Latest Podcast: "How Women in Tech Can Push Through Bias and Become an Authority" an Interview with Gretchen O'Hara

4 Steps to Preparing for Your Next Crucial Conversation

crucial conversation May 19, 2021

4 Steps to Preparing for Your Next Crucial Conversation

Are you hoping to nail an upcoming crucial conversation but a little worried about how it might turn out?

Whether you’ve completely missed the mark on a past conversation, or you didn’t exactly receive the results you were hoping for, here are four steps that can serve as a guideline to achieve meaningful results on your next conversation that matters.

Step #1
5 deep belly breaths or “box breathing” to help build your physical and mental presence. Breath in for 5 seconds, hold for 5, exhale for 5, hold for 5. Not only for your internal focus but also to prepare how others perceive you.

Step #2
Awareness. Notice whichever emotions are triggered by an upcoming conversation (ie: fear, anger, frustration…).

Step #3
Distance yourself. Create a distance from your negative emotions, thoughts or feelings by shifting from “I am” to “I notice.” For example, "I am...

Nail Your Next Crucial Conversation: Do This First!

affirmation crucial conversation interrogative question Apr 28, 2021

Nail Your Next Crucial Conversation: Do This First!

Have you ever had an important conversation or interaction, and left the room (or Zoom:) feeling like you didn’t have the impact you’d hoped for? Maybe you flat out bombed the opportunity (I think most of us have experienced that at some point!) If so, you’re definitely not alone, but let’s make sure it never happens again! Your voice matters, and you deserve and need to be heard.

The entire process is outlined in my Limitless Leader course, but here’s a great place to start, with preparing your mindset. Permission to be transparent? If you don’t believe in what you have to say or you are unclear of the outcome you desire, then it will be difficult at best to influence others.

While the 7/38/55 rule of communication states that only 7% of our communication is perceived by our words, 38% by our tone, and 58% by our gestures (1967, Albert Mehrabian and his colleagues at UCLA), is debatable, one...