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During work discussions with our colleagues — when we are debating issues and making choices about things like strategy, policy or design — many (perhaps most) conversations come down to the following choice: Which is more important? “Winning” the discussion or maintaining functional dialogue with our colleagues? In other words, when we are debating the […]

Hello friends! We are continuing our latest blog tradition of fielding your questions about effective communication. You can send us the questions any way you want… via phone, email or the “Dear Latimer” box on the right side of most pages on our site. When we get a question we will always answer directly back […]

So this really happened to me… yesterday, May 17, 2022. I was getting ready to run a virtual coaching session with three participants, from my office at Latimer headquarters. The session was due to start in about five minutes. And I ran to our learning studio (where we teach many learning sessions and record audio […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. In some parts of our lives, we love having rules to follow because they make it easier to make decisions, and they take away the guesswork. In others, we feel constrained by rules and resentful of their imposition. Whether we like it […]

Think of all the communications courses you’ve taken, seminars you’ve attended, and articles you’ve seen in which they tell you how to speak, how to present, or how to create a PowerPoint slide. Compare that to how much less often a course is offered on how to listen. Listening (good, active and intentional listening) is a […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. When I want to improve at something, I study other people who do it well. I watch elite runners and examine their form. I read writers who inspire me and examine how they build a story with prose. One of my […]

Communicating through conflict doesn’t have to be that hard. It can be… but it doesn’t have to be. And the key is your mindset during the conflict. What are you thinking about when communicating with the person you are in conflict with? Are you thinking about winning the discussion, regardless of what comes later? Are […]

Hello friends! We are continuing our latest blog tradition of fielding your questions about effective communication. You can send us the questions any way you want… via phone, email or the “Dear Latimer” box on the right side of most pages on our site. When we get a question we will always answer directly back […]

Have you ever listened to that person who says something like “um” over and over and over? After a while, all you hear are the “ums.” How about the person who says “like,” or “you know?” Hard to listen to that after a while, isn’t it? How about the person who qualifies everything they say […]

Think about the best leader you’ve ever seen. What made her/him compelling? Many of us would say, “They just had ‘it.’ Their charisma was off the charts.” It may be hard to believe, but “it” — that combination of confidence, authority and personality that makes an executive engaging and inspiring — isn’t necessarily an inherent […]