Inspiring Conversations, LLC

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh

It’s been well established by behavioral science that what we say—and how we say it—has a tremendous impact on thoughts and actions. Yet, according to author Dr. Kenneth Christian, many of us go about our lives woefully unaware of the impact everyday use of language has on our attitudes and our fundamental beliefs about ourselves. In Your Own Worst Enemy: Breaking the Habit of Adult Underachievement  (Regan Books, 2002), Christian offers six tips for taking control of your speech patterns and talking yourself into greater achievement.

1. Stop “try”-ing.
   The word “try” is a part of what Christian calls “loophole language.” By saying you will “try” to do something, you are implicitly giving yourself an out to fall short. For one week, forbid yourself to use the word “try” and see what kind of effect it has. Also, note the difference you feel between forbidding yourself to use the word and simply “trying” not to.
2. Cut out vagueness.
   Phrases like “kind of” and “sort of” allow you to express ambivalence while seeming to make a statement. When you speak about goals or other definitive aspects of your life, use unequivocal language. Don’t say, “I sort of want to do this,” say, “I will do this.”
3. Take responsibility.
   Decisive people, you’ll notice, speak simply, in the present tense and in the active voice. Compare the difference between “It needs to get done” and “I need to do it.” Take greater personal responsibility with your language, and you will take greater personal responsibility with your life. When you speak about goals or other definitive aspects of your life, use unequivocal language.
4. Negate the negative.
   Catch yourself every time you use such self-defeating statements as “I hate making presentations,” “It’s too late to take this training,” or “I can’t figure out this new computer system.” Such self-limiting talk becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Instead, say, “I choose to like making presentations,” “There’s still time to take the training,” and “I have yet to figure out the new training.” Ask your friends and family to help catch you whenever you use negative phrases.
5. Put things behind you.
   Describe any negative traits you perceive about yourself in the past tense. So rather than saying “I’m not a good closer,” say, “I didn’t used to be a good closer.” By relegating these negative attributes to the past, you imply the possibility for change, and soon you’ll be believing it.
6. Make positives present.
   Use the present tense to discuss positive attributes, even one you don’t feel you manifest quite yet. By using the present tense, you put pressure on yourself to make the statement a reality.

– Copyright by Malcolm Fleschner

By Susan Nielsen

I admit it. It is possible to run a business and make a profit without having a strategic business plan. People do it all the time. Which is exactly why having a plan is a competitive advantage. Strategic Business Planning is a goal alignment process that serves three important functions.

First, it has the impact of inspiring and energizing the entire organization by focusing everyone on the steps to achieve results. It is a means to determine what is important, as well as to establish what takes priority. If everything is important, than nothing is important. It provides focus and direction, and sets standards for organizational performance.

Second, it serves as a process to deal with the inevitability of near-term change required to produce long-term results. When you have a plan, you can determine exactly how near-term change will impact you and make informed decisions on how to prepare for or react to change. Done well and reviewed often, a plan keeps the organization on purpose all the time.

Third, it is the ultimate team building process. The planning process provides a forum for the planning team to discuss, debate and determine together the direction of the organization, which creates a significantly higher level of buy-in and support for the plan and for each other. With established organizational priorities, interpersonal and interdepartmental communication and cooperation improve.

So if having a plan is so great, why doesn't everyone do it? Have you heard or said these before?

- "We have a plan on a shelf around here somewhere."
- "I don't have time to sleep, let alone plan; I'm too busy running my business."
- "I told my direct reports what is important to me; they should be able to figure it out from there."
- "It's more creative/flexible/fun/exciting if we don't have a plan."?

A strategic business plan is the organizational compass. If you are deep in the woods without a compass, you may find yourself going in circles. It's the same with organizations. The plan helps keep the entire organization—starting with leadership—going in the same direction, while also providing a forum for confirming or shifting course. When you have focus, you spend your time, energy, cash and other resources on things that really matter, such as serving your customers. Got plans? (No? We can help! Contact Us.)

– Copyright protected worldwide. Susan Nielsen. (888) 850-2206 Ext 701

By Arno Ilic

Are you in need of an icebreaker? Are you having a teambuilding event to improve communication and camaraderie in your organization or project? I have just the thing for you, Conversations, The Game.

This is a unique game that you will not find in any store. That is because it is a game on communications, personal communications. In this game, we ask you to pick a card called the “Aspect Card”. This card can contain a subject matter such as “Physical Environment”.

The interesting thing about this game is that you always get the exact card that you needed to talk about and you can now explore why you received that card. However, there are also rules associated with this game. One of them is that you don’t get to interrupt the person who is speaking and only the person who is speaking can pick another member to comment, but without judgment, a hard thing to do at the best of times. There are talking points associated with the “Aspect Card” such as: “Care of the environment”, “Respect for all, “Environmental concerns & earth changes” and “We are all connected”. After each person has drawn a card and had a chance to speak to it, another card is introduced, called the “Life Card”. This allows you to further explore your “Aspect Card.” For instance, if you were to draw the “I don’t know what to do” card, you would then relate this back to the “Physical Environment” card that you are holding. When you get deeper into this, you may come to the conclusion that the reason you don’t know what to do is imbedded in the belief that if you did know, you would have to do something about it. That insight leaves you with a choice now. You can now choose to do something about it or not. You have now raised your level of self-awareness and in the process perhaps raised a similar awareness with the rest of the group.

Finally there are also the “Inspiration Cards”. Let’s say you draw the “Let go and just be” card. You wonder what the heck you are doing with this card. How does this relate to anything? Slowly you might begin to you understand that you don’t have to do anything with your feelings regarding the environment. It is just that you have noticed them. In doing so, you can let them be without attachment. Too often we are confused by the meaning of attachment; thinking they have to be physical, so we hang on to our emotions of happiness or anger. Now you see why you drew that card and you can share your insight with your team. They too see the value. Next time a difficult task comes up, you can “let go” of your doubts or fears and “just be” while sorting through the difficulty of the task.

This is the essence of the Conversations Game. You share your insights with your team as they share their insights with you. You start to see that we, the team, are all one. This Game takes communications to a whole new level.

The beauty is that the Conversations Game can be played with anyone, including the family at home. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have these close ties with the family as well? What a difference your communication and relationship with your co-workers or family members can be. Instead of watching the football game try playing the Conversations Game and see how your relationships differ from that of the week that you watched the game instead of playing “The Game”.

Call us today at 1-888-850-2206 and find out how we can “inspire” your workplace.

– Copyright protected worldwide. Arno Ilic. (888) 850-2206 Ext 705

Support Excellence

Since high-performing employees need less attention than their marginal colleagues, you're probably accustomed to giving more time to struggling workers. But that's not the best approach to take when managing interns.

You provide internships in hopes of finding solid future recruits–so you have nothing to gain by spending a lot of time coaching people you'd never hire. A better strategy is to invest your time and attention in nurturing the interns most likely to find a permanent place on your roster.

– Adapted from "It's your turn interns and bosses," by Mike Rasor, in the Akron Beacon Journal
Contact Jeff Johnston.  (888) 850-2206 Ext 704

The eloquent man is he who is no beautiful speaker, but who is inwardly and desperately drunk with a certain belief.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Generally the theories we believe we call facts, and the facts we disbelieve we call theories.
— Felix Cohen

Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.
— Laurens van der Post