Some of the best workshop and meeting facilitators I know use a basic tool called Ground Rules. Essentially these rules are decided upon by the participants and guide their behaviors in the meeting. But what if we took these ground rules beyond the meeting room? During a recent coaching session my client and I were talking about all of the different type of conversations in business and how we each have expectations about how the other will behave. As I thought...
Continue reading...Deliver and Inspire
Ban the laser pointer
There I was sitting in the boardroom with a team of seasoned professionals. There were more advanced degrees in the room than hours in the day. Amongst the group there must have been over 400 years of experience in science, computing, math, engineering, and some areas I didn’t even recognize. So when I suggested that we ban the laster pointer from our presentations, you could hear a pin drop. Suddenly all eyes were on me. I realized I was challenging a...
Continue reading...What you say – more than words
Early in my career I was lucky enough to work with a great mentor and teacher. She assigned projects and just let me do it my way, even if I failed. It was the first time I truly understood about experiential learning. A Common Misinterpretation An early training presentations included this big beautiful graph about communication. You’ve probably seen it…….it’s a big pie chart with three percentages: 7-38-55 representing verbal and non-verbal communication. The 7% representing words, 38% representing tone, and 55%...
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