There’s a journalistic technique to keep a dialogue positive and growing: Ask open-ended questions. If you receive a “yes” or “no” answer, blame yourself as the interviewer.
This principle of furthering a dialogue is important when putting together a story, in business and personal communications, as well as in life in general. Rather than cutting short a conversation, using key phrases that solicit additional information opens up a path to new solutions. “Tell me more” is a good line to use as is, “Why?” Both force the person you are speaking with to dig deeper.
This past week, I attended an awesome leadership summit that included a session with Avish Parashar, who wrote the book, “Say ‘Yes, And’!” He contrasted that phrase with “Yes, but.” “Yes, and” opens up the dialogue. You want to hear more. It’s positive. “Yes, but,” on the other hand closes the conversation and is negative.
He put us through a number of exercises. Try this one: Find a partner and have that person make a statement and you respond with “yes, but” after every one. See where that goes. You’ll find it shuts down the communication and the person speaking will grow increasingly frustrated with you.
Then, do the same thing, but say, “yes, and” every time the person completes a sentence. Hmmmm… You’ll find it creates a positive feeling; solutions and new ideas emerge. You can use this technique anywhere, anytime, and it’s effective. Try it.
Avish’s point is that the attitude of going the extra mile to ask for more builds better relationships, whether it’s at work or your personal life. You eliminate roadblocks. Say, “Yes, and” to change your outlook and improve your communication and leaderships skills.
This principle of furthering a dialogue is important when putting together a story, in business and personal communications, as well as in life in general. Rather than cutting short a conversation, using key phrases that solicit additional information opens up a path to new solutions. “Tell me more” is a good line to use as is, “Why?” Both force the person you are speaking with to dig deeper.
This past week, I attended an awesome leadership summit that included a session with Avish Parashar, who wrote the book, “Say ‘Yes, And’!” He contrasted that phrase with “Yes, but.” “Yes, and” opens up the dialogue. You want to hear more. It’s positive. “Yes, but,” on the other hand closes the conversation and is negative.
He put us through a number of exercises. Try this one: Find a partner and have that person make a statement and you respond with “yes, but” after every one. See where that goes. You’ll find it shuts down the communication and the person speaking will grow increasingly frustrated with you.
Then, do the same thing, but say, “yes, and” every time the person completes a sentence. Hmmmm… You’ll find it creates a positive feeling; solutions and new ideas emerge. You can use this technique anywhere, anytime, and it’s effective. Try it.
Avish’s point is that the attitude of going the extra mile to ask for more builds better relationships, whether it’s at work or your personal life. You eliminate roadblocks. Say, “Yes, and” to change your outlook and improve your communication and leaderships skills.