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Why we don’t speak up!
From a very early age, I was told that “small children were to be seen and not heard”. I was a product of a mixed marriage and my step-siblings were at least 8 years older than me. Anything I might have had to say or contribute was irrelevant in comparison to what anyone else might have to say. There was simply no room for my opinions, thought or feelings on any given topic, so I kept quiet.
If I ever did speak up, what I said was ignored, or counteracted. If I contributed to a family conversation, I was made to feel that my thoughts were irrelevant in comparison to what anyone else contributed.
Reframing Your Conversations
Last week, I worked with a leadership team of an organisation in a state of growth. Several new staff and new initiatives are being introduced. And - there are pockets of resistance.
Leaders find themselves having what they termed difficult conversations. We were learning how to have better conversations. That is having conversations and creating conversational spaces that meet the needs of all participants. The first step was to rebrand the conversation - from difficult to important.
Sit with that one for a bit.
Conversation Culture - It's a thing, and we need to be aware of it!
It's a fact - 9/10 conversations miss the mark. This statistic came out of a research study at Stanford University and completely blew my mind. It made me wonder - is it true, and what might be the impact if this is indeed the case?
Why We Default To React Rather Than Respond.
React or respond?
Moments of reactivity are all around us, here are some from my family experience…..
Scenario One:
Child announces on Monday morning that she needs materials for her science project -TODAY - that you don’t have readily available in the house.
What do you do?
What do you want to do?
How is your dialogue placed? Reactive or responsive?
Check Out Our New Focus!
Some of you may know my newsletter well, and some may have only read a few. Over the last three years, some of you will know that we have been on a journey from inquiry to reflective practice, from the science of learning to the science of conversations.
Over the last six months, we have been relatively quiet on the newsletter front. That is because we have been working extremely hard in the background to create and design new paths as evolve in a new direction.