Erin’s Blog
Do you listen when you talk? Or are people checking out when you’re speaking?
We're back with another edition of the Story Session Activity. This activity was born from delivering one horrible active listening workshop too many and deciding there had to be another way. The breakdown: one person gets 3 minutes to tell the group about a...
Dissect or Reflect?
Do you ever find yourself hearing yourself complain about the same thing over and over? Do you fall into the same patterns, which result in mild self-torture and misery? Do you ever have that head-smack moment when you realize oh crap, I could take control of this...
Seek First to Understand. Full Stop.
Freshman year at JMU I signed up for a 1-credit elective. The subject: "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I vaguely remember cutting out journal entries and scotch-taping them to printer paper for our end-of-semester project.My taped entries were my...
Story Session: The Poker Face
Story Session Poker Face We're back with another edition of our Story Session activity. A quick recap of where the Story Session activity came from--pretty much years of me teaching ineffective active listening classes and wanting to do something different. So I...
Why those active listening classes aren’t effective and what to do instead
Have you ever been to an active listening workshop as part of your professional development? Did you leave feeling like you'd become an effective listener? Better question: after going through the workshop then continuing to talk to other participants, did you...
Too much, too soon. How jumping the gun can ruin chances for connection.
Today we’re coming to you from Connection Crasher Headquarters. CCHQ 🤔 is the part of my brain which sends off alarm signals when I hear words people say, see actions they take or habits they have that slowly go to crack connection. The worst part...
How to stay curious when you really want to prove your point
Imagine reading this quote say, in 1984. “I will not be releasing any podcasts until further notice. To our #UnlockingUs and #DaretoLead communities, I’m sorry and I’ll let you know if and when that changes. Stay awkward, brave, and kind.” –Brené Brown What...
Open Up to Possibilities
Eight years ago I worked on a project with an automotive company. Which led to another project with an automotive company. Which now, looking back, led to 4 years of career misery. Automotive people are not my jam. They are negative. They are adamantly...
Listening: How to calm down from an emotional response
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIUeJ2CqhK8[/embedyt] Have you ever had that moment when you're talking to someone and they start to say something and you think FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DO NOT FINISH THAT STATEMENT. Something like, "Listen....
Why We Resist Empathy, and What to do Instead
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDIxrbBnMU[/embedyt] A few years ago I was on a project with a big rental car company and we were working with their team on how to connect with and communicate with their customers better. We were in a session and we were...
