3 Powerful Tools for Having the Difficult Conversations You’re Avoiding
Here are three tools to use for your difficult conversations.
Freaking about Feedback
Feedback comes in many forms, a nod, a grade, a tweet, a furrowed brow, silence, thumbs up, surveys, empty chairs, evaluation forms, referrals, glowing testimonials. Much of it is constructive, positive and even glowing. So why do we fear feedback? Both giving and receiving feedback can be met with trepidation and anxiousness. Perhaps an experience of poorly delivered feedback left you feeling disempowered and now you brace yourself when you see feedback coming your way. Are you reluctant to give feedback because you anticipate others having similar ambivalence and want to spare them the discomfort? Why do we fear [...]
Leveraging Leadership Skills
What is leverage? To move something with less force for greater impact and movement.It makes movement easier. This is what I’ve discovered about leverage in leadership skills. There are three areas that we seem to struggle most with that just a little bit of learning can go a long way. Leveraging these skills can make a bigger difference in a wide array of areas, most notably, workplace culture. The three skills are 1) feedback: giving and receiving, 2) difficult conversations and 3) professional boundaries. Feedback: Giving and Receiving This is an area that gets plunged into the ‘too hard basket’. [...]
People Listen for Understanding before Agreement
ReWrite the World Blog Challenge Day 15 I imagine a world in which people listen for understanding before agreement. So that... We take time to hear more fully to what’s being said, rather than thinking about if we agree or not. Conversations are enjoyable and considerate, discussions are responsive to both the words and the unspoken. Relationships focus on understanding and communities emphasise mutual respect. Most of the time, in conversation we are thinking about if we agree and how we’ll respond rather than listening deeply. Rarely to we focus on if we understand fully before responding. Conversations are [...]