Dale Carnegie Training’s has been in the workplace communication business for 100 years. To celebrate, we are
sharing 100 of Dale Carnegie Training’s best tips to help you communicate to succeed in the workplace! In today’s
digital age it is more important than ever to effectively communicate your ideas, recommendations, and solutions.
Effective communication is at the root of conflict resolution, public speaking, customer service, and relationships
that are required for success in every interactions. Let Dale Carnegie Training help develop your communication
skills for success!!!
These are a sampling of the same principles that we use in our workplace training and development solutions
for organizations around the world. Brought to you by Dale Carnegie Training - celebrating 100 years of creating
success. For more information, on our leadership programs visit www.dalecarnegie.com
1. Face to Face or Voice to Voice Is The Best
2. Good Communications Helps Eliminate Misunderstandings
3. E-Mail Is For Information, Not For Conversation
4. Learn Good Punctuation & Grammar. Your Readers Will Appreciate It
5. Learn To Be A Good Listener
6. Make Eye Contact and Then Keep It When Talking Face to Face
11
SHOW RESPECT
AND DEMONSTRATE
THAT YOU THINK THE
OTHER PERSON’S
OPINION IS IMPORTANT
7. Be Attentive and Show Interest When Someone Else Is Talking
8. Don’t Let Your Attention Wander - Focus It
9. Always Be Patient When Communicating
10. Lose The Habit Of Cutting People Off and Interrupting. NEVER Do It.
11. Show Respect and Demonstrate That You Think The Other Person’s Opinion Is Important
12. Be Courteous When Making A Phone Call and Always Identify Yourself
13. Smile, Smile, Smile - Whether Talking In Person Or On The Phone. It Works !
14. Don’t Talk Too Loud
15. Don’t Talk Too Fast
16. Moderate Your Style.
17. Practice Your Communications - And Then Practice Some More
18. Engage In Only One Conversation At A Time
19. Don’t EVER Multi-task While On The Phone Or In Person. Your Listeners Will Despise You For It.
20. Give Others the Chance To Speak.
21. Learn The Technique Of Pausing Every Now and Then
22. Outline Your Thoughts Before Starting An Important Conversation
23. Learn How To Make Your Point WITHOUT Getting Too Emotional, Angry, Fearful or Upset
24. In Multi Person Conversations, Someone Needs To Lead and The Rest Will Follow
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25. In Communicating Like In Many Things - TIMING - Is Everything
26. It Needs Saying Again - Learn To Listen
27. Listen With All Your Senses, Not Just Your Ears
28. Be Aware Of Your Body Language
LISTEN WITH ALL YOUR
SENSES, NOT JUST
YOUR EARS
29. If You Aren’t Sure, Then Ask Them To Repeat It or Ask For Clarification
30. Use OPEN ENDED Questions. They Can’t Be Answered By A YES or NO
31. If You Find You Are Not Handling The Conversation Well, Then Ask For A Break
32.Keep From Repeating Yourself/Raising Your Voice When Trying To Make A Point
33.Use The INTIMIDATION Technique In Communicating and You Will Lose Your Listener’s Trust
34.If You Feel Angry, Then Tell Your Listeners You Are Angry. That Will Help Cool You Down
35. Always Choose Your Battles.
36. Be Flexible About Things While Conversing. Listen and Ask Questions
37. Always Set The Expectations Of Your Conversation
38.Learn To recognize When Its Time To Listen and When Its Time To Talk
38
LEARN TO RECOGNIZE
WHEN ITS TIME TO
LISTEN AND WHEN ITS
TIME TO TALK
39.In Group Setting Communications, Express Your Intention and What You Want To Accomplish
40.Good Managers Communicate Often With The Team/They Acknowledge Positive Results
41. Watch Other Good Communicators and Learn To Do What they Do
42.Learn To Be A Good Story Teller
43. Be Consistent and Transparent In All Your Communications
44.Good Managers Get From Behind The Desk & Talk To Their People Face to Face
45. Put Yourself In The Other Person’s Shoes. That Will Shape Conversation
46. Always Rehearse What You Want To Say OR Edit What You Want To Write
47. Acknowledge People When They Send You A Message. Even If Its Just - “ I Received It. “
48. Consider Working With A Communications Coach
49. Always Remember - Without Action Following Them, Words Mean Nothing
50. None Of Us Are That Great So We Need To Always Practice Humility In Our Communicating
51. Reduce or Eliminate Distraction, Background Noise and Interruptions When On The Phone
52. Body Language Says A Lot in Face To Face Conversations. Pay Attention To It
53. Learn To Be Aware Of The Non-Verbal Communications (Body Language) In Your Listeners
54. Listen To the Feelings and Emotion Behind the Message
55. It Needs Saying Again - Always Make Eye Contact and Always Show Interest
56. Remember-Open Ended Questions Encourage Discussion of Feelings
57. Be Sure To Clarify What It Is You Heard When the Conversation Is Done
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58. Try Not To Take Opinions Of Others Personally
