We can be consistent, concise and clear, but if we are not candid, we will not be able to maintain the trust and engagement of our coalition or team. How many times have you been in a meeting where you sensed tremendous tension in the room but no one was willing to admit it? How […]
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While we all appreciate clear communication, how often check with our team members to see if we ARE being clear in our communication? Are you sending long emails without clear action items? (Last week’s post on concise communication may be helpful!) Are you being honest and direct about what you are asking from others? Do
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If we communicate consistently, but we don’t communicate concisely, we will lose our partners and team members. There is just TOO much information that comes our way every day for us to filter through three paragraph long emails (or more!) or hour-long conversations about a topic that could have been covered in 30 minutes. None
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Every job description I have ever seen – and ever applied for – has said something like “strong communication skills.” This goes right along with “highly organized,” and while we all recognize that communication skills are important, when do we talk about the specific, practical things we need to do to communicate well? Over the
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Based on last week’s post, you know why it’s important to follow-up; however, you may be getting stuck when it comes to actually doing it. Even though we philosophically agree that follow-up is important, it’s easy to get so focused on our next project, meeting or commitment that the follow-up for what we just did
Follow-up on the answers: How? Read More »
We have spent the past seven weeks on “asking the right questions” and before that, we focused on “skillful listening.” The most important next step after listening well and asking the right questions to the right people at the right time in the right way is to follow-up on what you learned. This does not
Follow-up on the answers: Why? Read More »
This week, we are continuing to uncover more ways that we can ask the right questions of our teams and coalitions. As I emphasized in last week’s post ask the right questions, it is really important to understand your situation and your audience to determine the best way to get input from your partners. If
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We have gone through the many types of questions in order to ask the right questions. The why, what, who, when and now this week we are focused on the “how.” The way you ask the questions depends a lot upon your situation. Who are you asking and what is their preferred method of communication
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We have talked about why, what (Part 1 and Part 2) and who when it comes to asking the right questions. When should we ask the right questions? I don’t know about you but sometimes I am overwhelmed by all the people who want my opinion and I am also guilty of wanting to send electronic
Ask the right questions: When? Read More »
By now, you have figured out why you want to ask the right questions as well as what questions to ask (Part 1 and Part 2). The next thing to consider is who you ask. Since we all have limited resources, we cannot ask everyone these questions all of the time. Also, if you keep asking
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