You already know that storytelling is a powerful tool. It personalizes ideas, creates emotional connections, and clarifies complexity. In fact, you’re already a storyteller. You share what happened in line at the grocery store, the reckless driver on his phone who almost ran you over, and the upset during the big game last night. The...
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If you’re like most professionals we work with, you’ve sat through more than your fair share of murky meetings and aimless presentations. They often begin with chit-chat, segue into updates, and then meander through discussions with no clear sense of why everyone’s there or where the conversation is going. This kind of ambiguity slows progress,...
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You’ve read the reports. You’ve seen the surveys. The number one concern business leaders have about their workforce is a lack of soft skills, especially communication. It’s a concern that transcends industries, job levels, and functional areas. And if you’re like many leaders we talk with, you’re wondering how to address it in a way...
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We shot a few videos recently focusing on some of the fundamental aspects of our work. Here are two that define meetings and presentations as Orderly Conversations. Understanding the consequences of that definition helps facilitators plan and run more effective meetings. Meetings and Presentations are Not Speeches Transcript: “When it comes to improving face-to-face communication,...
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Like it or not, hybrid meetings (some people in a room together and others logging in virtually) seem to be here to stay. We’ve all gone from “I’d better learn to use Zoom” to clicking on Join Meeting in our sleep. However, mastery of the software doesn’t mean mastery of the process of planning and...
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Active listening is one of the many communication skills we help our clients develop in our communication skills workshops. Like so many communication skills, we need to be intentional in their use until they develop into a habit. Recently, I read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled “What Is Active Listening” by Amy...
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We were in the midst of a complex, multi-part training at a Fortune 500 company, and the topic of conversation was employees being invited to meetings but having no idea why they were invited or what they were expected to contribute. One of us asked whether meeting invitations came with a topic description or a...
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We spend a lot of time helping people succeed as trainers, meeting facilitators, and presenters. That work focuses on helping people initiate and manage the conversation that takes place in each of these settings. What we rarely focus on is the role of the people receiving the training, participating in the meeting, or listening to...
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Recently, a learner asked me a seemingly simple question: Should she take notes during the course of a meeting? She wondered if notetaking was an old standard practice that had gone by the wayside or if it was still seen as necessary in current business culture. My answer to her was a resounding, “Yes!” In...
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Recently we delivered a workshop for a group of staff members at a Big Ten university. The group was made up of leaders from various parts of the university’s expansive library. They were a fascinating group with truly interesting jobs. These individuals had been asked to meet with small groups of university donors in hopes...
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