CHAPTER 1

The New Workforce Demographics Require New Dynamics of Communication

This is not "your father's Perfect Phrases book." That's because we don't workin our father's work environment. Many factors are changing the way we relate,influence, and succeed. These factors change the nature of power. What got us tothe top in the past will hold us back in the future. The old model of managementcommunication— top-down, controlled messages, paying lip service toemployees while imposing force—doesn't work in this new world. We need newmodels and new phrasing for our new workplace demographics.

A Woman's Nation

Since 2008, women have officially outnumbered men in supervisory positions, andsince October of 2009, they have taken predominance in the workplace as a whole.The Shriver Report declared the United States to be a woman's nation, with thepostscript that "a woman's nation changes everything." While the report notesthat not everyone experiences a feminized workplace culture, clearly the trendis toward acceptance and valuation of traditional women's characteristics. Theseare the qualities of collaboration, cooperation, and personalization of businessinteractions. Of course, men can and often do also embody these values. And manywomen don't. Some women struggle with a collaborative style, either because itis not natural to them or because they have spent decades adapting to apredominantly male communication workplace culture. Still, women are seen as thedrivers of these trends. According to author Judy B. Rosener, women have shownthemselves to be "far more likely than men to describe themselves astransforming subordinates' self-interest into concern for the whole organizationand as using personal traits like charisma, work record, and interpersonalskills to motivate others." This collaborative trend is expected to persist aswomen continue to grow in workforce predominance.

Generation Y

The youngest generation of workers is also pushing management toward a newcommunication dynamic. Generation Y is naturally conversational, informal,egalitarian, and personal. To inspire and motivate younger employees, managersare learning to develop their personal working relationships and deliverindividual benefits to meet individual needs. The workers who make up this newgeneration expect their input, opinions, and desires to be acknowledged and forcommunication to be reciprocal. Most workers under age forty have never known aworkplace without women managers and colleagues, and they are increasinglycomfortable with a diversified workplace. Of course, this generation is alsoknown for growing up with pervasive technology.

Globalization

Globalization is another transformative factor. We're talking to and workingwith people from all over the world whose cultures are unlike ours. No matterhow much we homogenize, our diversity still has a way of showing up inexpectations, reactions, and miscommunications. This requires collaborativedialogue.

Social Media

Social media is also having a dramatic effect on the workplace culture. Twitter,Facebook, and other forms of social media aren't just elements of the businessclimate to consider; they are drivers and reflectors of a new type ofcommunication. We've gone from mass communication to masses of communicators.That alone is eroding the authoritarian communication model. Sound bites andmessages in 140 characters or less are vogue. That feeds the desire forsuccinctness. Plus many employees are constantly logged on and linked in totheir social networks. Meetings and events are peppered with audiences who textor tweet play-by-play analyses while the facilitator tries to keep theirattention. And that's if the leader is engaging. If he or she is not engaging,the texts are unrelated to the event.

Social media also creates a whole new set of conversations that managers need toinitiate. Our fathers' managers had to concern themselves with workers whoplayed cards on company time. Today's managers monitor computer games andtexting.

Stretch or Be Stretched

It's a stretch-or-be-stretched world out there. A manager who doesn't adapt tothe dynamic new work climate will not be effective. Management theories arehelpful, but managers also need concrete, tested communication action steps andphrases.

This book gives the accidental (and deliberate) manager immediate benefits byproviding words to use in hundreds of contemporary management situations. Theyare quick, easy, and effective.

You'll find ready-to-use (and ready-to-adapt) phrases for every managementsituation. But first, we'll dive into the new dynamics of communication thatprovide a foundation for all the phrases included in these pages.

CHAPTER 2

The New Dynamics of Communication

The new way of talking can be summarized as five new dynamics, each with severalcomponents. Review them and apply them to the phrases in the subsequentchapters.

New Communication Dynamic #1: Be Gracefully Assertive

Say what you mean, and mean what you say without being mean when you sayit.

As managers, it's our job to coordinate, not just let things haphazardly unfold.That includes giving clear directions, holding employees accountable, andaddressing inevitable issues. Judging from the numerous questions I get frommanagers about situations they should have addressed literally years ago, manymanagers don't manage. I also get countless questions from employees whosemanagers are...