Let's face it. We've spent the last 3 years dealing with wild, unprecedented, crazy, depressing, hopeful, heartbreaking, strange, and (add your favorite pandemic adjective here) emotions. No breaking news there. But most importantly, for many of us, it been a time of learning - whether we wanted to or not - the power of the pause.

The word “pause” has been used a lot to describe how, for most of us, we’ve been able to slow down life a bit. It’s been an unexpected...

Last month I gave a presentation for the 11th Annual Washington State Government Lean Transformation Conference. I have attended and/or spoken at all of the conferences, and they are always a highlight of my professional development journey. 

The team of conference organizers did a remarkable job getting 30+ presenters prepared for the event to run smoothly. They did this in spite of people like me, who was well prepared and still missed hitting the "show your screen" on...

When it comes to improving your workplace communication skills, small changes will make a big difference.

Remember the David Letterman Show and his Top 10 Lists?  I know I'm aging myself here - I got hooked on them in college and still love to use them as a way to illustrate the best of the best - the top of the heap... THE TOP 10! 

So, I've compiled my TOP 10 workplace communication challenges with some ways to make improvements. That includes changing some habits and...

If nothing else, the pandemic that started in 2020 introduced us to an historical digital experience that has changed business communication. And with it the introduction of endless virtual meetings.

The virtual and in-place communication trend is predicted to be the beginning of new era of standard communication revolution. Safe to say, they are here to stay.

One of the biggest challenges is managing all those virtual meetings. How do you keep participants engaged...

Meetings only run well if they are facilitated well from start to finish.  Knowing how to run good meetings is a skill that anyone that is ever in charge of ANY kind of meeting facilitation.

Ever Been in Meeting Hell?

Haven't we all?  When I’m in poorly run meetings, I get distracted and find myself doing unproductive things like calculating the cost of the meeting (number of participants x approximate cost per staff hour x number of hours/minutes).  And if I’m...

Respect is about how to treat everyone, not just those you want to impress. ~ Richard Branson

How do you spell R-E-S-P-E-C-T? 

Something I hear a lot from people that are having trouble communicating is:  He/she/they just doesn’t respect me. 

Have you ever felt that way?

Why is that? For most of us, not showing respect isn’t something we intentionally do. 

It’s much easier to see what a lack of respect looks like in others, than to...

Becoming a more confident communicator is all about building good habits. Think about brushing your teeth. That’s a habit we learn at a very early age, and over time, it’s something we do without thinking every day. That’s the type of habit you want to develop as you become a more skilled and confident communicator.

Here are three of the habits you can start with.  You will find that when you make these habits part of your daily routine, it will make a huge...

I have a confession to make when it comes to listening skills. I’m an interrupter. When I already know what someone is trying to say, or I have a point to make, I just cut right in. I know I shouldn’t do it. I know it’s rude. It drives me crazy when other people do it, so why do I?

Most of us aren’t very good listeners. Interrupting may not be your Achilles heel, but I’m guessing there is some bad habit you bring to the listening side of your communication.