DK Essential Managers: Communicate Clearly

"Communicate Clearly" is a small book packed with a lot of valuable and useful information complete with illustrations on the basics of effective communication. It covers a wide range of issues pertaining to communication including the communication process, improving listening skills, good writing skills, and effective presentation, conducting productive meetings, win-win negotiations and effective use of body language as well as using the latest information communication technology tools such as e-mails. The book shows that anyone can learn to improve their communication skills, ranging from using the telephone to chairing meetings successfully. The book is very comprehensive and includes subjects that one does not usually come across in typical books on communication such as advertising effectively, use of neurolinguistic programming and how to read efficiently. The book is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket so that one can easily read it whilst waiting for an airline flight or whilst in a queue for something. The book is a useful companion should one need quick reference, for example on the effective use of gestures or any other area of interest. The advantage of the small size of the book is also its shortcoming. It results in the material not being covered in detail. This tends to limit the usefulness of the book to those seeking basic understanding of the important and critical skills of communicating effectively. For teachers or consultants in the field of communication, the book is a useful checklist to ensure that all the critical areas of the subject are covered.

Communication is the key to success! Universal truth yet this book gives lessons to better communicating using methods for sure results. Various methods combined together works. The five groups mentioned in this book are:1. written word2. spoken word3. Symbolic gestures4. Visual Images5. MultimediaInteresting is a comment here that Americans like communicating via rallies and slogans with strong use of visuals. (Pg.8) Learning to listen techniques are vital and using Listening skills is well explained in the book with Empathizing, analyzing and synthesizing. Reading, Taking Notes,using phone, writing letters & proposals, using technology, chairing meetings, reaching audience, communicating to sell, etc. are the major parts covered up which makes the book, a thorough handy guide for Key to Success. Sometimes, it is getting ready to Negotiate to win, mastering the techniques and be prepared for 'Talks' - This is exactly we do 'Talk' but when it comes to negotiating and passing the word/message through, we fail most of the time due to lack of many supported things. This book ultimately helps to overcome our weaker traits while communication spells disaster if right techniques aren't mastered properly. A good Pick.

My first reaction when I read Robert Heller's Communicate Clearly was that the mini-text (only 72 pages) was extremely well laid out and designed: the 101 pointers are underscored in yellow boxes, pictures of people are used to demonstrate the learned skills, and diagrams abound.However, when I began reading the content of Communicate Clearly, I felt that the content was extremely basic. For example, the first and second pointers highlighted in the book are "Encourage your company to improve all types of communication" and "Note that good communicators make better managers". The reader may get turned off by such obvious platitudes, and feel that there is not much to be gained by Communicate Clearly. This would be a mistake for all but the veteran communicator. There are some true gems in the book. For example, the following are some of Heller's suggestions that I found useful:(1) "Tilting your head slightly shows you are listening"(2) Body language: "Hands on hips indicate determination and ablity to take control"(3) "The first five seconds are more important than the next five minutes"(4) "Take a slow deep breath to relax"(5) Use Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) techniques to mirror an individual's verbal and physical expressions(6) After studying, one should wait for a few minutes, review what was studied, then wait a much longer time period before another review(7) Eliminate regressions because after re-reading text, one's comprehension is not significantly increased while reading time is almost doubled(8) Read your notes when the context of the conversation is still remembered(9) "The most effective meetings are small with only the vital people attending"(10) In a negotiation the first person to name a price is at a disadvantage(11) Work social events may be good opportunities to gather informal feedbackThere are other useful communication tips, but the usefulness of these other techniques will depend on your workplace experience. If you are new to the workplace or are truly deficient in the art of communication, this book will be incredibly useful. Oddly enough, I found that the most useful techniques in the book were those on note taking and speed reading, rather than those on communication skills.Paul Erdos

Lack of effective communications differentiates the most least successful organizations and managers from successful ones more than anything else. It doesn't matter how good your ideas and effort are if no one else is able to coordinate with you!Handling this important a subject in these few, small pages is a very daunting task! I'm glad that I was not asked to author this volume. I admire Mr. Heller's courage very much in taking this on. Mr. Heller has packed far more into this book than I would have thought possible. As a result, the book becomes a great check list for thinking through a communications task before you start. Whether you are about to meet with a prospect, hold a staff meeting, write a proposal, or handle a reporter's question, this book has valuable material for you. Because it covers so much territory, it will be especially valuable to CEOs of small companies. Brand-new managers will find this volume can help them avoid terrible mistakes. The advice touches on all of the better sources of information about communication that I am aware of, whether it be framing your body language, how to generate and benefit from public relations, use neuro-linguistic programming, or write a concise one-page letter.I would particularly like to praise the effective use of photographs and examples in the book. These pictures are worth more than the proverbial thousand words each to make the advice practical, specific, and memorable.If I were grading this book solely on its breadth and for being up-to-date on the subject, it would clearly be about a 6 star book or so.But I did discern some weaknesses that caused me to grade the book down somewhat.First, the most important lesson I have found about communication is to ask the person or people you are communicating with to you tell you or write to you what they have read or heard just as soon as you have made the initial communication. Then, you can keep repeating this checking until the information has gotten through. Elements of this approach show up here and there in the book, but not nearly strongly enough. If you only did this, you might not be an elegant communicator . . . but you would communicate clearly.Second, the next most important lesson I have learned is that messages don't begin to be absorbed and internalized until after the 30th repetition. And the more frequently and consistently repeated, the better absorbed and understood is the message. The book doesn't say enough about repetition, and how to pursue it.Third, the other important point is to have very few things to communicate about. Set up information flows so that people can ask and answer their own questions to achieve their own objectives (see E-Business Intelligence). Keep everything else to 3 ideas or less. Beyond those points, in most of these subjects a manager will need more depth. The book would have been enormously more valuable if the best book in each of 10 or so major areas had been referenced for

The Essential Managers series is just wonderful. The techniques were easy to utilize with the visual assistance the book provided.