clarity

Our work at The Latimer Group is all about helping our clients build strong and powerful communication skills. And to do that effectively, we have to be able to help them assess two things: current strengths and weaknesses, AND a path towards improvement. One without the other just isn’t that helpful. Skill development, in any […]

The hardest thing for any subject matter expert (an “SME” in business vernacular) to do is to explain his or her area of expertise in simple and clear ways. When we are “in” it, when we are living the topic every day, when we know a lot about a certain topic, it often can be […]

The recent controversy over Bill Maher’s use of a racial epithet was yet another example of the power of language. Words have meaning, both good and bad. Words have power, both good and bad. Words make us feel things, both good and bad. This post is not about Bill Maher, the politics of language or […]

In nearly every workshop I teach, I ask a question that sounds something like this: “How many of you attend too many meetings that run long?” Nearly every hand goes up, every time. “How many of you get too many emails that are too overwhelming to read?” Nearly every hand goes up, every time. “How […]

Here’s a great goal for you in your next meeting or presentation. Make it your mission in life to make it easy for people to remember what you say. Have you ever had the experience where a presenter just walked into the room, and from the moment he or she opened their mouth, you were […]

Some of our most popular blog posts lately have been about how we communicate with each other, and the divide that’s so often formed when we’re faced with an opinion or viewpoint different from our own. And while there are plenty of examples we’ve written about from our President on this subject, it’s certainly not limited to […]

The Recipe for Great Communication contains 5 ingredients: Clarity, Brevity, Context, Impact, and Value. But depending on your audience’s “taste” — that is, depending on what kind of information your audience needs — those ingredients may vary in proportion. So, how do we know how much of each ingredient to use when we prepare for meetings […]

Regardless of our industry, our organization and our role within our organization, the ability to align and motivate the people who work for us or with us is a mission critical skill. Simple fact. And this is not an easy thing to do. Almost everyone shows up with their own ideas, their own agenda, and their […]

Several of my coaching conversations have been focused on the same thing of late… when I am speaking to my boss, how do I stay out of the weeds? I get stuck in the deep detail, and he/she gets frustrated with me. Sound familiar? “Too much detail” is a constant issue in the 21st century […]

We’ve all been to THIS conference call… too many times in fact. While Tripp and Tyler absolutely nail the inherent comedy in the ways we conduct conference calls, let’s take the conversation to the next level. How do we run better conference calls? Here are a few simple ideas: 1. Set context and get the […]