Category: Interpersonal Skills

Are you up for an exquisite interaction?

My mother raised me to be a curious, inquisitive person. I am much more comfortable finding out about another person than talking about myself – having said that, I’ve gotten rusty.
I had the opportunity to put my post pandemic introversion to the test on my recent vacation. I went on safari in Botswana with my sister. It’s one of those trips in which you are immersed in another culture and surrounded my locals and fellow international travelers – strangers.

While I have spent a lifetime talking to strangers it can be awkward and uncomfortable – and with ever-present digital channels and the isolation we experienced during the pandemic, that interpersonal communication muscle has gotten weaker. And you know the saying, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

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Jumping The Gun – 5 Ways to Avoid a Communication False Start

There is always the intense excitement when you see runners in the starting blocks waiting for the gun to go off to signal the race is on.  There is also the heartbreak of a runner who ‘jumps the gun’ which is also called a false start. There is absolutely an equivalent of the false start in communication and five ways to avoid it.

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Personalize your Presentation with a One Sentence Story

When you hear a speaker share a brief snippet from their life, you instantly feel more engaged and connected to them.  “That’s just like me!”  “I have kids too!”  It may be a simple reference to where they grew up, a sport they played, or how many children they have.  When you share a bit of your human experience with an audience, you instantly become more relatable, and in turn, the point you are trying to make is better retained. Can this be accomplished in just one sentence? YES!

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Listening re-visited: The closer you are, the less you listen

Recently my sister shared with me a stack of letters sealed in a plastic zip-locked bag she had found amongst my mom’s possessions.  They were love letters from my father written around 1952 in the year before they were married. The letters reveal sides of my father I did not know. Kate Murphy’s new book, You’re not Listening:  What you’re missing and why it matters illuminated how “closeness communication bias” may have prevented me from learning more about this side of my dad while he was still with us.

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Be Your Own Best Spokesperson – now more than ever

Recently my daughter turned 24 and we discussed the perils and privileges of being an adult.  One thing she said struck me: “As an adult, you become your own spokesperson.”  She went on to say that as a child or adolescent you find that other people are often speaking for you and interpreting what you say into messaging that may be more socially acceptable or conform to the sensibilities of the situation or even the preferences of the adult present.  “What she means to say is…” or “She is attempting to communicate …”

It got me thinking about the world we inhabit right now in which we are flooded with conflicting and contradictory messages from innumerous pundits, experts, authorities, and let’s face it, a fair number of charlatans. In a time when political and social turmoil has reached a fever-pitch and true dialogue has seemed to virtually disappear – how do we find our own voice and become our own best spokesperson? 

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Be in the Conversation about Racism – even if it is uncomfortable

Be in the Conversation about Racism – even if it is uncomfortable. I’ve always thought that the problems of the world could be solved if we would just be willing to enter into deep, meaningful conversations about them.  The wise Fred Rogers once said, “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable, is manageable.” We are living through times none of us could have imagined.  From the pandemic to racial justice protests to political turmoil – these have left many of us tongue-tied and unsure of how to articulate all that we are thinking and feeling.  All of this is compounded by the fact that we are more isolated than ever before and yet communication – conversation – has never been more essential.

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Communicate to Engage during COVID-19: 9 ways to make lemonade

Communication has never been more important than it is now as we navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaders are now recognizing that keeping their teams engaged and focused during this time period is essential – and for the most part, it must be done remotely.  It’s time to make lemonade. Here are 9 strategies.

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