Thinking Out Loud

The Maine Chapter of the Association for Talent Development is hosting a workshop: Understanding Communication Styles–Key to Collaboration in the Workplace, where I’ll be presenting to their membership.  ATD is a nonprofit organization, promoting workplace training and development, and is part of the national organization. They meet monthly in Portland, Maine. To learn more about the organization and the workshop, click here.

There are many ways to apply the Communication Styles Framework in the workplace. Guiding the professional development conversation is one of them. By identifying processing strengths and challenges, you create a foundation for learning new skills with a clear pathway to achievement.

On Tuesday September 16th, I’ll be at Eastern Maine Community College teaching managers how to use the CSF to guide professional development conversations.  To learn more, click here.

Co-worker conflict is not uncommon and sometimes it escalates with tension running high. Now what? An article I had published in Fast Company (click here) offers some guidelines on how to repair broken communication. Navigating conflict is never easy and learning how to revisit difficult conversations is a necessity, not just in the workplace but in our personal lives, too.

My son, Noah, and I developed a new communication tool. It’s versatile, has many applications and is straightforward. Fast Company just published an article about it (click here). We’ve used it to:

• Guide leadership communication
• Focus professional development conversations
• Structure difficult conversations
• Plan communication strategies
• Diagnose communication breakdowns

This tool can also be used in your personal life and in conjunction with the Communication Styles Framework, which gives it even more strength. After you read the article at Fast Company, if you’d like to know more I can send you the original article which has more detail.