Tag: communication

From a good place

FabrizioLeave a comment

You can be vulnerable by sharing your negative feelings, and you can be vulnerable by sharing the positive ones as well.

Tell that you feel happy, accomplished, in love, serene, successful, at peace, lucky, grateful, loved, accepted, at ease. You will be more exposed than you have ever been, and still be in a state of mind that will help you deal with the exposure and familiarize with it.

Training to be more vulnerable does not have to start from your deepest and darkest emotions. Go from a good place instead. It’s not necessarily easier, surely quite as effective.

Changing mind

Fabrizio1 Comment

The effort we put in trying to explain we did not change our mind is puzzling.

You misunderstood.

They misunderstood.

You started executing without asking more questions first.

You should have challenged me on that.

The circumstances have changed.

The keyboard has eaten most of my words.

There was a lot of noise when we talked about this.

You assumed you knew, and you didn’t.

I wish you’d listen when I talk.

Changing mind is not the end of the world. Not being sure about what to do, and how to do it, and who should do it, is not the end of the world.

Spoiling a relationship to prove you are right. That is the end of the world.

The truth

FabrizioLeave a comment

The Stanford Prison Experiment is an extremely popular experiment in social psychology. It featured normal people taking on the role of prisoners and guards. And most importantly, it featured fights, abuse, dehumanization, nervous breakdowns, bullying, and more. Despite a series of dubious practices, for decades it was considered a legitimate study.

The BBC Prison Study is a not-quite-as-popular experiment in social psychology. It featured normal people taking on the role of prisoners and guards. And most importantly, it featured camaraderie, compassion, some moderate conflict over food, negotiation, the institution of a commune, and long discussions on how to govern the whole group. Despite the fact it was reality TV, it led to a number of academic papers that were eventually accepted in official psychology curricula.

The point is, not always the story that is closer to facts and reality is the most popular. A story just has to be repeated enough times to become plausible, and when that happens, it is very difficult to later convince people it was a hoax, and actually things work in a different way.

This is something we know.

And it is our responsibility as marketers, advertisers, communicators, and change-seekers, to use such power with great care.

You’ll never get it

FabrizioLeave a comment

If after 15 months of covid crisis your organization does not have a plan to promote virtual get-togethers with colleagues, it failed.

If the only meetings are work-related meetings, if the participants rarely are from outside your team, if 1-1s keep being cancelled and postponed – because, you know, managers are busy -, it failed.

If there are no conversations around mental health, well-being, separation between work and personal life. If it is not offering some sort of incentives for therapy. It failed.

If the only times the company and the teams meet, it is the managers doing the talking, and all the other employees listening, it failed.

If what gets rewarded is still achieving personal goals, if cooperation is not actively stimulated, if teams are just a way to build walls rather than a way to reach out and help, it failed.

Just because your numbers are cool, it does not mean your people are too.

If you have not understood this during the past 15 months, you’ll probably never get it.

Superior

FabrizioLeave a comment

Acting as if you are superior – because you know more, because you are more integrated, because you are more skilled, because you are righteous – will most likely achieve little.

Leveraging your (supposed) superiority to elevate others, on the other hand, has the power to change behavior, improve lives, and spread around you. Of course, the action assumes that you do not feel superior at all. Few have the capabilities to take this stance.