TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE

The need to communicate immediately, growing competition, long distance relationships between people and places have all contributed to making communication through telephone an art. A telephone call can make or break a relationship, help you gain or lose in business or at work.

Some Dos and Don’ts while using the phone

• Always use the left hand to pick up the receiver. Keep the right hand free to take down messages.
• Never keep the receiver close to your mouth while speaking. It’s unhygienic. If you are using a public phone it’s better to wipe the mouthpiece before using it.
• Keep the receiver a little away from your mouth while speaking. The telephone is a sensitive instrument and it can catch sounds easily.
• Keep a scribbling pad and a pen / pencil near the phone to take down messages. Don’t keep the person holding for a long time while you go searching for a writing instrument.
• Close the mouthpiece when you have to talk to others in front of you while taking the call. If you don’t the other person at the other end can hear what he is not supposed to hear.
• Keep the caller informed about the status of the call – whether it is being put through, or if the person he wants to speak to is on the way, or if you can’t give the information he / she wants. Problems in an organization arise because of poor handling of telephone calls. People hate listening to the electronic music for hours on end.
• Remember that every telephone call is an opportunity – to improve contacts, get more business, improve relationships and above all enjoy better rapport.
• Just as you greet a person when you meet him/her personally, make it a point to greet the caller first depending on the time of the day. Sound cheerful – be it morning, afternoon or evening. The caller must hear your smile. In personal interaction a person gets o see your facial expressions, body language and understands the context better. In a telephonic conversation there is heavy dependence on the tone of your voice. It conveys all.
• Most telephone calls follow certain pattern:
1. Opening greeting
2. Warming up
3. Giving the message
4. Closing greeting
5. Rounding off

COMMUNICATION STYLES

At work and at home, each of us and our styles of communication are different. In turn our personal communication styles will dictate to a great extent our success in coordinating action and in relationships. It's unfortunate that we usually enter into communication situations without awareness of our personal styles of communicating. We just do what comes naturally to us. One thing is certain: every communicator anywhere continually THINKS and ACTS. This is where we begin our exploration of communication styles: how we Think and Act.

Acting Style 1: The Stimulators
People with this acting style try hard to implement new actions quickly and spontaneously, without structure. On teams and in meetings, stimulators will speak up to suggest easier ways to accomplish work and will be the first to hold new approaches to old problems. Because they get adjusted to dynamic situations, they'll be listening for rumors and clues about the next new program or initiative. They are oriented to individual action and achievement, and thus listen for appreciation of what they've accomplished on their own.

Acting Style 2: The Processors
Processors prefer to act according to a structured and systematic plan. They prefer to combine new actions into existing systems. They're much less captivated of radical change than their Stimulator brethren. They stay on the alert on uniting different parts of different programs together, and look for appreciation of the processes and systems they design rather than grand individual achievements.

Thinking Style 1: The Innovators
Innovators are in love with ideas. They're future-oriented and continually focused on opportunities and possibilities. There are few ideas and concepts that escape their attention, and they'll keep sifting these in their minds until they find some pieces that they can apply to problems at hand. In most organizations, these are the people who get tasked with brainstorming new products and programs, and "out of the box" initiatives.

Thinking Style 2: The Analyzers
Analyzers take the same amount of mental energy their Innovator colleagues use and apply it to dissecting ideas, processes, and programs. They are information harvesters who challenge ideas and assumptions with facts, data, and information. They're always listening for hidden problems and solutions and like to be appreciated for their thorough investigations.

The Thinking and Acting Styles create combinations that predict how people will apply their styles when communicating with others (including when they're in leadership roles!). The Four Primary Communication Styles are: CHANGERS, PERFORMERS, CONSERVATORS, and PERFECTORS.

The Changers
Changers combine the creative thought power of Innovators with the bold action orientation of Stimulators. Changers take new ideas and work to make them happen by implementation. They create change through experimentation instead of analysis, preferring to implement first and fine tune later. Changers tend to be free-thinking "sparkplugs" driven to act on new ideas.
Their communication style is: "Great idea; let's try it!"

