[Alicia Davis] Stacie, we communicate all the time, every day, right?
[Stacie Watson] Absolutely.
[Alicia Davis] So what makes it so hard, especially when you’re on a team? Why is it so hard to communicate?
[Stacie Watson] I don’t know. But I’ll say that so many people, when they contact us and ask us for support for their teams, it all starts with, ‘we’re having a hard time communicating.” So I think communication sits at the heart of the way that we work together. And it doesn’t really matter what level, what role you have… being able to effectively communicate is just a key skill that we all need.
[Alicia Davis] That’s right. I mean, I was just facilitating, you know, we had about 30 people in the room, one of our leadership teams, and it was just fascinating, you know, we were talking about foundational skills of how to communicate, like listening to understand and clarifying and acknowledging and validating and, you know, it’s like, listening deeply is the first part. And then one of the main skills is acknowledging, right?
[Stacie Watson] Yeah.
[Alicia Davis] Acknowledge I think people can kind of get confused about, but part of acknowledging is when you literally reflect back to someone, what you think you heard. Right?
[Stacie Watson] Right.
[Alicia Davis] And what’s the purpose of that?
[Stacie Watson] Well, I think, you know, as human beings – I know, this is true for me, and I think it’s true for most of us – that we really want to be seen, valued, and heard, right? And so when I acknowledge you, hopefully, you are feeling that. You feel seen and valued, and heard. And I think that sometimes we get confused between acknowledging and agreeing. And can we talk about that? Because it can trip people up, sometimes I know, it can trip me up sometimes.
[Alicia Davis] Oh, that’s so good. Well, acknowledging is literally checking for understanding. Right.? So when you acknowledge, you’re saying, you know, Stacie, what I heard you say was, you know, that you’re going to be getting that project done by the end of next week? Did I hear that right? Versus, you know, if I was hoping that the project was going to be done this week, right, it’s not agreeing that it’s okay that you’re doing it by next week; it’s just checking in to make sure that what you just reported to me or shared with me is right. And then it’s about iterating, whatever that next conversation is, right?
[Stacie Watson] Absolutely. Absolutely. I think just being able to sort of have a common starting point is a lot of what acknowledging allows us to do. And then where we go from there depends on obviously, the situation and the topic. So, I do believe that acknowledging is one of the most important skills. And we actually have a session coming up in our Learning Academy where we’re going to give participants an opportunity to practice that and some of those other foundational skills, right?
[Alicia Davis] That’s right, it’s on May 21st, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern time. And, you know, again, if you could benefit from a little bit of just tweaking of your communication skills, or know somebody on your team who might benefit, we’d love to have you join us, check us out – academy.tlstransforms.com. Or you can email us at academy@TLStransforms.com. So, thanks so much. I’m Alicia Davis.
[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.
[Alicia Davis] And we are the founders and co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies, doing all things training and team building with your teams and staff. So thanks so much. Take care.
[Stacie Watson] Thank you.