59. NEVER Use Bad Language or Communicate Off Color Humor.
60. Always Address People Respectfully
61. Be Careful What You say In Public. It Can Come Back To Haunt You
62. Communication Gossip and Being Petty Will Always Hurt Your Image
63. In A Business Setting, Get Down To The Topic Quickly. Cut Out All The ‘ Pre - Banter ‘
64. For A Sensitive Topic, The Environment Needs To Be Positive / Listener 100% Engaged
65. Always Begin A Sensitive Topic Conversation With Something Positive
LISTEN TO
THE FEELINGS AND
EMOTION BEHIND
THE MESSAGE
66. Never Go On The Attack. That Kills A Conversation Right Now
67. Exaggerate or Lie To Your Listeners And They Will Know It - Guaranteed
68. Don’t Try To Be A Mind Reader. Assuming What Others Are Thinking Just Mucks Things Up.
69. Focus On How To Solve The Problem More That Focusing On The Problem
70. Try To Let Your Listeners Know That You Are Upset With The “ISSUE“ and Not Them
71. Explain Your Feelings
72. Clarify and Be Specific On What Needs To Happen To Fix The Problem
73. Be Careful That You Don’t Address Too Many Topics. Limit The Conversation To One or Two
74. Allow Your Listeners Time At the End For Questions
75. Always Be Factual In Your Communications. Don’t Make Things Up
76. Meeting Leader/Your Job Is To Lead and Not Offer Allot Of Your Own Opinions
77. If You Bring Up A Problem, Then Offer A Solution. Make Listeners Do The Same
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FOCUS ON HOW TO
SOLVE THE PROBLEM
MORE THAT FOCUSING
ON THE PROBLEM
78. Always Show Respect When Communicating. It Cannot Be Said Enough.
79. NEVER Hang Up On Someone, Even If They Deserve It.
80.Let The Others On The Call Or In The Conversation Know That They Are Important
81. Treat Every Conversation As If The Internet Will Find Out. Be Careful What You Say
82. Criticize, Condemn, Complain/That Will Only Get You Grief
83. If You Have To Make An Unpleasant Call, Do It In The Morning
84. Don’t Debate The Right Or The Wrong. Always Work Towards A Solution
85. Listen To The Emotions Behind The Words
86. Use WE Not YOU. It Works
87. Learn To Talk WITH People And Not TO or AT Them
88. Learn To Keep Your Cool and Let the Other Person Be The One To Lose Theirs
89. Results Of Communications = How It Was Perceived, Not How It was Intended
90. Ask Your Listeners Periodically How They Are Feeling and Is there Any Questions
86
USE WE
NOT YOU.
IT WORKS.
91. Most Communications Are Started So Someone Can Get Something.
92. E-Mails Are Part of Life. They Reflect On You. Be Positive, Be Brief, Be Professional
93. Nobody Cares For Your E-Mail Jokes & Political Messages. Don’t Forward Them
94. Write Your E- Mails As If The World Will See Them
95. Use BCC & CC Appropriately/Consult Someone How To Use Them
96. Don’t Use E- Mail To Avoid Face To Face or Phone
97. Remember / People Lose Jobs Over Inappropriate Messages
98. Be Sparse With Group Messages and Don’t Reply Back To Everyone. People Hate That
99. In E-Mails Using CAP Letters Makes You Appear To Be SHOUTING. Be Careful
100. Indicate In the Subject Box Content and Purpose/Include Contact Info In The Signature
SOME EXTRAS
• In E-Mails Your Tone of Voice Can’t Be Heard. Keep That In Mind
• In E-Mails If You Forward or Repost A Message, Don’t Ever Change The Wording
• In E-Mails If You Do Want To Repost A Message To A Group Field Of Names, Be Sure To Get The Author’s OK
• In E-Mails ALWAYS give the proper attributions. Don’t Plagiarize
• In An Communications Situation, Taking Some Notes Never Hurts
• In Any Written Communication, Make It Simple. You Will be Glad That You Did
• It Is Always A Good Idea To Follow Up Verbal Communications In Writing
• Use Agendas/They Will Give Your Meetings Direction and Make Things More Organized
• Always Encourage input From Others
• Remember - Talk Slow and THINK
• Schedule Calls and Meetings - Don’t Be A Spur Of The Moment Person. Its A Bad Habit