Self-awareness: First step to becoming a better communicator, by Ruth Oji
A senior executive once walked into a meeting determined to “set everyone straight.” Sales had declined, deadlines had been missed, and frustration had been building for weeks. He spoke forcefully, convinced that he was being firm and decisive. When he finished, the room fell silent. No one challenged him. No one asked questions. Everyone simply nodded […]
How to promote good communication through active listening, By Ruth Oji
Clarifying questions are another effective active listening technique. By asking open-ended questions you allow the speaker to give you feedback without you restricting their thoughts or influencing whatever they are going to say.
Effective business communication for organisational success, By Ruth Oji
One effective way to improve communication with customers is to enhance the quality of customer service.
Deciphering various types of minutes of meetings
By Ruth Oji EFFECTIVE minutes writing is a crucial skill for anyone tasked with recording important information and decisions made during meetings. Whether you’re attending a small team meeting or managing a large conference, accurate and well-structured minutes help keep everyone on the same page and serve as a valuable reference point in the future. […]
Meetings and minutes of meetings
THE article this week focuses on helping us identify different categories of meetings that may take place in an organisation. We will also have explained basic procedural tools used to run meetings. Let’s begin by defining what a meeting is. We could consider it as the bringing together of all parties concerned with an issue. People […]
Speech making and public speaking
Clarity is also a salient element of speech making, and it is viewed in dual perspectives: the language choice or use, and secondly, the message. During a speech, the speaker must ascertain that his proficiency in the language being used is unquestionable and duly communicated.
Word choice in report writing
Always think about your reader and ascertain that they will be able to flow with your logic. There is no need to make things more difficult than they should be.
Editing and proofreading your report
By Ruth Oji IS there a difference between editing and proofreading? You can be sure there is! While both are integral to polishing your finished report or writeup, editing focuses on revising the structure and organisation of your work, and proofreading on the edited work. For proofreading, focus is on lower-order concerns such as grammar […]
Your report: Data collection (2), By Ruth Oji
EFFECTIVE listening is a skill to deploy when you seek to gather data for your report. Avoid getting into the trap of thinking that the topic is boring or irrelevant. As a good listener, be ready to sift, screen, and hunt for relevant information. That helps you take what you require while showing an active […]
Your report: Data collection (1)
RESEARCH is a crucial part of your data collection process after you have done sufficient planning of your report. If you fail to undertake proper research, your report won’t stand out, even though doing good research doesn’t necessarily mean that you would write a great report! You just need to know your onions regarding report […]
Want to speak better English? Try out these …
By Ruth Oji Hello dear reader, IT is almost a year of consistency on this column. So, let’s give up for us all! Well done, and kudos to you for always showing up. I thought, therefore, to share a few tips that can help us improve our speaking since for the past weeks we have […]
Proposal writing
By Ruth Oji PROPOSAL writing can be likened to storytelling. The art of proposal writing lies in the ability to tell a story. Every proposal is a story with a goal, and its effectiveness derives from the ability of the storyteller to tell that story well. In this and future articles, we will consider how […]
Report writing IV
AFTER your title and date, you want to check out your reference number. This is the number given to the report; however, this will depend on company practice. What I mean is that some organisations number all reports sequentially; others do so by department, and yet others add some personal reference (perhaps the initials of […]
Communicative Functions of the Verb
A verb is usually defined as a word or combination of words that either expresses an action or says something about the existence or condition of a noun or pronoun.
Report Writing (3), By Ruth Oji
Previous articles on report writing emphasized the need to pay attention to the preparation and planning stage, which includes setting your objective, assessing your readership, and deciding what information you will need. The article this week will show how you can prepare your skeletal framework. After a complete picture of information requirements emerges from your […]
A Dash to the rescue
By Ruth Oji Not many people are conversant with the dash – a punctuation in the English language. The dash is, however, mostly misused by some who use it. See the following example of a misuse of the dash: ‘There are also a great number of people – many of them not in the least […]
