“Everything that happens in an organization happens in or because of a conversation. If you want to
change the culture, you’ve got to change the conversation.”
― Five Frequencies: Leadership Signals that turn Culture into Competitive Advantage
I think one of the greatest gifts to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic will be learning new ways to communicate. During this time when we have not been able to gather in groups people have stepped up to reach out electronically.
How have you been gathering differently during this crisis? Have you attended a work staff meeting via Zoom? Have your places of worship been live streaming services, prayers, or even just “check-in” times? Maybe you’ve checked on elderly friends, neighbors, or family members via phone, email or Facebook. Did Grandma or Grandpa read a story or sing with your children via Skype? These are just a few of the ways we have been reaching out to each other during this time of physical isolation.
What are some of the things you have been doing to stay connected? Tell us your ideas in the Comments area below.
“Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.”
― Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
“Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.”
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Has someone ever told you, I don’t discuss politics and religion? That doesn’t usually mean they won’t talk about those things with anyone — just not those who disagree with them. I understand not wanting arguments and hurt feelings, but people who do not agree with us are exactly the ones we need to talk to.
It is possible to have a calm, rational conversation between people who disagree. Not easy, but possible.
So how do we do this?
These guidelines came as the result of a conversation with someone I do not agree with. Someone I saw as the enemy showed me it is possible to have those difficult conversations and part friends.
The only way to heal the great divide between groups and people is to communicate. Start talking!
“The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.”
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“In the best conversations, you don’t even remember what you talked about, only how it felt. It felt like we were in some place your body can’t visit, some place with no ceiling and no walls and no floor and no instruments”
Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.”
—Theodore Zeldin
“Although we live in an information technology age, we often find ourselves in failure to communicate situations.”
—Johnny Tan