Small Business Today Magazine NOV 2014 EXHIBIT NETWORK | Page 38

EDITORIALFEATURE

Speaking the

Unspeakable – Part 2
By Kim Sawyer

L

ast month, the article in Speaking the Unspeakable, Part 1
addressed difficult conversations as a general concept along
with some key concepts and perspectives that set the stage
for how to handle them in a good way.  Situations involving
difficult conversations usually involve pretty intense emotions and
ones personal emotions tend to hijack their ability to think clearly.  Part 2 will build on that foundation by providing a valuable
practical model called “Clearing” that is a simple, powerful five
step communication process to help a person keep their ears
and mind open to taking in information and respond in the best
possible way.

Here is an example of a conversation one can use to deal with
a conflict between you and someone else.  Start by saying,“There
is something going on with me that I really would like to clear
up with you because it’s is getting in the way of me having the
relationship with you that I would like to have.  Are you willing to
have this conversation?”  With each step you will build the interaction a little safer and a little stronger to support the increasing
level of intensity of the subsequent steps.  The following are the
five powerful steps you can follow in dealing with the conflict:

us make decisions to live.  More neutral language might be,
“What meanings am I attaching to that data?  What are