We live in language similar to how fish live in water. It is transparent to us. If we want to improve our conversations in a fashion as we discuss here on the Executive Perspective blog, you also need to understand the type of conversations that you are currently having within your team and organization.
- Have you ever been part of an organization laced with politics?
- Do you recognize the person who is not there to help the team agenda but is trying to push their own agenda?
- Do you ever feel that you are not receiving the information you need to be successful at your position?
- Do you participate in meetings where you or someone else is not saying everything, but are calling a smaller meeting after the meeting?
One common denominator in all these organizations is what we call ‘Inauthentic Conversations.’ In this conversation, you as the speaker are communicating certain things, but more importantly you are withholding other information that you should be sharing with the listener. The listener now cannot interact to that what you are not saying, has to make their own interpretation, and typically will withhold information themselves in their response.
These withheld conversations unexamined will not allow you to break through the cycle of politics, dysfunctionality or those meetings after the meeting. These withheld conversation represent an automatic and immediate break in trust. This will always impact employee performance, and hence organizational performance as illustrated in this recent study from Watson Wyatt.
What do you think the impact is of stopping the withheld conversations at your organizations?
