Want to improve your workplace communication skills, especially when working with other teams?
Give context.
Why give context?
Context helps your colleagues:
Understand where you’re coming from / viewing things from.
Understand who you are, and what you’re trying to achieve (your overall project, not this specific request)
Helps remove assumptions. Teams often have their own dialects, and your request may … Read more »
Something came up today that made me think about the importance of framing, and how it can be used to influence/persuade to meet your desired outcomes.
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
It’s very easy to forget this – I do it all the time – but delivery is important. It can mean … Read more »
I’ll get right to the point: Teams work better when they feel safe. And this one-page PDF from the Re:work team at Google gives clear and actionable things you can do and think about that will help to make your team feel safe. It doesn’t matter if you’re a manager or a team-member; check them … Read more »
I love understanding human nature, and why I feel the way I do in certain situations.
One of my favourite videos on this, which touches on human teams, the important of feeling safe, and leadership responsibility, is Simon Sinek’s “Why leaders eat last” talk. At 45 minutes, it’s a good lunchtime video.
For those who prefer to … Read more »
I like why. It helps me understand context. But in an increasingly email-laden world where everyone is “too busy” and emails are becoming more and more concise, the why is often the first thing to be omitted.
And this is a freaking travesty.
The “why” helps people understand why something is happening and the impact that it … Read more »
Phil is an IT Professional working in Cambridge, England. He generally blogs about Storage and Virtualisation and IT strategy.
