|
Talk... Talk...Talk... We communicate all the time: often not very effectively. In conversations that are important and sensitive, when opinions differ and emotions run high, we’re often on our worst behaviour, not our best. We blame and accuse, instead of listening and considering. We hold conversations that do little to solve problems but a lo t to damage relationships. If we held better conversations, we could build better relationships at work, in our marriages, with our children and families, and with friends and neighbours.
Straight Talk skills help you make conversations safe, so you can talk about almost anything to almost anyone, and build better, healthier relationships. "When you make a conversation safe, you can say almost anything to almost anyone" You’d think that if conversations are so important we’d learn how to do them better. We’d take time to plan, choose our words carefully and handle them with care. But we don’t.
We start by avoiding difficult conversations for as long as possible, hoping the problems will go away on their own. They never do, so we try dropping hints, or we use humour and sarcasm. If we do raise problems, they are so sugar coated that the other person has little idea what we are talking about!
And we continue to bite our tongues...until one day, when we can no longer control our emotions, we explode with frustration, anger, accusation, blame, often tears, and sometimes violence. "The essence of being emotionally intelligent is that you are aware of your emotions and their impact on others"
You can use the skills of Straight Talk in many situations. - In performance appraisal when you give feedback on poor performance or bad attitude
- To confront the inconsiderate, incompetent or toxic people whose behaviour creates conflict in the workplace
- In improving communication with interfering in-laws and difficult family members
- To form healthier relationships when you negotiate with teenagers over boundaries and unacceptable behaviour
- To speak up to people who don’t live up to their promises, or your expectations
- To help you analyse when you are over-reacting, or are causing the problem yourself.
Latest Blog
All change ‘I can see how this works – but it’s difficult for me. I’m from the old school –it’s either right or it’s wrong. Somebody either performs properly – or you discipline them.’
Click to read more http://www.straight-talk.co.za/blog/ |
