Tag Archives: media interview

Tips and a Warning When Reading Body Language

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Today I would like to both share with you some useful tips of body language and other non-verbal communication, as well as warn you not to think that a little bit of reading can turn you into Dr. Cal Lightman, from the TV show “Lie to Me.” 
That TV show is based on the real-life research and books of Dr. Paul Ekman.  Dr. Ekman is the first to tell you that body language reading is not an exact science, and is not fool-proof.  
Most people are under-educated when it comes to body language, since it is not something we are taught at school.  In order to learn it we have to read many books, take seminars and workshops, hire a personal coach and practice practice practice.  I believe there is benefit to improving your ability to intuitively ‘read’ people, but do not get caught up in yourself and your ‘magic’ abilities.  Even with all the research you may have done, experts suggest it only raises our chances of accurately reading someone 10 – 17% better than an average person without such training. 
The better results gleaned from studying body language and non-verbal communication is actually that you become a better observer and listener in general, which is great to improve your communication skills, and more importantly you learn how to present yourself better in your public speaking, meetings, interviews and even on dates. 
Being knowledgeable about posture, what to do with your body parts from head to toe, voice control, eye contact etc. will quickly and greatly improve your public presentation of self.  So even if you don’t believe in the art of reading people, you can still study non-verbal communication to give you an advantage at the office or on the streets. 
I’d now like to share with you an article from the Globe & Mail newspaper that gives you tips on improving your body language for the workplace.  To be fair, I must warn you that I am shamelessly promoting myself as I was the main contributor of information in this article, so bear with me!  (LOL)

I hope you enjoy the article!

Coach Ric

Asa on Larry King Live (Part 1)

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This is a great interview of Larry King by ‘guest host’ and YouTube sensation Asa the comic. If you watch part 2 as well there is a very deep story about an interview Larry did with a paralyzed police officer many years back – powerful story. Larry is truly the king of interviews. Excellent voice and great story teller. Asa holds his own even though he was obviously nervous. (I would be too!) Good job Asa!

I really didn’t need to know that, sir

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Hello,

This is the Globe and Mail article from today, Monday February 23 2009, in which I was interviewed, along with other experts, on the issue of over-sharing personal information at work. If this topic is relevant to you and your office cohorts, please follow the link by clicking here:

http://sympatico.globeandmail.com/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate?tf=tgamv3/realtime/fullstory_print.html&cf=tgamv3/realtime/config-neutral&articleDate=20090223&slug=wlinfo23&date=20090223&archive=RTGAM&site=Front&configLabel=front&hub=Front

Thanks,

Are You Over-Sharing Personal Info at Work?

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Today I was asked to give an interview for Sarah Boesveld, a newspaper reporter with The Globe and Mail’s Life section. She wanted to write an article about over-sharing in the workplace – that is, people offering a little bit too much personal information and how that can affect working performance and working relationships. Great topic!

That article comes out most likely this Monday the 23rd and I’ll post a link to the online article then.

UPDATE FYI – I am a contributor of articles on the Entrepreneur-focused site Evan Carmichael.  Here is the link to that article on the same topic – 7 negative results of oversharing personal info at work:

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/2493/7-Negative-Results-of-OverSharing-Personal-Info-at-Work.html

Ric on TV Tonight (videos)

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Hello –  just two quick announcements:

ONE – If you have not yet seen it, my January 1st 2009 CBC News TV interview is up right now, where I discuss the G.R.O.W. coaching method. Just go to my Youtube channel video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CW3Zu0DLk

TWO – For those interested, and who can get the channel (I am not sure how far this broadcast will reach) I will be on a T.V. episode tonight of the W-Network TV show “Save Us From Our House!”, which is on at 9:30pm. For those in Toronto the channel is 27. I have not seen this episode yet, so we will be watching it together for the first time. It is only a half-hour show, and I am not the main host, so my time may be only a minute or so, but that is fine with me. I enjoyed helping the family shop in a peaceful manner and avoid all the conflict that they are so used to having in their daily communications.
Thank you for your support!

UPDATE:  Here is the video or the direct Youtube link to the 2-minute segment I’m on from that TV show:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYsXFywfFbQ

Ric on CBC TV – Jan 01 09 Video Now Up

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Hello,

I hate to so shamelessly promote myself, but I want to provide more credibility to some folks who don’t know me and who want to make sure that I can ‘walk the walk and talk the talk’ when it comes to communication skills.

So if you are interested in seeing the latest TV appearance, I’ve uploaded the January 1st 2009 live interview of me on CBC TV discussing how to apply the coaching G.R.O.W. model to your New Years resolutions and monthly goals.

(Or follow this direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CW3Zu0DLk )

Thank you!

G.R.O.W. Yourself in 2009

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Hello everyone and happy 2009!

As some of you might know I was recently on television again this year to briefly talk about New Years resolutions and how to create a plan to stick to them. Now personally, as most of you would know from last year’s interview that I uploaded to my homepage, I do not actually set New Years resolutions. I believe in continuous goal-setting as opposed to creating a ‘wish-list’ on December 31st. However this year I was happy to discuss the coaching model that I use for goal identification and planning for my clients. It is called the G.R.O.W. model.

This is not just mine. Many coaches use it, or some variant of it. Here is what I use this acronym for and what I explained on CBC Newsworld national TV a couple days ago. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful for self-coaching and also for helping others around you take the next steps on the path to more success.

G – Goals. What are your new goals and how do they mesh with your current goals already in place? This is where you establish your vision of where you want to be in life. Are those goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-based) or as I mentioned in last year’s interview, are they BEST (believable, enthusiastic, specific and time-limited)?

R – Reality. What is your current reality? What is your environment like at work and at home? Where are you now, at the starting point, and why do you want or need to achieve these identified goals?

O – Opportunities. Some people use this letter for ‘obstacles’, but I prefer the more positive word ‘opportunities’. What have you tried before that helped or hurt your goal achievement? What opportunities can you take advantage of now, around you, to achieve your goals? Are there courses, books, workshops, seminars, coaches or mentors? Will work subsidize professional development training for you? If you do not ask you will not know what their policy or budget is.

W – Willingness. Again some other coaches use this letter to refer to the ‘wrap-up’ stage, which is fine, but I prefer to be a little more specific and call it ‘willingness’. This is the very important stage of figuring out your current motivation for each of your goals. Write them down, from all different areas (financial, health, professional, communicative, etc.) and then assign a number to each one, based on your motivation to achieve it, on a scale of 1-10. Anything less than a 7 will be difficult to achieve at this point. Use your momentum and focus on the top 2 or 3 goals that have an 8 or above answer. With your new priority list organize an action plan and get to work!

A little more advice was given during my interview that I cannot fit into this article so when CBC sends me the DVD (they promised!) I will upload it to give those of you interested a chance to see it.

By the way, a common question I get is “are you nervous when you are being interviewed live on television?” The answer is simply “yes, I am.” I just centre myself and stick to what I know best, and above all, I breathe! It seems to work out okay.

All the best to all of us for 2009!

P.S. – There is a giveaway Ebooklet called “How to Achieve Goals” that you can check out here to get advice and understanding on goals: http://stores.lulu.com/commcoach1 .

Thank you!