Hi there,
I hope you've had a good week so far. And, if you haven't, I hope it's one that you can grow from.
This week, I have been spending a lot of time considering how the things that we put up with affect our people and our businesses.
I was recently running a workshop about Powerful Communication. As I’m sure you’ve heard me say many times before, poor communication is probably the greatest issue our organisations, if not our society, is facing. It is at the heart of poor engagement, low motivation, decreased retention and drops in workplace performance.
Good communication changes everything. From how we feel, to how we deliver, how we lead and, of course, how we connect.
During the session, we were discussing different problem communicators - for example, people who have had their emotions triggered and are therefore more avoidant or aggressive. One of the attendees was talking about how, if someone they were dealing with was being aggressive, then they would change their communication style to something softer to try and calm them. My response to this was that actually the best advice in that situation would be to take a pause and come back to the conversation later. When someone has been triggered into fight or flight, whatever their response, it comes from a place of fear. And, put simply, they are not going to be able to communicate in a considered manner at that point.
Indeed, Viktor Frankl famously wrote his famous book, 'Man’s Search for Meaning' about the power of pausing.
I believe that we must get much better at actioning that power on both sides:
- If you have been triggered, take the pause. Don’t keep going and do something you will undoubtedly regret or have to recover or back pedal from later.
- Ask if you can have time to reflect and come back to this later.
- If you are speaking to someone whose emotions have been triggered and whose sense of self has been affected then, quite frankly, that is their stuff. They have complete agency over themselves and it is not your role to calm or placate anyone.
- Suggest that you come back to the conversation at another time and don’t feel coerced into changing your mind.
Improving our individual and thus collective consciousness in the workplace moves your business performance from night to day. If you want to improve your profits and workplace performance, believe me, it is not about getting people back in to the office x number of days a week. Think about the communication your team is or isn’t having, and help them get better at it.
TikTok of the Week!
I'm well aware of your excitement when I joined TikTok, and if you haven't already, make sure to follow me. But, for now, have a look at this video from last week, where I delve into the critical role of communication (or the lack of it) in relation to burnout. It's almost as if we planned this synchronicity....
To sum up all the above, effective communication is EVERYTHING.
Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or want to chat through any of the above.
Otherwise, thank you for reading!
Cate x
Hi there,
I hope you've had a good week so far. And, if you haven't, I hope it's one that you can grow from.
This week, I have been spending a lot of time considering how the things that we put up with affect our people and our businesses.
I was recently running a workshop about Powerful Communication. As I’m sure you’ve heard me say many times before, poor communication is probably the greatest issue our organisations, if not our society, is facing. It is at the heart of poor engagement, low motivation, decreased retention and drops in workplace performance.
Good communication changes everything. From how we feel, to how we deliver, how we lead and, of course, how we connect.
During the session, we were discussing different problem communicators - for example, people who have had their emotions triggered and are therefore more avoidant or aggressive. One of the attendees was talking about how, if someone they were dealing with was being aggressive, then they would change their communication style to something softer to try and calm them. My response to this was that actually the best advice in that situation would be to take a pause and come back to the conversation later. When someone has been triggered into fight or flight, whatever their response, it comes from a place of fear. And, put simply, they are not going to be able to communicate in a considered manner at that point.
Indeed, Viktor Frankl famously wrote his famous book, 'Man’s Search for Meaning' about the power of pausing.
I believe that we must get much better at actioning that power on both sides:
- If you have been triggered, take the pause. Don’t keep going and do something you will undoubtedly regret or have to recover or back pedal from later.
- Ask if you can have time to reflect and come back to this later.
- If you are speaking to someone whose emotions have been triggered and whose sense of self has been affected then, quite frankly, that is their stuff. They have complete agency over themselves and it is not your role to calm or placate anyone.
- Suggest that you come back to the conversation at another time and don’t feel coerced into changing your mind.
Improving our individual and thus collective consciousness in the workplace moves your business performance from night to day. If you want to improve your profits and workplace performance, believe me, it is not about getting people back in to the office x number of days a week. Think about the communication your team is or isn’t having, and help them get better at it.
TikTok of the Week!
I'm well aware of your excitement when I joined TikTok, and if you haven't already, make sure to follow me. But, for now, have a look at this video from last week, where I delve into the critical role of communication (or the lack of it) in relation to burnout. It's almost as if we planned this synchronicity....
To sum up all the above, effective communication is EVERYTHING.
Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or want to chat through any of the above.
Otherwise, thank you for reading!
Cate x
