardizes the trust they’ll have in you.

2. Let It Go. Everyone has a right to voice an opinion or ask a challenging question.  Take the emotion out of the conversation, handle the situation with poise and move on.  Let go of the negative feelings you have toward others or the emotion that lingers.  It’s healthier and a lot easier to put your energy where it matters the most.

3. Be Respectful. The tone of your voice, facial expressions and word choice can be harsh without you knowing. You gain respect when you pay close attention to what you’re doing, saying and how your listener is responding.  Do you really gain anything from the scowl, rolling eyes, short, harsh responses and words that could be avoided if you gave more thought to what you were saying?

Your family, peers at work, clients and strangers will take notice when you take that extra step toward being humble and kind.  The world could use more of this!

 Drop me a note to share what action you took TODAY that communicated kindness.

Tag me on my Facebook page.

Click Here to Receive our 5 Steps to Raise your Influence

What Achievers Read

The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, by Shawn Achor http://amzn.to/2feCrPE

The post Be Humble and Kind – 3 Daily Actions to Increase Influence first appeared on Stacey Hanke, Inc..

People’s response to your emails and texts is based on past experience with your messages. Perhaps your emails are long and confusing, or your text messages are one continuous paragraph rather than brief sentences. Maybe your messages are so abbreviated they might as well be written in Morse code. Perhaps you include people who don’t need to be involved in the discussion. Rather than giving your emails and texts the attention you want them to have, your readers’ response may be, “Ugh, I don’t have time right now to deal with this.” Poorly written email and text messages jeopardize your influence. If your messages aren’t read, you can’t have influence.

Your natural response to this situation may be to:

• Assume your messages are being read even when you don’t receive a response.
• USE ALL CAPS in the subject line of your emails to try to grab readers’ attention.
• Send another email or text to make sure your reader received the first one.

For Influence Monday to Monday:®

• Be heard through the clutter. Before you press “send,” consider how many emails and texts your reader has received before yours. What can you do to make your message stand out from the rest?
• Be clear, concise and to the point. Respect your readers’ time. Challenge yourself to only use bullet points to communicate key ideas, recommendations and action steps. Ask a trusted peer to review your message and provide feedback on what you need to edit.
• Hang up the email or text and pick up the phone. Make an effort to call individuals rather than sending an email or text. Even if you have to leave a voicemail, you lessen the risk of miscommunication. You can follow up with an email or text for documentation.

This week’s blog is an excerpt from my new book,Influence Redefined…Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, Monday to Monday®, which will be released in early 2017.

If you missed one of Stacey’s previous blogs on tips, visit her online.  Take action today to enhance your influence by downloading our complimentary resources.

 What Achievers Read

Return on Integrity: The New Definition of ROI and Why Leaders Need to Know It

by John G. Blumberg

The post You May Not Be as Influential as You Think You Are If… first appeared on Stacey Hanke, Inc..