It's a noisy world out there.
It's a noisy world out there.
Welcome to The Latimer Blog.
Twice a week, The Latimer Group’s experienced facilitators deliver clear, succinct, and actionable lessons about business communication to tens of thousands of readers worldwide. These are real-world observations from our team, underpinned by working with over 25,000 participants since 2000.
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The Importance of Asking for Feedback
What if we took the same approach to how we present, lead meetings, and engage with our teams? How do you ensure your communication is clear, impactful, and continuously improving?
The Customer is NOT Always Right
Sometimes certain phrases get repeated so often, they become more than cliche. They become indisputable fact. But that doesn’t mean such statements are always correct.
The Tremendous Power of Shared Credit
Have you ever worked with someone who seems obsessed with taking credit for everything? I have, and it… is… awful. It is unmotivating, frustrating, and exhausting to be around someone who is constantly trying to remind you how great they are. All you ever hear from a person like that is some version of “look at me,” “look what I did,” “I created that,” and “I’m fantastic, don’t you agree?” Even when it is more subtle than that, it is unmistakable.
The Heart of Great Business Communication
The hardest thing for any subject matter expert (SME) 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, and when we know a lot about it, it is really hard to distance ourselves from it and make it simple. When we are in it, everything seems important, and since we understand every nuance, natural human reaction is to want to explain that nuance.
Your Message Is Never As Clear as You Think
The disconnect is between our own perception of what is “clear” and what others think about that clarity. When we have an idea or a strategy or something in our head, and we have thought it through and worked it out, in our own minds it is very clear. And then we explain it, a little bit (if at all), and we expect everyone else to see it just as clearly as we do. And we expect them to get it quickly. Some quick explanation from us, and everyone else should get it easily, right?
The Absence of Conflict
I love thinking about teams. I love considering the best ways to get a group of people on the same page, and working together towards a common goal. I love thinking about how to create an environment that will make great people want to be on the team.
And here is one of my favorite team concepts: the sign of a great team is NOT the absence of conflict.