Here is What to Do When It Is Necessary To Speak To Groups Who Lack Interest Or Disagree With Your Position. By Thomas J. Roach Last month I had the privilege to speak to the members of the American Coal Ash Association at their conference in Birmingham, Ala. They are a very dedicated group of professionals as was demonstrated by…
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Internal Communication Specialists
What Do Internal Communication Specialists Do, And Who Needs Them? By Thomas J. Roach The chief responsibilities of the internal communication specialist might include overseeing a company intranet site, editing an employee newspaper, writing internal announcements, and conducting an employee survey. Larger organizations might have an internal communication director or vice president who has direct access to the CEO and…
Read MorePerformance Interviews
We All Need To Know Our Work Is Recognized And Appreciate Direction When It Comes From A Well-Meaning Mentor. By Thomas J. Roach Many books and internet sites offer advice on job interviews, but employee review interviews are largely ignored. Obviously, strategies for interviewing and being interviewed are of primary importance. However, the average employee stays at a job for…
Read MoreWho Do You Say You Are?
When We Write We Should Ask Ourselves What Personas We Are Projecting. By Thomas J. Roach As more work is performed online and even remotely, the image our co-workers have of us becomes more defined by our writing and less by what we look like, how we dress and what kind of small talk we make. Those of us who…
Read MoreSpeaking to a Group
There Are A Few Strategies, Or Tricks, That Can Work For Almost Anyone. By Thomas J. Roach Most of us reluctantly take speech classes in high school and college, but as we advance through our careers, we come to realize that perhaps nothing we studied has a bigger impact on our success. Much of what we do early in our…
Read MoreArrangement in Communication
It Is Useful To Think Of Arrangement Not Just Of One Communication Step, But Of A Series Of Interactions. By Thomas J. Roach When we consider arrangement in communication, we mostly think about how to order our arguments in a speech or an essay. However, most issues are deliberated over a period of days or weeks, and it is useful…
Read MorePraise and Blame
We Need To Establish Parameters For Behavior If We Are Going To Live And Work Together. By Thomas J. Roach Ancient Greeks believed there should be an ongoing public dialogue of praise and blame; it was called epideictic discourse. It would benefit all of us as citizens and as workers and managers if we learned and practiced this almost lost…
Read MoreRemembering the Pandemic
COVID-19 Taught Us Lessons That Are Changing The Way America Works. By Thomas J. Roach The pandemic of the 21st century may not be over, but in the United States we are seeing a distinctive ebb in its development, and we are provided with an opportunity to take in the scope of its impact. In 1999, a Gallup poll asked…
Read MoreLook for the Pony
Business Success Is Driven By Difficult Adaptation. We Must Adjust To Changing Needs Of Customers, Employees, The Market And The Community. By Thomas J. Roach During the pandemic, organizations changed the way they do business. When the pandemic totally recedes, some aspects of business culture will return to normal, but many of the adjustments of the pandemic will remain in…
Read More21st Century PR
The Role Of Public Relations Practitioners Is Not Manipulating Communication, It Is Facilitating Communication.
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