Posts in category: PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

DON’T POP THE SELF-ESTEEM BALLOON OF YOUR PARTNER

How do you criticize a sensitive person? The same way you snuggle up close to a porcupine…very carefully! In fact, constructive criticism needles the sensitive person to death. By nature, half of us are sensitive souls, or Empathizer (E-type) communicators. The other half of us are tough charging Instigator (I-type) communicators, who have very thick skins so needles don’t penetrate very far. For both communicator types, even well-intentioned negative feedback can pop the self-esteem balloon of our talk partner…and the resulting bang of a deflating ego will startle everyone in ear shot and across the state.

HOW DO YOU CRITICIZE SENSITIVE PEOPLE WITHOUT HURTING THEIR FEELINGS?

What to do if you have to quickly correct the behavior of the sensitive person?

1. APPROACH USING YOUR AWARD-WINNING 10 SECOND SMILE. In your interpersonal relationships, you are a powerful producer of positive results. People like to love you, and people love to like you! Right? So put your whole attention into a sincere smile that visually hugs your talk partner person. Now, don’t you buck me by saying, “Dennis, when you get old, you lose your hearing and your vision!”

2. BE TONE DEFT. Use a calm adult voice that is neutral and factual. Be tone deft, which means don’t use a critical parent voice that makes the listener turn the selective hearing on and become message deaf! The tone of your voice announces to the listener whether or not you’re angrily disapproving or blaming the person vs. blaming the problem. Use a soothing, even tone of voice, filled with positive expectations and trust, which tell your talk partner that your message is decent and fair.

3. ALWAYS USE YOUR TALK PARTNER’S FIRST NAME. I know you realize that you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. It’s not what was logically said or intended that matters, but what your talk partner emotionally hears and believes about your intentions. Perception is everything! Emotional communication is always dicey, especially when the communication level of one talk partner is higher or lower than the other.

4. “IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL BECAUSE IT’S ONLY BUSINESS” IS ALWAYS PERSONAL. Simply put, even in business, critical feedback is experienced or felt as very personal. That’s why giving feedback is feared, and helpful feedback is often withheld. Worse yet, too often hidden in tasty morsels of constructive criticism are sharp shards of broken glass. The message heard: “Because you didn’t do this right, you’re not a very good person!” No, you shouldn’t try to sweeten the person up to shove some bad tasting medicine down his or her gullet, either.

5. NEVER, EVER, EVER CRITICIZE IN PUBLIC. You can correct negative behavior in public if you are the group leader, but whenever you rebuke or correct someone in public, it’s VERY risky business. When a talk partner loses face, your good intentions to help out can explode in your face and permanently blow up the relationship bridge.

6. ONLY DELIVER ONE CRITICISM AT A TIME. Start off with what’s working well, instead of dipping into a well of poisoned water. Reading the riot act or loudly bellowing out a long laundry list of complaints doesn’t work, either. But you already knew that…. Did I say you should stick to delivering one criticism? Yes, just one, because one criticism is hard enough to swallow!

7. TO PRAISE OR NOT TO PRAISE? Should you praise abundantly or sparingly? Well, it depends. Praise those who need it the most, typically your Empathizer or E-type team players…especially those who are the workhorses of your organization…and the front runners, often your Instigator or I-type leaders, who run on their own batteries, can be rewarded in tangible ways, perhaps with bonuses and other prizes of merit. Caveat: Some players feign being hurt to avoid the delivery of corrective feedback.

8. WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO TELL A PERSON EXACTLY WHAT TO DO? Well, why not? Be specific about the right way to do the task…ALWAYS. A clear goal or stated expectation of the intended or appreciated response behavior should also be personally demonstrated by work or family leaders.

9. SHOULD YOU SIT DOWN WITH THE PERSON AND TRY TO TALK? You find out what motivates a person through personal meetings when there isn’t a problem to discuss. But I don’t have time for hand holding, you say?! You don’t have time not to meet with a person in private meetings to get to know him or her. Personal meetings allow you to get the “feel” and “target focus” of where the person is heading. Your time is priceless and sends the message, “You’re an important person in my world.” You can’t build trust in a situation that is coerced or rushed.

10. SHOULD I CRITICIZE A PATTERN OF REPEATED FAILURES? Yes, but with careful planning. Corporate executive teams are just as mystified as the rest of us about how to give corrective feedback that doesn’t sting or start an ego war. Of course, repeated failures will disrupt a functioning team and turn it into a dysfunctional team. Corrective feedback of the neutral style, “Do this because it will work to better achieve your goal!” focuses on teaching the correct skill to be adopted. Too much is at stake for repeated failure, by anyone.

