[Alicia Davis] As a leader, what do you think, is the biggest challenge that leaders have?

[Stacie Watson] Well, if you’re sitting there thinking communication or effective communication, or something related to that topic, you’re exactly right.

[Alicia Davis] Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

[Stacie Watson] We, right? We just concluded our survey. And for those of you who joined and gave us your thoughts, we really appreciate it. And kind of as we expected, it was absolutely overwhelmingly true that communication seems to be the top challenge that leaders and members of teams, whether they’re leaders or individual contributors seem to face.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And it wasn’t a surprise to us, really, because we had, we hear this all the time as organizations come to us. And we had already been starting to really look at how we are delivering learning sessions. And all of the content that we had. And what we did was we reformatted it, and we put it into what we hope are really easy-to-understand categories. And one of the first ones that we expanded on, was “Communicate don’t Alienate.” And so what we have decided to do is a six-part series. And we want to give you some kind of a little preview into each one of these three learning sessions. And we’re gonna talk start today with “Communicate with Skill.”

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, yeah, you know, I think that when it comes to communication, it really starts with the foundation, and the foundation has to do with what kind of skills are needed to be an effective communicator. And I think some skills come very naturally to some of us and some skills we really work on. And it, it’s not right or wrong, it’s just helpful to know. And so I think the reason that we wanted this first session to be focused around skills is because we think it’s important to build that foundation. And so in this session, we really talk about the self-awareness that comes with communication. What kind of communicator am I? What does come naturally? Where do I struggle? And so we created a little assessment, right?

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And, as you see on the screen here, really looking at the different aspects of you, and your comfort as a leader, as a staff member, as a team member. And right, we start where we are. And that’s where we start this session really taking a kind and honest look at where are we strong… And where maybe do we need to, you know, have a little attention given. And so we start with this, and then once, this?

[Stacie Watson] Well, and then we say, okay, now that we have maybe a little bit of a deeper understanding of ourselves as communicators. When we say okay, then what are some of the most important skills to have? And you know, if you sit in a room full of leaders, a roomful of team members, and you ask that question, almost always, someone will say, listening, right? Active listening, listening to understand. And I think listening is first because it is very difficult to effectively communicate if you can’t actively listen, right?

[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And it’s listening, you’ll notice it’s listening to understand, not listening long enough to hear what you think you need to hear to solve the problem or to jump in and voice your opinion. It’s listening, to understand what the person in front of you really needs. Really, whether it’s information, whether it’s support, whether it’s guidance, whatever it is, listening longer, you have two ears, and one mouth for a reason. So listen twice as long as you speak. Great, great rule of listening.

[Stacie Watson] Absolutely. And then we touch on other skills that I think you and I as coaches talk about and think about all the time acknowledging and validating and just trying to be clear, and to clarify when we’re not clear. So the session does, I think a nice job of just breaking down some of those most basic skills and offering some exercises and practice opportunities because I think it is important to just hone our skills when it comes to communicating.

[Alicia Davis] Absolutely. So, if this is something that is of interest to you, we would love to hear from you – info@TLStransforms.com. You can also follow us at TLS_transforms on Instagram. And I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And thanks for listening.

[Stacie Watson] Yeah!