GOALS – The most amazing thing about conversations with people are those in which you are walking away feeling engaged and inspired, when you feel like you have made a real connection and or are feeling perfectly understood.
- Don’t multitask – Be present, be in THAT moment. Don’t be half in and half out of it.
- Don’t pontificate – Enter every conversation assuming that there is something to learn. Set aside all of your personal opinions and beliefs. Everyone is an expert at something
- Use open ended questions – Who, what, when, where, what are the words to use!
- Go with the flow – questions and ideas will come into mind in the middle of a conversation but be careful not to hold onto them in your mind as this will stop your listening, let those questions and ideas come and go.
- If you don’t know, then say that you don’t know.
- Don’t equate your experience with theirs – It is NEVER the same. All experiences are individual and more importantly it is not about you. Conversations are not a promotional opportunity.
- Try not to repeat yourself – It is really condescending.
- Stay out of the weeds – People don’t care about the little details (years, dates, names etc). They care about you, what you are like and what you have in common.
- LISTEN – we’d all rather talk than listen, but when we talk, we don’t learn. Steven Covey said that most people don’t listen to understand, we listen with the intent to reply.
- Be prepared to be amazed.
A good conversation is like a good miniskirt, short enough to retain interest, but long enough to cover the subject.
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Keep learning! Jason ❤
Feature image – One of the last great team outings with my old team back in Sydney before I left for London, as always, we had a great time out! Taken on the 8th of October 2018.
