[Alicia Davis] As a leader, I want you to think about a time when you were having a conversation with a staff member. And your mind was kind of here, there and everywhere. How effective do you think that conversation was? That’s my curiosity question today, Stacie, because we want to talk about how does the relationship between being present affect how we have really effective communication and drive action? Right?

[Stacie Watson] Yes, you know, it seems, in some ways, a little counterintuitive, I think, because when we think about being really efficient and effective in our communication, as leaders, or even just team members, right, often, we are trying to do three things at the same time.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right.

[Stacie Watson] You know the plates are spinning, the balls are juggling. And this is just the life of, of most of us. And what the research shows, and what we know to be true, is that often that is actually not the most efficient way to drive action, whether we’re communicating in an email, in meetings, one-on-one, giving feedback… And so there’s this interesting approach where if we can actually slow ourselves down, and make sure that we’re really present in the moment, we actually might be more effective. Right?

[Alicia Davis] Right, and it doesn’t mean you have to get all like zen, and all, right, it literally means somebody walks into your office, you’re in the middle of an email, and they want to talk to you and you either stop that email, turn to them, look at them, take a breath, and there you are. Or you say, “you know what I really want to pay attention to you let me finish my thought on this email” and hit send, and then do that. So it’s those little things about really bringing your full attention. Putting down whatever else you’re doing, and, you know, in five seconds, shifting your attention, and that it doesn’t require anything other than intentionality. Like that’s the thing, we don’t have to do anything different, or we don’t have to add anything. Just a matter, right, of thinking about how I can bring all of myself into this moment, right here, right now?

[Stacie Watson] Yeah, and it’s a habit that we can form with practice. So…

[Alicia Davis] That’s right.

[Stacie Watson] If we’re noticing ourselves sort of scattering our attention across five different things all the time, we can really just practice bringing our attention into the present moment and think, what kind of quote-unquote action do I need to drive with whatever this communication is? Which leads us kind of right to an upcoming session through our Academy, right?

[Alicia Davis] That’s right, “Communicate to Drive Action” is happening on July 31st. So if this is something as a leader that you would like to strengthen and enhance, as well as a number of other aspects of communication, we’d invite you to check it out. Academy.TLSTransforms.com. And I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And we are the founders and co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies and the Learning Academy, and we are here to support you always in leadership, and we would encourage you to be a little bit more present in your communication this week. So, thanks so much.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.