[Alicia Davis] If you’ve ever been in a conversation, and walked away from that conversation scratching your head and wondering what just happened? Then our video is for you today.

[Stacie Watson] Oh my gosh, Alicia, it’s so funny. I have this vivid memory of being in my career a few years ago, sitting around the table, we had this great meeting. Everyone’s nodding, there’s like agreement. We’re all in what feels like great alignment. And then the meeting ends. My colleague and I walked back to our offices, and we stopped in our doorways and said, “Are you clear on exactly who has what next step?” And we both were like, no, it was a great conversation, but we are not clear. And I just think that happens a lot. And in our session, Communicating with Skill, kind of this foundational session, we just take a moment to talk about this, because it happens all the time.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And this is part two of our Communicate with Skill videos that we’re doing, inspired by our new learning sessions under Communicate, Don’t Alienate. So the skill that we really want to highlight today is exactly what you said, Stacie. It is about how do we prepare to go into a meeting, maybe a constructive feedback kind of conversation with a team member, you know, staff member, maybe just a meeting that we’re trying to, you know, get on the same page about things… doesn’t matter what the conversation is, right. It is always helpful to plan for it, isn’t it?

[Stacie Watson] Yes, it’s a little bit, we call it beginning with the end in mind. And this can apply even to written communication. I think the question that we’re asking ourselves is, you know, what is the purpose of what it is that we’re doing? And what are we hoping to come out of it? So that hopefully, by the end of the conversation, the email, whatever it may be, everyone has a shared understanding. And it seems so simple, Alicia, to say that we all have a shared understanding. And yet, as coaches and as people who work with teams and organizations all the time, it is absolutely common to go into a team or into an organization, and when you ask people about their understanding of whatever meeting is taking place, it is not an alignment. And I think it’s just a very fundamental part of communication that’s easy to overlook, sometimes.

[Alicia Davis] For sure. And I think part of it is we’re all so busy. Yeah, we go in, we go from one meeting to the next meeting to the next meeting. And sometimes it feels like we don’t even have enough time to breathe, let alone think about what we want out of the session. And so, you know, we start with having this moment, or two or a minute of really thinking about what’s the outcome that we want? And what’s the message that we’re really trying to deliver? And then, of course, some other aspects of this, which we go deeper into in the session, is really considering your audience who you’re speaking to, and how to adjust your language and your approach with them. How to best deliver the message and what format and then also to really consider, just as you were saying Stacie, how to validate or clarify at the end, like, what are the outcomes? And what are we all walking away from the conversation?

[Stacie Watson] Absolutely. So thank you for listening today. And I guess our invitation to you is just the next time you’re getting ready to walk into a meeting or send what feels like an important email, just take an extra 10 – 20 seconds and really consider the purpose of the conversation of the email. What is it that you’re hoping to achieve? And make sure that you’re sort of baking that into whatever you’re doing.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right, and we would love to hear from you. I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And we are the partners and executive coaches at Transformative Leadership Strategies and shoot us an email – info@TLStransforms.com. Let us know if you did pause, if you did take a second, and how that mattered. And also please follow us on Instagram at @tls_transforms. We share lots of nuggets of information. Thanks again for listening.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.