CRITICISM FEELS PERSONAL

I know you don’t intend to criticize the person of the person. And I know people shouldn’t take the helpful things you’re saying so personally. But they do. Do you walk your talk, or is your talk a one-way street? The distinction of “helpful feedback” is often lost to all when a talk partner gets all honked off and blames you for being insensitive and not caring enough to understand how to drive sanely on the two-way communicator highway.

IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL…IT’S ONLY BUSINESS

Let’s summarize your new talk tactics:

• Know who you’re talking to a little more personally
  
• Use your talk partner’s first name
• Never make corrections in an ad hoc or off-the-cuff fashion when you are feeling irritated or frustrated
• Criticism should be the exception…verbal praise or tangible rewards should be the rule
• Demonstrate or role model the corrective behavior
• Never sound like your mom or dad, who criticized you as a kid
• Respect personal sensitivity … Empathizers have the keys to unlock doors
  
• Understand that no one you know has a small ego
• Keep your feedback to under one minute, and then change the subject
• Be prepared. Plan your comments days in advance. Think through what you’re going to say. Realize that no one likes bad news.
• Fear of ostracism makes your talk partner stuff cotton balls in his or her ears.
• Know no one this decade is expert at giving corrective feedback … but you’re learning how to!
• Keep your talk simple and business-like…all-ways.

It’s nothing personal? Sure enough. After all, it is nothing personal, it’s only business…but business is all-ways VERY personal.

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGIST DENNIS E. O’GRADY, PSY.D.

Dr. Dennis O’Grady is a Dayton region relationship communications expert, inspirational keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and experienced couples and family counselor. For over 30 years, Dr. O’Grady has focused on improving effective communication among everyone, including in-love couples, at-work teams, corporate leaders, and their families. Dennis is the developer of the innovative results-driven Talk to Me© effective leadership and teamwork communication system. His book on positive and effective interpersonal communication, Talk to Me: Communication Moves To Get Along with Anyone, is available at drogrady.com or at Amazon.

IMPROVING YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS AT HOME

Do you have communication deficiencies? Many of the executives and extraordinary people I coach are proud and successful, yet imperfect men and women. Common to all, though, is the self-perception: “I definitely have some communication deficiencies. I don’t like to put my feelings on the table. I wouldn’t be here unless I thought this has reached crisis proportions.” Do your peers or partner see you as holding things too close to the vest? Do you agree that improving communication makes for doing better business or helps with nurturing relationships? It all goes back to that poker skill of keeping your cards hidden, doesn’t it?

COMMON COMMUNICATION DEFICIENCIES WHEN PLAYING THE COMMUNICATION POKER GAME

You may not be as bad or good at communication as you think you are. But I’m sure glad that you’re paying attention to what makes your communicator car engine purr smoothly, or knock loudly, as you push down on the gas pedal. Symptoms of communication deficiencies, played out like a poker game, while you’re seated at the virtual communicator table:

• You act like you can take criticism well, but you don’t
• You hate to lose or feel inferior
• You don’t ever wear your feelings on your sleeve
• You have to hide inferiority feelings
• You bluff well
• You experience failure as disappointing others
• You make calculated communication moves
• You hide information or distribute it strategically
• You are decidedly smart and shrewd
• You disarm others with, “I’m just feebleminded on this subject ….”
• You don’t often ask for help
• You try to manage everything on your own
• You view seeking coaching or receiving help as a sign of personal weakness
• You use the defense mechanism of deflecting
• You use a poker face, refusing to expose yourself
  

In sum, the universal key communication proficiency is knowing that to every communication problem, there is a communication solution, if you’re willing to use it instead of lose relationship trust and goodwill.

BETTERING YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS

In my world, you are a better communicator than you think you are. True, in research polls drivers rank their skills in the upper 20% of all drivers. Now, we all can’t be so masterful! All of us need to have the courage to accept help from neutral specialists who can coach us to help us achieve our personal goals. Some ways to think positively about improving communication skills:

1. I don’t have to manage this all alone. We all need help now and then to stay in the driver’s seat of our lives.

2. I must stop rationalizing that, “It’s not my fault!” You don’t fail to communicate, but you may be failing to get across your intended message.

