Towards Creating a Language and a Framework
for Our Communications to Move Us All Forward
When we take time to connect with others, we see there is more that connects us than divides us. Watch this award-winning video to understand how much we connect meaningfully with others when we are curious and have empathy.
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To all our highly valued clients and acquaintances:
In the context of today’s times, I want to point to what has become an emerging conversation and an area of concerned focus for most of us.
In recent years, several colleagues and I have considered that the next major era for the evolution of humanity will be to transition from the information age to the age of empathy. I think we may be on the threshold of that frontier now and it is time to collectively move ourselves forward.
For example, all of us may be susceptible and vulnerable to unconscious bias. What can we learn from experts who’ve been working on this issue?
Many people feel that the current environment seems a bit like this picture.
What can we learn from the eye of hurricanes and how might it apply here?
The eye of the storm is the only peaceful part of the hurricane. Getting through the eye wall is the dangerous part, as is exiting the eye, again through the eye wall – nevertheless, the eye is calm and peaceful. The surprising word that best describes the eye of the hurricane is tranquil.
We want cooler heads to prevail. Typically, people who are calm and focused are the most likely to succeed or to have the greatest influence on events.
How are we to best stay cool, calm and collected in the midst of any chaos, like the eye of a hurricane in a storm? There are calls for more “listening” right now – to seek first to understand – to listen to listen – then to think clearly and respectfully before we respond. To really “get” people and to know to whom we speak. To be clear about who we are and what we stand for and while committed, not be attached to how others respond or don’t respond – to think win-win and work together to create better ways. If we are committed, I believe that this will all require a tremendous investment of time and patience.
What a lot of us are experiencing now is more a version of this image.
What can we learn from the world of work that can apply to world at large?
Bias is a natural part of the human condition—of how the brain works. Every day, your leaders and your workforce are faced with countless bits of information while making decisions that range from the pragmatic to the strategic. As they confront more and more information—requiring them to act quickly while considering varying perspectives—they are primed to rely on biased thinking. Why? Because unconscious biases are shortcuts that help our brains compensate for overload. This affects how we make decisions, engage with others, and respond to various situations and circumstances, often limiting potential, inhibiting performance, and leading to poor decision-making. Unconscious biases are hard to identify, much less know their true impact. Before you can take steps to operate more fairly and effectively at work, you need to get your bearings.
“The way we see the problem is the problem” – Stephen R. Covey
Attribution bias is the tendency to have different rationale for your own behavior versus that of others. Irene Stone shares ways to identify and address attribution bias in the workplace. 1 minute, 14 seconds
Ways To Act With Courage – How we cope with bias can be different in every situation. Kory Kogon shares some ways to act with courage when addressing bias. 1 minute, 30 seconds
This process is a process – to that end, here is more Free Stuff:
Download FranklinCovey’s latest guide:
Seven Misconceptions About Unconscious Bias.
Team Dynamic Assessment FREE TOOL
How many of these five best practices do your leaders follow when dealing with unconscious bias? Download and share this simple assessment to help them evaluate how their preferences and biases may be negatively affecting their teams.
Every day, your leaders and your workforce are faced with countless bits of information while making decisions that range from the pragmatic to the strategic. As they confront more and more information—requiring them to act quickly while considering varying perspectives—they are primed to rely on biased thinking.
Why? Because unconscious biases are shortcuts that help our brains compensate for overload. This affects how we make decisions, engage with others, and respond to various situations and circumstances, often limiting potential, inhibiting performance, and leading to poor decision-making.
In this FranklinCovey webcast, you will learn how you can help address the harmful impacts of unconscious bias, and how you can begin to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and able to offer their best.
To wrap up this issue, I want to point to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I highly recommend this book.
It left a lasting impression on me when I read it years ago and I ordered the recent edition to re-educate myself.
“If there is one book Martin Luther King, Jr. has written that people consistently tell me has changed their lives, it is Strength to Love.”
So wrote Coretta Scott King. She continued: “I believe it is because this book best explains the central element of Martin Luther King, Jr.’ s philosophy of nonviolence: His belief in a divine, loving presence that binds all life.” That insight, luminously conveyed in this classic text, here presented in a new and attractive edition, hints at the personal transformation at the root of social justice: “By reaching into and beyond ourselves and tapping the transcendent moral ethic of love, we shall overcome these evils.”
You’re welcome to share this newsletter with anyone you think will benefit.
Let’s keep connecting and authentically communicating – at your service…
Coach Don
Special offer – free (no fee) – for 30 minutes – I’m here to add value & to serve – to be my best and to do my best – I promise at least one idea to help improve your work performance and your well-being.
