Persuasion

“That’s not what I said…”“That’s not what I meant…” “You’re not hearing me…” You’ve probably said at least one of those three things at some point in communicating with your colleagues. At first pass, they may seem like simple objections, simple statements to help steer someone to the point you’re trying to make. But if […]

I had a powerful discussion yesterday with a room full of people from one of our client companies. We were talking about their new service area, and how to position it. Their company is in a highly competitive industry where differentiation is hard, and where price is highly scrutinized.  The fear in the room is […]

My wife and I were at a wonderful birthday celebration yesterday for a dear family friend, and the party was filled with many friendly faces, some of whom I had not seen in a while. Among those faces was a lawyer friend who is an accomplished and highly-regarded litigator, and who I had interacted with […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. In Part 1 of this post, we examined the importance of knowing one’s persuasive point of view to effective communication. It is our thesis statement. It is what our audience most needs to hear in order to understand our message, care […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. Have you ever found yourself struggling to respond to the question, “What’s your presentation about?” or “Why were you meeting with X?” or “What was in that report you sent?” When asked to create concise summaries of complex topics, many of […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Have you ever sat through a meeting, listening to someone who just rambles on and on and on? Brutal, isn’t it? You are looking at your watch or your phone, trying to wish the time forward and each time you look you realize it is only 48 seconds since the last time you looked. It takes every […]