Oh hey there,
Here’s to another week of some of the UK’s most chaotic weather! I genuinely don’t know whether to wear a sundress or wellies. I'm actually considering combining the two a la Kate Moss at Glasto in the Noughties!
Anyway, on to all things work - I have been prepping workshops all week for my absolute favourite topic: communication. I have been thinking so much about how our childhood experiences affect how we communicate now. There’s every likelihood that, if our caregivers didn’t model effective communication or conflict resolution skills when we were children, we picked up on it too. And, let’s be frank, unless your parents were Carl Jung or that lovely Denise Robertson, who used to give advice on This Morning, then there’s little chance that your folks had communication nailed (and, to be honest, I would imagine both Carl and Denise had their issues too!).
So, we copy, mimic or create ways of surviving that might have been useful when we were sub 10 years old, but certainly aren’t quite as useful to us now as adults.
Maybe you have a:
- Fear of conflict or people being upset
- Tendency to “people-please” or “not rock the boat”
- Difficulty controlling emotions under stress or pressure
- Shutting down when feeling overwhelmed
Because of this, dysfunctional communication styles are created, which can veer wildly between avoidance and aggression. However, the most prevalent is always avoidance.
Indeed, according to CMI research, a survey found that 57% of respondents said they would do almost anything to avoid a difficult conversation. And 52% said they would rather put up with a negative situation at work than have to talk about it.
This is having a huge impact on our businesses.
A survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that poor communication in the workplace leads to increased stress (52%), delays or failures to complete projects (44%), low morale (31%), and missed performance goals (25%).
So, what can we do to improve team communication?
Well, I’ve been drawing on the work from the wonderful Kim Scott’s book Radical Candour.
You see, when we care personally, we can also challenge directly. We have to start seeing how important it is to share feedback. Indeed, in not doing so (because maybe it feels uncomfortable or we’re worried about how it will land) we can actually be holding people back from their potential growth - as well as impacting the performance of our businesses. And making this change, more than anything, comes down to a change in mindset: we all have the ability to be more candid, we just really need to understand that it’s to everyone’s benefit - not their detriment.
I would love the chance to chat to you about our work in this area - I struggle to communicate just how passionate I am about communication (how ironic!) and improving it in businesses. You can book a time directly into my calendar by clicking on my Calendly link: Book at Cate Chat.
Believe me, it is the one thing that would massively improve how your team are performing - immediately.
With love always,
Cate x
Oh hey there,
Here’s to another week of some of the UK’s most chaotic weather! I genuinely don’t know whether to wear a sundress or wellies. I'm actually considering combining the two a la Kate Moss at Glasto in the Noughties!
Anyway, on to all things work - I have been prepping workshops all week for my absolute favourite topic: communication. I have been thinking so much about how our childhood experiences affect how we communicate now. There’s every likelihood that, if our caregivers didn’t model effective communication or conflict resolution skills when we were children, we picked up on it too. And, let’s be frank, unless your parents were Carl Jung or that lovely Denise Robertson, who used to give advice on This Morning, then there’s little chance that your folks had communication nailed (and, to be honest, I would imagine both Carl and Denise had their issues too!).
So, we copy, mimic or create ways of surviving that might have been useful when we were sub 10 years old, but certainly aren’t quite as useful to us now as adults.
Maybe you have a:
- Fear of conflict or people being upset
- Tendency to “people-please” or “not rock the boat”
- Difficulty controlling emotions under stress or pressure
- Shutting down when feeling overwhelmed
Because of this, dysfunctional communication styles are created, which can veer wildly between avoidance and aggression. However, the most prevalent is always avoidance.
Indeed, according to CMI research, a survey found that 57% of respondents said they would do almost anything to avoid a difficult conversation. And 52% said they would rather put up with a negative situation at work than have to talk about it.
This is having a huge impact on our businesses.
A survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that poor communication in the workplace leads to increased stress (52%), delays or failures to complete projects (44%), low morale (31%), and missed performance goals (25%).
So, what can we do to improve team communication?
Well, I’ve been drawing on the work from the wonderful Kim Scott’s book Radical Candour.
You see, when we care personally, we can also challenge directly. We have to start seeing how important it is to share feedback. Indeed, in not doing so (because maybe it feels uncomfortable or we’re worried about how it will land) we can actually be holding people back from their potential growth - as well as impacting the performance of our businesses. And making this change, more than anything, comes down to a change in mindset: we all have the ability to be more candid, we just really need to understand that it’s to everyone’s benefit - not their detriment.
I would love the chance to chat to you about our work in this area - I struggle to communicate just how passionate I am about communication (how ironic!) and improving it in businesses. You can book a time directly into my calendar by clicking on my Calendly link: Book at Cate Chat.
Believe me, it is the one thing that would massively improve how your team are performing - immediately.
With love always,
Cate x
