How Can You Tell if Communication is Working?
When I talk to people about “communication,” I often hear things like, “my communication is fine but he doesn’t listen.” Or “I am clear, but other people are not.” How do you know if communication is working or not working? We’ve never been taught and so we may think everything is fine. From our upcoming […]
What Listening Can do for Your Business
“Sawubona.” It’s an African Zulu greeting that means “I see you.” It has a long oral history and it means more than our traditional “hello.” It says, “I see your personality. I see your humanity. I see your dignity and respect.” In the African village context, where everyone knows one another, it’s an exceedingly powerful […]
The Main Reason we Don’t Listen
I pulled out and dusted off a CD from a long time ago – Suzanne Vega’s “Solitude Standing.” Love the CD – took me back about 25 years. Shockingly, it was released in 1987. I was listening to Tom’s Diner. It is a beautiful and poetic song. It is a poem about a moment in […]
Styles of Communication…and a Quote
“The effectiveness of communication is not defined by the communication, but by the response.” –Milton Erickson What does this mean? So often we think that if we are “being clear” everyone should understand. We put together our communication in such a way that we feel we are doing a good job because of the nature […]
The Language of Leadership – Your Quote of the Week
“The art of communication is the language of leadership.” –James Humes (Author and former presidential speech writer) Coming to Sacramento July 25, 2017: Discover the Secrets of Effective Communication Ever feel like other people are “speaking Greek”? Do other people misunderstand YOU? What would change if you learned to communicate effectively with different kinds of […]
The Meaning of Your Communication
“The meaning of your communication is the response that you get.” (Coaching and NLP [neurolinguistic processing] presupposition.) A few days ago I called my sister, like I do, when I need someone to listen and to help me process events in my life. I said to her, “I just need you to listen and maybe […]
I See You
“Sawubona.” It’s an African Zulu greeting that means “I see you.” It has a long oral history and it means more than our traditional “hello.” It says, “I see your personality. I see your humanity. I see your dignity and respect.” In the African village context, where everyone knows one another, it’s an exceedingly powerful […]
Who Gets in the Way of Listening?
I pulled out and dusted off a CD from a long time ago – Suzanne Vega’s “Solitude Standing.” Love the CD – took me back about 25 years. Shockingly, it was released in 1987. I was listening to Tom’s Diner. It is a beautiful and poetic song. It is a poem about a moment in […]
Styles of Communication as Seen by Dilbert
I teach a class on Styles of Communication. I will write more on this in the next several blogs. Here though, is something to get you started: The styles I teach have four different communication types. Here are two, clearly demonstrated. They are opposite styles. What can you see about each one? And, though comical, […]
What Gets in the Way of Listening?
What gets in the way of your listening? Really listening. People want to be heard. We need to be heard. It is a part of the human experience. We don’t get it often, though. If that doesn’t convince you to spend some time learning how to listen, consider this: people won’t listen to you until […]
