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Influence Through Story Telling: Make Your Message Stick

6/30/2025

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A great story is not just heard; it’s felt. Stories can persuade, convince, and convert. Here are 4 ways to move people to action through storytelling… 

Stories do more than entertain — they persuade. And many successful leaders and entrepreneurs use stories to turn words into impact. For some guidance when it comes to spinning a tale, Will Storrs, journalist and author of A Story is a Deal, shares four storytelling techniques to drive results. 

  1. Make Your Audience the Hero: Your audience must identify with the protagonist or the struggle if you want to persuade them. People engage when they see their own issues reflected. And, as a BBC Storyworks study confirmed, an emotional relationship to a story enhances the listener’s long-term memory.
  2. Keep it Simple: When crafting a story, keep it clear and concise. Avoid jargon and overly-long, abstract descriptions. Reality is complex, but it can be edited for clarity.
  3. Clarify Obstacles and Goals: In a business context the story should have a lesson that relates to a solution offered by your service or product. This encourages belief and prompts action.
  4. Be specific and Concrete: Specifics are memorable because they activate the brain’s visual imagination.

When is the last time you were motivated to action by a story? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.

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When Should Leaders Be Positive? Timing is Everything.

6/23/2025

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A leader’s positivity at the start of a year or project can have an out-sized impact on team performance ...

It’s no secret that a leader’s positive or negative communication can have a deep impact on how a team performs. Now researchers have studied what effect the timing of positivity might have.

As a study published in Organizational Science showed, timing is everything.  “When leaders expressed a lot of early-term positivity, their employees performed better throughout the year, compared with all other timing (for example expressing more positivity at the mid-point, or end of year, or leaders who were primarily negative at the start).”

Here is the evidence-based advice:
  • Take advantage of early opportunities to be positive. Be enthusiastic about your prospects and ensure that everyone knows why you are glad to be working with them. 
  • The best time for negative feedback might be at the midpoint. The study also revealed that some mid-term correction might inspire your team to go the extra mile…as long as you clarify the steps. Keep in mind that any negative feedback must be fair and substantiated,
  • Some caveats: The findings speak strongly to the timing effects of leaders’ emotional expressions during long-term projects, but less strongly to the timing effects during a meeting or shorter project. Despite this, other research powerfully argues that timing matters when it comes to similar leadership competencies, like expressing gratitude.

Do you recall a leader or coach you worked with whose early positivity inspired you? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.

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3 Ways to Unlock the Power of Actionable Feedback

6/11/2025

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The responsibility for turning feedback into growth for you and your team falls on you, even when that guidance is vague and unclear…

Vague feedback (“You need to be more strategic” or “You need to improve your communication”) is not only annoying but difficult to act on. Without specifics or concrete examples, you’re left guessing what success looks like and at a loss for what changes to make. 

For multiple reasons, you cannot afford to let vague feedback stand. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Melody Wilding, executive coach and author of Managing Up, says “The lack of clarity trickles down to affect your team’s priorities, slows decision-making, and creates confusion across the organization.” 

Here are 3 things you can do to manage the vague feedback you receive:
  • Ask better Questions: More specific questions get more specific answers. Instead of, “How am I doing,” try, “What is one thing I could have done differently?”
  • Guide Them Toward Your Goals: If your manager knows what skills you’re working on and why their feedback matters, they’re more likely to provide a thoughtful response.
  • Present Binaries: When you present your manager with two clear options, it enables them to compare. Ask, for example, “Would you prefer I handle the negotiations myself or consult you before the final decision?”

Do you think the feedback you get is specific enough, and, if not, what are you doing about it? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.

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Want to Change a Mind? Ask This Question

6/4/2025

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The road to less arguing and better problem solving starts with asking one simple question…

Have you ever tried to change the mind of someone you disagree with? Good luck! And yet, psychologists say that remembering one simple question is the first step on the road to less hostility and more productive dialogue. 

Finding common ground may seem unlikely, especially in times like these. But it all begins with listening. Then, for the sake of initially engaging your partner, forget about facts. Regardless of their veracity, reciting a list of studies and statistics will likely just raise defensiveness. 

Beating people over the head with evidence that proves they’re wrong, only makes them more likely to insist they’re right. “People generally put their affiliation with their group and their sense of themselves as a competent and good person ahead of rationality,” writes Jessica Stillman in INC. Yelling doesn’t work either. Stridency might make you feel relief in the moment, but it almost always backfires and hardens other peoples’ beliefs.

So, what’s left? Asking the “magic question.” According to science writer David Robson, author of the 2024 book, The Laws of Connection, you need to convince people of your good intentions for the conversation. Ask them:  Can you tell me more about how you came to think that?” 

Is this enough to have someone do a 180-degree opinion turn? No. But, it is a start. You cannot change anyone’s mind if you don’t convince them you are open to understanding them.

Have you ever tried to change someone’s mind about a deeply held belief? How did that turn out? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022. 

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