The Perfectors
Perfectors combine the creative thought power of Innovators with the powerful analysis and investigation skills of Analyzers. Whereas Changers will implement first and fine tune later, Innovators take a new idea and "try it on for size" in their minds. They tend to appraise, refine, and perfect before implementation. They are free thinkers drawn to new ideas, but will be cautious to act before assessing probable outcomes and understanding the details.
Their communication style is: "Great idea; let's think about it."

The Performers
Performers take the bold acting style of Stimulators and join it with the structured acting style of Processors. The result is a person can take proposed systems and processes and implements themimmediately. They are the "doers" in organizations; the "go-to" people who can be counted on to act and lead according to management's game plan, especially in a crisis.
They are structured thinkers whose communication style is: "Here's the plan. Let's do it now!"

The Conservators
Like their Performer colleagues, Conservators prefer the structured acting style of Processors combined with the analysis skills of Analyzers. The result is a person who can take existing systems and procedures and improve them through careful, incremental actions that have been thoroughly assessed for consequences. Their talent is an ability to analyze the familiar and apply structured thinking to improve it. These are the "rock solid" people in organizations who you can rely on to manage important processes that, for example, result in certification of professionals and drugs, and issuance of governmental permits.
Their communication style can be summarized in the statement, "Let's work to improve the current plan."

The Basic Sentence

There are two main parts of a sentence. They are:

1. Subject
2. Predicate

The subject is that part of a sentence about which something is said in the sentence. The subject may be a person, place or thing. It can be a noun or a pronoun, in singular or plural form, depending upon the nature of the sentence.

The predicate is that part of a sentence which provides information about the subject. It can be a single word or a number of words.

The main parts of a sentence can be named as the subject, the verb, the direct object and the complement of the verb.

• Subject – it is the performing person or thing and has been dealt with briefly.
• Verb – it is the doing word. It indicates the action performed by the subject.
• Direct Object – it is the word, which receives the action performed by the subject.
• Complement – it is the word that completes the sense left incomplete by the copulative (or linking) verbs expressing the state of being, seeming, appearing and feeling. Such verbs are: be, seem, appear, taste become, grow, act, sound, etc,. They actually do not indicate any action, but only the state of being or existing.

On the basis of the essential elements and word order, it is possible to determine the basic sentences. These sentences are called basic, because all the other sentences are derived from them.

Basic Sentences

i. Subject + verb
Birds fly

ii. Subject + verb + adjunct (place)
The pen is on the table

iii. Sub + Verb + complement(s)
He is angry

iv. Sub + verb + object (D)
He shot the tiger

v. Sub + verb + obj + adjunct.
He put the book on the table

vi. Sub + verb + obj + complement (O)
They made him angry.

vii. Sub + verb + obj (i) + obj (d)
They gave him the book



A simple sentence in formal speech or writing has a subject and a predicate; the predicate part has a verb. The subject is generally a noun/a noun phrase or a pronoun.

BE PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

Our beloved National Anthem ”Jana Gana Mana” written and composed by Sri Rabindra Nath Tagore has been chosen as the World’s Best National Anthem by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

Jana Gana Mana written in Sanskritised Bengali, it is the first of five stanzas of a Brahmo hymn composed and scored by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

It was first sung at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress,on 27 December 1911. Jana Gana Mana was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the Indian national anthem on January 24, 1950. The music for the “current version” is said to be derived from a composition for the song by Ram Singh Thakur, although some dispute this.

A formal rendition of the national anthem takes about forty-eight to fifty-two seconds.

The first stanza consists of the full version of the national anthem. It reads:

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata
Punjab-Sindhu-Gujarata-Maratha-
Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga
Tava shubha name jage
Tava shubha ashish maange
Gahe tava jaya-gatha
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he !

