Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

 
5 The skills of persuasion 
75
Character, logic and passion 75; What’s the big 
idea? 78; Arranging your ideas 82; Expressing your 
ideas 86; Remembering your ideas 88; Delivering 
effectively 89
 
6 Interviews: holding a formal conversation 
91
When is an interview not an interview? 91; Preparing for
the interview 92; Structuring the interview 93; Types 
of interview 95
 
7 Making a presentation 
113
Putting yourself on show 115; Preparing for the
presentation 116; Managing the material 117; Controlling the 
audience 130; Looking after yourself 132; Answering 
questions 133
 
8 Putting it in writing 
135
Writing for results 135; Making reading easier 136; Writing
step by step 137; Designing the document 138; Writing a 
first draft 151; Effective editing 153; Writing for the web 160
 
9 Networking: the new conversation 
167
To network or not to network? 168; Preparing to
network 170; The skills of networking conversations 181; 
Following up and building your network 188
 
Appendix: where to go from here 
197
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

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If you’re not communicating, you’re not managing.
In 2003, the American Management Association asked its 
members what skills go to make an effective leader. Number one 
skill – way ahead of the others – was communication (84 per 
cent). Interestingly, numbers two and three – motivating others 
(56 per cent) and team-building (46 per cent) – also rely on 
effective communication. What’s more, 60 per cent of executives 
who responded listed lack of collaboration as their top leadership 
challenge.
Management is no longer a matter of command and control. 
Managers must now work with matrix management and 
networking, with outsourcing and partnerships. We must 
influence people to act, often without being able to wield power 
over them. Our success depends, more than ever before, on other 
people.
The new technologies have been a mixed blessing. IT helps us 
keep in touch but can reduce our opportunities to talk to each 
other. Many of us have become ‘cubicle workers’, spending most 
of our day interfacing with a computer screen.
Corporate communication can, of course, still be remarkably 
About this book
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

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