English Archive - Page 11 of 100 - The Art of Communicating

Workshops for the new age

Remember the days when workshops were that marathon where you had to block off entire days in your calendar? A pretty tough choice when you’re busy getting that project finished.

During the pandemic, all of that shifted to Zoom, making things even worse. People tried to cram both into their calendar. The workshop, and in between breaks, they would quickly hop on a team meeting.

Exhausting, to say the least!

After the pandemic, zoom fatigue kicked in and many rushed back to in-person sessions. But the workload didn’t decrease, the schedules didn’t empty, the deadlines wouldn’t give in.

And yet, something shifted.

More and more of my clients do enjoy an improved workshop format that’s a consequence of the learnings we made through the pandemic.

We realized that when you’re meeting online, without the travel, why would you have to stick to a full day workshop? What made sense in a world where it’s crucial to minimize travel time, didn’t make as much sense in a world without that travel.

So, we tried to change the format to a series of smaller events, spread over several weeks, much like your favorite TV series but for professional development.

For my clients, this model turned out to be more than a quick fix. It was a game-changer:

No more blocking off entire days or weeks. These workshop series are bite-sized learning sessions that sneak into your busy schedule.
Our attention spans and learning styles have evolved and we’re no longer used to information marathons. We crave quick, impactful learning bursts that stick. These workshops acknowledge that with snippets of inspiration.
A focus on doing. The snippets we discuss in one session can be applied in the time in-between sessions. It deepens understanding and strengthens the discussion in the following sessions.
Revisiting topics over weeks allows for even deeper understanding and retention. It’s not a one-off inspiration; it’s lasting change.

Plus, let’s not forget the reduced carbon footprint of fewer travel-intensive retreats.

But don’t get me wrong – retreats are still vital for getting work done. When you want to nail a specific story, it’s priceless to set the time aside and don’t stop digging until you’ve nailed it. These series are not meant to replace these kinds of workshops. They’re the perfect complement for when you want to improve your skills in a sustainable way.

For my clients, workshops as a series have emerged as a response to our changed world – a world where learning needs to be as dynamic as our lives. It’s a recognition that sometimes, less is more, and slow and steady can win the race. Reach out, if you want this, too.

Find your way

Recently, at Confused Corp, the world market leaders for unclear instructions and perplexed employees.

A strategy retreat, employees navigating a literal maze.

HR Lead: Our new strategy is like this maze. Find your way, find our vision!
Team Lead: I’ve been stuck at a dead end for an hour.
HR Lead: It’s symbolic of our complex journey!

Apparently, getting out of the maze can be a challenge on multiple levels.

Who’s responsible for that?

What empowerment means:
The leader trusts the team with making choices.

How it’s often done:
The leader trusts the team with making choices as long as it’s the same choice the leader would have made.

The worst version might be this:
The leader trusts the team with making choices as long as it’s the same choice the leader would have made and unfairly assigns responsibility for any negative outcomes to the team, even when the leader would have made the same choice.

Do you work for a leader who truly trusts their team? Please drop me a note! I’m assembling a list of leaders who light the path.

Cutting through the noise

It’s not about being the loudest voice in your space; it’s about being the voice that cuts through the noise.

Surprisingly often that’s the calm voice.

Unsurprisingly often it’s the clear, authentic, and unapologetically real voice.

Is life logical?

Maybe not, as Arno Geiger points out:

“The inclination towards logic in literature is nothing but a prejudice against life. In the many collections of letters and diaries, I have never come across a logical person, let alone a logical life story, neither in my everyday life nor in any of the major collections.”

Arno Geiger is a well-known Austrian writer who, for decades, has collected collections of letters and diaries from trash. The above is one of the core findings he shares in his memoirs about the lessons he learned during that time.

And it might explain the struggles we often have with making sense of other people’s actions (or our own): There might be less logic in our actions than we feel comfortable admitting.

Which, in turn, causes communication challenges when we try to find the sense in things that don’t always make as much sense.

