Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Any Management Situation (Perfect Phrases Series) [Paperback]

Meryl Runion (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071452168 | ISBN-13: 978-0071452168 | Publication Date: December 30, 2004 | Edition: 1

Powerful phrases for effective communication in every management situation

The latest addition to the bestselling Perfect Phrases series, Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors is an indispensable tool for novice to mid-level managers and frontline supervisors. Corporate communications guru Meryl Runion coaches readers in the six fundamentals of effective delivery, including "Be Short, Specific, Targeted," and "Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, and Don't Be Mean When You Say It." And she arms them with:

• Hundreds of perfect phrases for every phase of management, from supervising operations, to performance reviews, to communicating the company's mission
• Expert advice on effective communication, with tips on what to say and what not to say, establishing the right tone, establishing authority, and more
• Phrases for hundreds of specific tasks, including delegating, giving feedback, empowering employees, handling emotional employees, disciplining, and terminating

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, MEAN WHAT YOU SAY, AND TALK YOUR WAY TO THE TOP.

Communication is the single most important key to a manager's success. What you say--and how you say it--sets the tone for every personal interaction, whether you're dealing with a troublesome employee, a competitive coworker, or a demanding boss. Yet few people are actually trained to handle common managerial situations. Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors is a practical crash course in communication skills for the workplace, written by a leading consultant in the field. Filled with sample scripts for typical scenarios, and hundreds of effective "PowerPhrases", it gives you all the tools you need to establish your role as a leader--and achieve your goals with your coworkers' support. Learn how to:

• Choose the right words at the right time
• Set a tone of mutual trust and respect
• Deal with difficult employees and delicate problems
• Talk to your boss and stay in the loop
• Conduct interviews and performance reviews
• Handle friendships in the workplace
• Discipline workers or terminate employment
• Present new ideas, procedures, or policies
• Open up healthy communications that benefit everyone

Your effectiveness in the workplace depends on how you talk to others. This essential all-purpose guide provides the perfect words and phrases that get the job done.

About the Author

Meryl Runion is the president and CEO of SpeakStrong, Inc., and director of The Center for Responsible Communication. She has been featured in USA Today and dozens of trade journals.

Product Details

• Paperback: 175 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071452168
• ISBN-13: 978-0071452168
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Meryl Runion, CSP is a certified speaking professional and the author of more than six books about powerful communication that have sold over a quarter million copies worldwide. Her clients include companies such as IBM, associations such as the International Association of Administrative Professionals and agencies such as the IRS and the FBI.

Runion says she is a recovered passive who "had enough staying silent" and became "a woman on a mission to learn to say things in pleasantly powerful ways." Training and writing about the Speak Strong Method, Runion empowers people to "say what they mean, mean what they say, and not be mean when they say it."

Meryl Runion lives in Cascade, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding a vocabulary of power, July 19, 2006

By 

S. J. Bockett (Wellington New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Any Management Situation (Perfect Phrases Series) (Paperback)

Like all of Meryl Runion's books, "Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisor's" provides an innovative but very practical approach to communication. All too often, this topic is obscured by platitudes and grand theories, and it is difficult to find any practical ideas that can be tested out - in business even more so than in personal life.

We all accept the need to learn special vocabularies for increasingly new skills in our lives, little realising that it is even more important to have a specific vocabulary for communicating well. Good communication does not just happen: without the right words, good intentions are useless. I have found Runion's books to fill this gap admirably. And in this book she moves into the much neglected area of the workplace, one on which she is well qualified to speak.

As with her first-class, interactive newsletter "A Power Phrase a Week" Runion opens the door to new ways (including finding your own)to "say what what you mean and mean what you say without being mean about it."

Don't be misled by the apparent simplicity of the suggested formulas! Try testing them out, even modifying them if need be. You will find that your intentions to be more constructive are well and truly challenged. These ideas are the springboard for a better way of talking to each other, whether at work or at home, but this also involves continuing and conscious choices. On the other hand, it requires little thought to be unkind.

Not just as business communicators, but also as parents, we would do well to ensure we are good role models to those for whom we are responsible. Just as our employees do, our teenagers take the lead from us.

I unhesitatingly recommend this book for its proactive approach, as I do the all the earlier titles by Meryl Runion.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Workplace Tool!, January 6, 2005

By 

Reader (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Any Management Situation (Perfect Phrases Series) (Paperback)

Invaluable Workplace Tool!

This author really does her homework! I can think of numerous times in my management career where I have grappled for the right phrase when handling sensitive employee situations and personnel issues. Every manager and supervisor could benefit from this little book. It is easy reading, well thought out and provides the perfect words and phrases to get the job done! Thank you Meryl Runion!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Help!, July 22, 2006

By 

Kimmy Hawks - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Any Management Situation (Perfect Phrases Series) (Paperback)

If there is one thing I have not mastered in my life as of yet, it is speaking to those who work for me in a way that will not put them on edge - or make me look like a fool. Meryl's books has helped me get close!

This book, Perfect Phrases for Managers & Supervisors" is a must for my desk library. Anytime I have a confrontational or uncomfortable situation that needs to be addressed, Meryl's books have helped me with the perfect words to say -- and they have WORKED! Consistently.

I've used various phrases for apologizing, for firing, for interviews with perspective workers, for encouraging helpful ideas from the workers, dealing with "know-it-all" partners, diffusing anger, writing professional letters, giving positive enforcement without being phoney, just to mention a few.

Her book, and the others, have truly been the "Perfect Phrases" for any management, or personal, situation I've had to face. Not only do they help me come across in a kind and professional manner, they help me to personally feel like I've said what I truly wanted to say -- without being mean or attacking in what I said. Thank you, Meryl! Keep writing!