Put the right words in your tool bank to maximize communication with your team.
Words for Straight Talk Statements
- I see it differently…
- Perhaps I misunderstood…
- Let me make sure I understand…
- This is what I have seen, observed…
- I think…
- I feel…
- This is the impact (of their behavior) on you, the team, the members, the organization
- This is what I want for you, for the team…
- My hope for you is…
- I realize that this ma be hard to hear…
- I can see you are upset…
- It sounds like we have agreement…
- I am not sure I understand…tell me more
- I think you can do this…
- In the future I would like for you/us…
- I was thinking that…
- I can offer this to you to help…
- I am not certain I can do that and this is why…
- I understand your point of view and I still see it differently…
- Moving forward I would like to see…
- It sounds like…
- I can see that you are (emotion)…
- What you do matters to me, the team, the organization…(positive or negative behavior)
Questions
- Can you help me to understand?
- I am not sure I understand… can you give me an example?
- For my clarification, could you help me to understand?
- Are you willing to try a different approach?
- What can I do to help you?
- What does “support” look like for you?
- What is it that I can do differently moving forward?
- Will you commit to …?
- Can I count on you to…?