7 Questions to Build Better Leadership, Coaching and Civil Communication Skills

Even the experts need help communicating with their own colleagues…

I could give advice all day on effective communication practices and yet I find myself constantly tripped up in my own workplace. 

Why is this? And what can we do about it? 

Personally, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I invest emotionally into almost every interaction. The whole “it’s not personal, it’s business” line never applied to me. 

Business is personal. 

So I teamed up with a close friend of mine who took coaching classes from the Center for Creative Leadership to enlist her help in coaching me through a sticky situation at work. 

I found guidance, peace, a solution from the 45 minute coaching session. I reflected on what made the session so helpful, I explored resources from the Center for Creative Leadership, and I reflected on my own Civil Communication practices and I found that they are one in the same. 

Civil Communication looks like open-ended questions. Civil Communication looks like understanding. Civil Communication looks like reflection. 

• So I'm hearing…

• Can you tell me more?

• What is your idea of…?

• What does success look like to you? 

• So do you feel…?

• How does that make you feel?

• It sounds like…

What other questions have you found are successful in overcoming a misunderstanding? Does your workplace seek to understand? Let me know! Feel free to email me here!