Playing time of the full version of the National Anthem is approximately 52 seconds. A short version consisting of first and last lines of the stanza (playing time approx. 20 seconds) is also played on certain occasions. The following is Tagore's English rendering of this stanza:

Thou art the rulers of the minds of all people,
dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Yamuna and
Ganga and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
thou dispenser of India's destiny,
Victory, victory, victory to thee.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India!"

- Romaine Rolland

BODY LANGUAGE CHECKLIST

NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR INTERPRETATION

Brisk, erect walk - CONFIDENCE
Standing with hands on hips - READINESS, AGGRESSION
Sitting with legs crossed, foot kicking slightly - BOREDOM
Sitting, legs apart - OPEN, RELAXED
Arms crossed on chest - DEFENSIVENESS
Walking with hands in pockets, shoulders hunched - DEJECTION
Hand to cheek - EVALUATION, THINKING
Touching, slightly rubbing nose - REJECTION, DOUBT, LYING
Rubbing the eye - DOUBT, DISBELIEF
Hands clasped behind back - ANGER, FRUSTRATION, APPREHENSION
Locked ankles - APPREHENSION
Head resting in hand, eyes downcast - BOREDOM
Rubbing hands - ANTICIPATION
Sitting with hands clasped behind head, legs crossed - CONFIDENCE, SUPERIORITY
Open palm - SINCERETY, OPENNESS, INNOCENCE
Pinching bridge of nose, eyes closed - NEGATIVE EVALUATION
Tapping or drumming fingers - IMPATIENCE
Steeping fingers - AUTHORITATIVE
Patting/fondling hair - LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE, INSECURITY
Tilted head - INTEREST
Stroking chin - TRYING TO MAKE A DECISION
Looking down, face turned away - DISBELIEF
Biting nails - INSECURITY, NERVOUSNESS
Pulling or tugging at ear - INDECISION

The Intricacies of Listening Skill

Listening is a seven-stage process of

*Hearing
*Selecting
*Attending
*Understanding
*Evaluating
*Remembering
*and Responding actively with feedback

Listening is a master skill, but it is not always taught in schools. Like in any other skill, competency in listening is achieved through learning and practice. Listening is not always an easy skill to practice because of several barriers like,

• Worry
• Fear
• Anger
• Grief
• Depression
• Individual bias
• Prejudice
• Semantics
• Language differences
• Noise
• Verbal clutter
• Pre-occupation
• Boredom
• Shrinking attention span

These barriers make listening all the more complicated. If we have motivation to listen and interest to respond with verbal and non-verbal clues, this helps the speaker know that you are listening with concentration. Listening should lead to creative imagination of spoken ideas and thoughts.

Listening as we have just discussed is a passive skill. But it is an active process too. There are basically two types of listening. They are:

1.Casual listening
2.Focused listening.

Steps to Effective Listening

1.Maintain good eye contact with the speaker.
2.Relax and be attentive. Avoid distractions
3.Have an open mind.
4.Carefully listen to the words of the speaker and try to visualize what he is saying.
5.Do not disturb or impose your ideas on the speaker.
6.Wait for your turn to clarify the doubts.
7.Try to ask questions to ensure effective understanding of what has been said.
8.Express your feelings and give a regular feedback to the speaker after he/she completes the speech.
9.Do not ignore nonverbal cues like facial expressions, gestures and posture - in short, body language, which conveys meaning.
10.Do not get distracted by your own thoughts, feelings, etc. Avoid emotional involvement
11.While listening, focus on key words and issues.
12.While dealing with difficult people spend more time listening than speaking.
13.Treat listening as a challenging mental task.
14.Stay active by asking mental questions.
15.Use the gap between the rate of speech and your rate of thought.

Tips for being a good listener

• Give your full attention to the person who is speaking.
• Make sure your mind is focused.
• Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk.
• Listen for main ideas.
• Ask questions.
• Give feedback.

To listen effectively you should CARE for those you're listening to.

C - concentrate - focus on the speaker.
A - acknowledge - through body language - nod your head occasionally or say uh-huh.
R - respond - ask questions for clarification and interest.
E - empathize - share their emotions and feelings. Validate your partner