Work-isms are words or phrases that have been popularized in professional settings. These can be a helpful and effective way to communicate, but only when they are understood by all. In this video, learn what work-isms to stop saying and what to replace them with.

Noise is anything that disrupts the message between sender and receiver. When people hear the word noise they first think of physical noise. There are other kinds of noise that disrupt the communication cycle and they are much more dangerous because often times the sender doesn't even realize that the message wasn't received.

There are ways that you can prepare for extemporaneous speaking. When you have phrases top of mind to use, it makes it easier to speak when you need to. Collect phrases. Observe how people say things and consider if it might work for you. Test them out in different scenarios. This helps you to know what to say. It’s like a phrase bank.

The majority of the time we spend speaking at work is not in formal presentations. These speaking opportunities are much more influential to creating buy-in for your idea than your fancy slide deck and polished pitch. Part of successfully navigating the internal spheres of influence in an organization is to always be prepared for spontaneous speech.

Should you curse at work? Yes!…sometimes… with ground rules. I've heard people suggest that cursing is the lowest form of communication. That it's applied out of laziness by people who aren't intelligent or articulate enough to find other words. Studies have shown the opposite to be true, that cursing can be aligned to higher verbal fluency.

Let me be on the record to say that small talk is important. It's part of building familiarity with people. It's also the level of conversation that is appropriate for festive occasions and it can be fun! A holiday gathering is not the time to debate politics or delve into negative personal drama, no matter how familiar you are with the guests.