by Christi Barrett | Mutual Understanding, Supervision
Shawna left the meeting feeling like her hiring decision had been all wrong. Why couldn’t Hector manage this project on his own? When Shawna was in his role, she was able to make decisions and move forward with little direction from the boss. Maybe it was time...
by Christi Barrett | Communication, Leadership, Mutual Understanding
You need others to do something. The easiest way for you to communicate this request if probably via e-mail. The caution is that e-mail presents many opportunities to mis-communicate and make your job even harder. What are the best practices for using email when...
by Christi Barrett | Communication, Mutual Understanding, Supervision
Arnold is meeting with Bev, one of his direct reports. She is going over her current projects. Arnold comments that she appears to be overloaded with work that isn’t a top priority. Bev is astounded. But this is what you told me to do, she explains. I did want...
by Christi Barrett | Communication, Mutual Understanding
So much of what we try to communicate with others is context – the interrelated facts, conditions and background that give our message its full meaning. Communicating context is tricky. Sometimes we share too much detail, and our main points get lost. At...
by Christi Barrett | Communication, Mutual Understanding
Today I’m going to be a sponge. When someone is communicating with me, I am going to soak in every nuance of the message. What do I sometimes (usually?!) do when I’m “listening?” Continue my internal dialogue, which sounds something like this:...
