[Alicia Davis] Have you ever had a situation where you didn’t feel confident in sharing something- like in communicating something? Or maybe even you have a team and you’ve noticed that maybe there’s one or two people that aren’t communicating as often as you would hope that they would? If that’s true, we’d love to share a couple of strategies and talk about that for a little bit, don’t we, Stacie?

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, you know, I think this idea of communicating with confidence is one that for some people, it comes very naturally, and for others, maybe not so much. And there’s so many reasons why that might be, right? I was actually in a session with a person just a week or so ago, and they’re not a native English speaker. And so they said, sometimes they are a little bit reluctant to speak up, because they’re worried they’re not going to pick the right English word, which of course, makes perfect sense. And in that same session, I was with another person, and she was newer in her career. And she said, sometimes, just being the youngest person around the table made her feel like maybe she should remain quiet, while people with more experience speak up. So there are so many things that can create this feeling of self-doubt or kind of lack of confidence. And what do we think we could offer to sort of support Alicia during those moments? Because we can all feel them…

[Alicia Davis] I mean, for sure. And I think, you know, I was with a group last week, and we were talking about how do we really work with our own inner conversation? Right? Because those are beliefs that are coming up. Like, I’m not going to sound intelligent, or it’s, you know, who’s going to listen to me because I’m younger, and I don’t have the experience, right? That’s a that’s a belief or a way that we are thinking that is limiting us, of course, you know, we’re stressed and the brain goes to the negative and just the inner critic comes up. And so one thing is to be able to notice that is what’s happening. And then to be very conscious and intentional about saying, you know, what, I feel this, and I’m still going to support myself in speaking up. Maybe I need to speak a little bit slower. Maybe I need to ask a question. Maybe I need to clarify something. But whatever it is, I’m still going to speak it. And then there can be follow-up. Right?

[Stacie Watson] Right. Exactly. Yeah, I think we do tend to make up stories sometimes when we’re not sure. And the story might be my voice isn’t as important because… fill in the blank. So noticing the story is, I think is what you’re suggesting, and I do think it’s really powerful to just even notice when we’re making up the story.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And so, you know, if you or someone on your team is wanting to have a little bit more confidence in your communication, we’ve got a session coming up in our Learning Academy in June that can help with that – Communicate with Confidence. So you can check it out academy.tlstransforms.com. And I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And we are the co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies and thanks so much for for listening. Appreciate you. Take good care.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.