Conversational Transformation Newsletter - No 3 of 2020

Are you frustrated? The good news is, it’s probably your fault!

Today we have our latest video on just that topic of frustration, together with advice on how to improve your conversations and reduce your frustration. We share a blog post and a podcast episode on emotional awareness and how it can help you get better results in your agile team. And we invite you to join our “launch collective” to get a free, early copy of Agile Conversations.

Frustrated? Watch This Video

One of Jeffrey’s most well-regarded sessions at CITCON every year is “Frustrated? It’s Probably Your Fault”. He talks to participants about their frustrating situation, asking questions until they have the ah-ha that they are part of the cause for whatever is frustrating them. This shocking moment of realization was described by one person as a gentle, loving, punch in the face. And yet people still show up! The good news, of course, is that if a problem is your fault, you can do something about it by changing your behaviour—no surprise that we’d recommend a difficult conversation for that!

We did a milder version of Jeffrey’s talk together for the AllTheTalks online conference. Apply the 4Rs as described in the video and you can come to your own private ah-ha moment. If you don’t mind being punched in the face (and learning something that will make a dramatic difference in your conversations!) watch the talk here.

Emotional Awareness

I had a lot of trouble figuring this one out. Jeffrey told me that a notion called “the line” could help leaders be more effective, but I was sceptical as it seemed way too simple. But once we linked it to the broader topic of emotional awareness I did see the benefit, especially if paying attention to your internal state can help you expand your emotional vocabulary (did you know there are over 200 names for emotions in English?) We recorded a podcast and Jeffrey wrote a blog post to explain further.

(And a bonus—we’ve started posting transcripts of recent podcasts on the Conversational Transformation blog. One of my favourites there is a rant on Friday releases.)

Free Book!

Would you like a free copy of our book Agile Conversations? Our publisher is willing to send you an electronic version (an advance copy, without final copy edits, and viewable only for a limited time) if you’re willing to write a review and promote on social media. You also get access to an exclusive Slack room with a reader-driven book club discussing the book and where Jeffrey and I drop in from time to time. If that sounds interesting, let us know and we’ll get you set up.

Do get in touch anytime to discuss your conversations, your transformation, or anything else. Until next time, keep talking!

Jeffrey and Squirrel