If I asked the people you work with if you are a great coworker, what would they say? Yes? Sometimes? It depends? No, not really? Would they feel like this? used with permission by Ralph Lazar @lastlemon This month begins a four-part series on how to become a better coworker and it starts
As the last article in this series of The Importance of Asking Questions, I want to get back to basics. The basics of healthy, helpful conversation. I have become acutely aware of the number of conversations I have that are one-way conversations. The type of conversation that are primarily about the other person. The kind
Without knowing it, we disempower ourselves by placing limitations on our thinking. Our thinking reflects what we know AND what we don’t know. Inherently, our thinking is then limited. Imagine it like this. You are on a scenic drive through the mountains and everything you can see is directly in front of you. You see
For the past few weeks I’ve been writing about the importance of asking questions to connect the dots, solve the right problem, and seek understanding. What I haven’t written about yet is how to ask the RIGHT questions. I think its an important part, don’t you? Recently, I saw this brilliant graphic by Yulia Kosarenko
Look above. Do you find these phrases annoying? Frustrating? Irritating? In my opinion, if you have SAID or HEARD these phrases even once, that is one time too many! It’s like this folks—If you find yourself saying things like the aforementioned phrases, people aren’t doing a very good job of seeking understanding. And guess what?
Hours of meetings, research, and effort ONLY to find out it was the WRONG problem. I remember this happening with a client a number of years ago when I delivered training on employee engagement. The goal of the training was to “empower employees to work together better by building trust with each other”. Great! I
A theme popped up this past week when I was teaching classes on Strengths-based Leadership and running meetings that don’t suck. The class discussions led me to pull out Socratic questioning information in all three classes. This was not planned. Then I noticed the topic of questions coming up in my personal life too. Several
As a communication expert, I read, study, and research human behavior. It pushes me to regularly reflect on my own behavior, and today I seem to be reflecting … and reflecting … and reflecting. I am reflecting to the point that I am not really making progress. My. Brain. Does. Not. Want. To. Work. Today.
Two weeks ago I wrote about how to communicate better with introverts. Now it’s time to give the extroverts the love and the attention they desire … because extroverts have communication needs too. Take a look at these descriptions: Attention seeking Easily distracted Noisy Exhausting Talks too much Impulsive Sociable Outgoing Friendly Enthusiastic Life of
Communication is extremely difficult right now. Honestly, the word difficult fails to capture the charged emotions being expressed following the murder* of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. I am seeing, hearing, and experiencing interaction after interaction filled with blame, finger-pointing, name calling, accusations, and assumptions. There are people who want to be heard. They
