- “Talking with” rather than “talking at” tends to engender better reciprocal listening among your audience and better relationships. Using open-ended questions and balancing advocacy and inquiry are powerful ways to bring more of this into your approach. As you get started, notice what your habitual pattern is and be intentional about balancing that out.
- Skillful conversation involves stating your position with clarity and conviction (advocacy) while also being open to new information and the perspectives of others and moving to draw those out into the open (inquiry). Remember, a balance between advocacy and inquiry brings about the best results; moving too far toward one or the other tends to lead to conflict. Even too much inquiry (hiding) tends to eventually lead to conflict, though it may be less obvious.
- This Lesson includes numerous sample statements and questions to use to bring more of an open and balanced approach into the language you use as you move through workplace conversations. Experiment with them and make them your own.
- Running a meeting well is a key part of helping your audience listen. By employing a series of process moves in how you run your meetings, numerous common triggers that would typically be distracting for your audience are addressed and removed as potential sources of conflict before they can get in the way of your effectiveness.