Listening Arts

Want to Get Things Done? Do Less!

skp57 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:56:05 +0000

Feeling overwhelmed and overloaded? Can’t seem to get things done? Having a hard time focusing? Consider the following:

1. Do Less! Unclutter your schedule. Ask yourself: ‘What am I trying to prove and to whom?’

2. What’s driving the overwhelm? Is it fear? Fear of what? Delegate. Re-negotiate your commitments. Ask for help

3. Take one easy action. Then do one harder thing. Alternate back and forth. easy…more challenging…easy etc. This will help build on success.

4. Celebrate your successes. Cut yourself some slack!

5. Tell the truth. If something isn’t working, say so. Let the truth be. Let yourself be with the truth. A lot of energy is tied up in resisting the truth…in resisting what’s true for you. Once the resistance is released by truth-telling, the next steps will present themselves.

6. Turn away from negativity. Commiserating with others on what’s wrong only expands what’s wrong. To expand positivity, speak and relate in a positive way.

7. Allow yourself to experience your negative feelings completely. Then learn how to re-frame negative situations to be able to see the gifts that they are, no matter how negative they seem. Ask yourself this: ‘What is the gift that this person or situation is presenting to me by being what it is (or who they are)? What is it, or they, helping me to see that I don’t want in my life any longer?

8. If you are complaining about anything, ask yourself, “What do I get from complaining? What feels good about complaining? Be honest. Then ask yourself, “What is it costing me?” This is not new information, but how many of us actually do this kind of soul-searching? Fundamentally, by complaining we get to be righteous about what’s not working. We get to be indignant, judgmental and NOT responsible for feeling better or creating a solution. So, if we’re not being responsible for feeling better or finding a solution, of what value are we?

So what does this have to do with feeling overwhelmed? Overwhelm implies that we have become victims of ourselves, that we have temporarily lost control of our thoughts and behavior. To get back on track, ask yourself this, ‘ What will make me feel even the slightest bit better or happier right now (that will not harm me or another)?’ Then go and do that. At least you would have taken charge of your thoughts and behavior; the only things we can control.

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Great tips for conducting online meetings…DimDim blog

skp57 — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:37:54 +0000

Here is a great resource for online meetings. http://blog.dimdim.com/blog/bid/28672/How-to-keep-your-audience-s-attention-on-the-meeting-and-off-Facebook

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Inspired

skp57 — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:35:42 +0000

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” – Howard Thurman

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Customer Conflict Prevention…Not Conflict Resolution

skp57 — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:15:56 +0000

In any prolonged customer engagement, such as in the fields of custom building, interior design and architecture, rarely found are preemptive practices for customer conflict prevention. If you are a professional in residential custom building, either in the design or construction side, have you had more customer ‘headaches’ than you’d care to think about? If you are a homeowner who has built a custom home or done a major remodel, did you have more frustration, stress and anger involving misunderstandings than you’d care to remember?

Conflict resolution, mediation or arbitration are the instruments most commonly used in our culture to resolve conflict civilly. Don’t get me wrong, these are useful and potentially transformative tools. However, how much money, time and heartache would we spare ourselves if we focused on conflict prevention practices…practices to create mutual understanding up-front, rather than mucking through the emotionally and monetarily costly post-conflict swamp?

Initially, as an industry professional, you may balk at the perceived cost of making this kind of investment in changing your business practices, especially in a changing market. Consider this: How many times have you left money on the table or discounted your fees in compensation for misunderstandings that could have been avoided with routine communication protocols that include documentation? How many unnecessary phone calls have you received because your business model doesn’t effectively deal with the uncertainty your client lives with when so much of their money is at stake? How much time, aggravation and stress could you save yourself and your client, not to mention your reputation, by educating your client and preparing them each week for what lies ahead, being accountable to your word and deed and keeping them informed ahead of the curve?

After all, we remember experiences because they involve our emotions. It’s the emotion that sticks. What kind of emotion do you want creating your reputation? Are you just ‘hoping to get it right’ or are you proactively stacking the odds in your favor by having effective routine communication practices in place? Don’t you and your clients deserve less stress and more peace of mind? Certainly your reputation does.

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Madhatter Memoirs cont’d…The Engagement Imperative!

skp57 — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:23:59 +0000

Now it’s time to talk about presentation design from my learning experience at the Madhatter’s Tea Party with Meri Walker, the virtual meeting coach.

Here is the biggest take-away, especially if your meeting is educational in nature: Design with as much spontaneous interaction as possible. Remember you can’t see what your attendees are up to on the other end. You have no way of knowing if their bored, distracted or asleep! For example, if you are working with a small group, ask questions throughout your meeting and ask for responses from each of them. Demonstrate how they can use the text chat function in the virtual meeting space so they have the option to respond in writing or speaking.

An effective virtual presentation hinges on the engagement of your audience. Given you’re not in the same room together sharing the group experience and its energy, how can you deliver an engaging experience? For when all is said and done, it’s situations that get us to feel something that we remember. And believe me, boredom is not the feeling you’re going for here!

In short, design your presentation more as a ‘conversation‘ than a information hosing. Be more engaged with your participants than with your material! Being present to your audience’s experience is key.

Of course to make sure you’ve hit the mark with your design, ask friends to rehearse with you and play your participants. Their feedback will be vital to helping you work out the kinks and create an engaging virtual meeting. Did I mention it should be engaging?

[ONE OTHER TECHNO TIP: Make sure to tell your participants how to self-mute their phone line, if your using a teleconferencing line. This way when their dog barks, their kids interrupt, or they have to use the bathroom while on the call, they will have privacy and your session will be spared their background audio scene.]

Happy Virtual Meeting,

Susan

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