What’s easily overlooked is that logic is only one aspect of human life. Often, it’s not the deciding factor for the choices we make, at least not the only one. Which means that focusing solely on logic in your communication misses out on a big part of many people’s lives: the emotional, intuitive, and sometimes irrational aspects that are equally vital in understanding human behavior and decision-making.

Busy being right

When you’re busy being right, consider that, in the meantime, others may already be getting it right.

PS: Happy to help if you’re trying to get your communication right.

The Bermuda Triangle Project

Recently at Confused Corp, the world market leaders for unclear instructions and perplexed employees …

The CEO, known as the “Master of Monologues”, announces: “We have perfected the art of communication! Our directives are so clear that no one dares to question them!”

An intern, from the back: “That’s because the last guy who asked a question ended up in the Bermuda Triangle project.”

Lasting impressions

Yesterday, I spoke about managed dissatisfaction. In communication it means meeting the basic threshold of adequacy without investing in the effort to truly connect, enlighten, or engage with the audience. It’s a calculated approach to do just enough, but not more.

That’s a choice, for example:

You can choose to provide just enough information to avoid misunderstandings. Or you can make an effort to ensure the information is easily digestible and engaging.

You can choose to respond to questions or concerns when raised. Or you can proactively clarify potential ambiguities and offer additional insights.

You can choose to slightly adjust the content based on the audience (like, say, changing the date in your slide template) but otherwise keep it generic. Or you can make it specific for this particular audience’s needs.

You can choose to engage with the audience just enough so that they don’t feel ignored. Or you can actively try to make the interaction enjoyable and memorable.

It’s the choice between doing the bare minimum to avoid complaints and going the extra mile to leave a lasting impression.
 How do you choose?

The world champions of managed dissatisfaction

During our latest family vacation we stayed at what must be the world champions of managed dissatisfaction.

The resort managed to do slightly less than you’d expect at every single interaction and they made sure to never even accidentally exceed our expectations.

To be sure, it wasn’t a bad experience per se … which, to me, is the fascinating aspect here and what makes managed dissatisfaction an art. The art is in finding the sweet spot where your service is well below the threshold for embarrassment at all times, yet only the slightest bit above the threshold of dissatisfaction.

Of course, that’s not the same thing as a great experience – or even a satisfactory one. It’s no substitute for the smile they could have put on their customers’ faces for exceeding their expectations just once.

And that’s a choice. That idea of consistently delivering just enough to avoid outright dissatisfaction, but never quite enough to truly impress, is a deliberate strategy. The goal is to maintain a steady stream of “just okay” service without investing in the extra effort or resources that could lead to exceptional experiences.

We might not come back, though.

Delighting customers, even just occasionally, can have a significant positive impact on their perception of the service and can foster loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.

The next chapter

When leadership announces the script for the new year, you can often feel their excitement. The CEO bursts with pride and it’s fair to assume that they truly believe in that new script.

And justifiably so as it might really be a great script. You’d be thrilled, too.

But for the team, it can feel very different. They are still heavily consumed with wrapping up the conclusion of the current script and before they get proper appreciation for making it a hit, they are now expected to cheer leadership for writing the next hit.

Especially when it’s a reset or an entirely new script, this can feel incredibly frustrating for the team, creating a sense of instability and disregard for past efforts. When things are constantly shifting, it can disrupt the momentum and erode the sense of purpose and continuity, leaving team members feeling disconnected and undervalued.

But what if you viewed your journey not as a series of annual resets but as chapters in an ongoing story, building upon each year’s triumphs and trials?

That, in my experience, is a much more satisfying story for the team – and quite likely a more respectful one, too. This approach transforms the collective effort into a shared legacy, where each new year adds depth and meaning to our unfolding story.

The goal is to evolve together, blending past achievements with future aspirations, making every member feel like an integral part of this continuous narrative.

In your business, will the new year unfold as a standalone blockbuster, or as the latest episode in a hit series?

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