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		<title>I&#8217;ve moved! New Effective Communication Skill Blog</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/12/14/ive-moved-new-effective-communication-skill-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/12/14/ive-moved-new-effective-communication-skill-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:29:53 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[My PowerPhrase a Week blog is now my Effective Communication Skill blog. You are still welcome to search the posts in this blog and post comments here. I also invite you to visit my new blog here.  It&#8217;s a new year, and I expect you&#8217;ll like the new SpeakSTRONG. But don&#8217;t keep me guessing! Please [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Don&#8217;t make people have to squeak for their oil.</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/11/22/dont-make-people-have-to-squeak-for-their-oil/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/11/22/dont-make-people-have-to-squeak-for-their-oil/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:32:32 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Character-based Communication]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The squeaky wheel gets the oil. It may be true, but it isn&#8217;t professional, fun or respectful. Rob&#8217;s assistant used to have to ask him several times to for information she needed for a report she created each weeks. He developed a new policy. He decided to do things before his assistant asked, or let [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Don&#8217;t ask for a minute of someone&#8217;s time when you probably need an hour. Play fair.</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/11/21/dont-ask-for-a-minute-of-someones-time-when-you-probably-need-an-hour-play-fair/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:32:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Character-based Communication]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s so tempting to downplay how long it should take for someone to help you when you ask for a favor. If you think about it, you often know that when you ask someone if they&#8217;ve &#8220;got a minute,&#8221; chances are you need ten minutes or a half-hour. But when you say, &#8220;have you got [...]]]></description>
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		<title>What not to say when someone responds &#8220;too&#8221; literally</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/11/03/what-not-to-say-when-someone-responds-too-literally/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/11/03/what-not-to-say-when-someone-responds-too-literally/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:18:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Poison Phrase of the Week]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Some folks hear what you mean, and others hear what you say. I kept trying to get a web developer to tell me, - How much work do you want to do for me? He kept answering that he wanted to do a lot more than he could. Finally I realized it made no sense [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Reader question: starting fresh when a negative employee returns from leave</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:40:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ask Meryl]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Meryl, I have an employee that will be returning to work soon after leave. She does good work but has presented challenges in the past when it comes to getting along with co-workers. She has a spirit of negativity and will bad mouth and gossip and then twist it in her mind as someone else [...]]]></description>
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		<title>What to say when you need to point out a few flaws in an achievement</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:17:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The PowerPhrase of the Week]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Ned knew Marla&#8217;s brochure was a major achievement for her. He also knew she wanted it to not just be good, but to be great. So he said, Let&#8217;s celebrate your success here before we tweak it. He went on to congratulate her, tell he why he saw this as a major accomplishment and invited [...]]]></description>
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		<title>A business causal dress code is a kind of communication agreements</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/22/a-business-causal-dress-code-is-a-kind-of-communication-agreements/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/22/a-business-causal-dress-code-is-a-kind-of-communication-agreements/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:30:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The SpeakStrong Method]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[What is business casual? As you know, I&#8217;m big on communication agreements. And a business casual dress code is a kind of communication agreement. Clothes communicate volumes. But if I emphasize the business and you emphasize the casual, we might find our communication collides. Diana Pemberton-Sikes writes a bit about it here - the page [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Company/customer pact SEO abuses underscore why integrity standards are so needed</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/22/companycustomer-pact-seo-abuses-underscore-why-integrity-standards-are-so-needed/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/22/companycustomer-pact-seo-abuses-underscore-why-integrity-standards-are-so-needed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:34:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The SpeakStrong Method]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Charlene Li and Jim Kouzes gave a great webinar on Leadership &#38; Social Media. In it, Charlene mentioned The Company Customer Pact. I checked them out and want to pass the info on to you. Charlene talked a lot about covenants with clients, employees and associates to remain open in their communication. It reminds me of my [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Free podcast and upcoming webinar ask what is gossip? Not so black and white.</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/21/free-podcast-and-upcoming-webinar-ask-what-is-gossip-not-so-black-and-white/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/21/free-podcast-and-upcoming-webinar-ask-what-is-gossip-not-so-black-and-white/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:47:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcements and events]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Right now there are two remaining tickets for my Perfect Phrases for Dealing with Gossip and Manipulation in the Workplace webinar. One of the things we will discuss is, just what is and isn&#8217;t gossip, anyway? Guess what &#8211; gossip is not black and white. When I post about interactions I have in my life, [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Good question, why ARE you rambling on about that?</title>
		<link>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/21/good-question-why-are-you-rambling-on-about-that/</link>
		<comments>http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/2010/10/21/good-question-why-are-you-rambling-on-about-that/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:06:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>merylrunion</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Poison Phrase of the Week]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The SpeakStrong Method]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Sue&#8221; called me to give me the great news about her new client. After about fifteen minutes of celebration, she started talking about the resistance of some of her client&#8217;s associates. She went on for several minutes about little snipes, imagined problems and other concerns that seemed unimportant in the scale of her great new [...]]]></description>
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