3. This isn’t just one thing. The problem is a hub of the Opportunity Wheel and is rapidly traveling down all the spokes.

4. I shouldn’t have to try so hard to keep the elements of my life so compartmentalized. You aren’t a big loser, and the messes you find yourself in can be cleaned up.

5. I don’t have to fear feeling inferior. The only real failure is to neglect to change what isn’t working for you or for those you care about and respect.

6. I need to stop pressuring myself about the sin of disappointing others. If an expert pole vaulter can do a 10 foot jump, then why do you require yourself to clear 12 feet and feel like a loser when you don’t?

7. I need to trust the corrective feedback I’m hearing, even though I dislike it. The point of constructive feedback is to correct negative communication patterns and behaviors.

8. I don’t have to strike out. When you’ve struck out three times in one game, with people you work with or love, sign up for communication coaching meetings immediately!

9. I can correct any flaw of miscommunication. You can be a proficient communicator simply by using the communication map you develop as you study the Talk to Me© effective communication system.

ARE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS RUNNING OUT OF GAS?

Are your relationships running out of gas because you’re not choosing communication changes that will benefit everyone? The Talk to Me© effective communication system can change all that! Why allow communication deficiencies to cause you to drive into a ditch or get into angry shouting matches with your fellow drivers? You only have control over your own changes….Make them count for more today!

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGIST, DENNIS E. O’GRADY, PSY.D.

Dennis O’Grady walks, talks, and works on both sides of Talk Street, using the same innovative and results-driven communication system he developed, the TALK TO ME© effective communication system, and “street smart” Communication Moves To Get Along With Anyone. Are you licensed to drive on the two-way communicator highway? Are you sending out positive messages and achieving effective relationship results from your virtual communicator table? Those communication strategies which are successful at work may not work as well at home, unless you live with your co-workers! You deserve to be a proficient communicator, and your talk partners deserve clear and concise communications from you. Consult this week with communications psychologist, Dennis O’Grady, by calling (937) 428-0724. Dr. O’Grady’s complete playbook of good talk, is called Talk to Me©, and is available at Amazon and through www.drogrady.com

TO COMPLIMENT OR NOT TO COMPLIMENT?

What is your communication style when you give compliments? Do you dispense them freely or keep them to yourself? Do you feel giving compliments is a sign of weakness, a form of manipulation, or both? Besides, shouldn’t people just do what’s right without expecting accolades? These are some of the thorny issues we brush against as we walk through the deep woods of interpersonal relationships. I love the email I received from a male college student, asking why compliments given to a female friend seemed to fall on deaf ears.

I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND WHERE THE ISSUE IS

Here’s what this young man wrote, and how I helped explain that compliments are experienced very differently by Empathizer vs. Instigator communicators. It’s nothing personal!

Hi Dr. O’Grady,

I sit here in the library, taking a break from studying for my first exam of the semester. The real reason that I thought to write to you is because of my female friend, Jill. It is a new milestone for me to have a really good friend, who happens to be a girl, and who is not my girlfriend. We talk so much that her roommate calls me her husband and refers to her as my wife! What perplexes me is that I have complimented her twice and did not receive the response I had expected. I told her that I thought she was amazing and that I really respected her. For me to say those things is extremely big, because I don’t just go around giving out compliments. I give them when I really mean them, which is why I was kind of surprised and hurt by her response…or lack of response, actually. She didn’t even acknowledge that I had just paid her a significant compliment. She just ignored it. When I kept pushing for a response, she said, “O.K. let’s just forget about the whole thing. I think you’re awesome, too.”

I just don’t understand where the issue is. I don’t know if we just have different ways of accepting and responding to compliments, or what. Could it be that she is not recognizing that I am paying such a significant compliment or caring sentiment to her?

Please let me know what you think about the situation with Jill.

THE INSTIGATOR VIEWPOINT ON THE ART OF COMPLIMENTS

Hi Jack,

I wanted to make sure I had time to digest your e-mail, so I waited until this morning to talk to you. I hope that is O.K. I am always so glad to hear from you. I’ll sound a little like your communications coach, which I am. By the way, I really like getting to know the language shortcuts of doing the text thing.

Let me address your question, “…Could it be that she is not recognizing that I am paying such a significant compliment or caring sentiment to her?”

Compliments are experienced very differently by Empathizer (E-type) and Instigator (I-type) communicators. For comparison, remember that you and your mom are E-types, while your dad is an I-type. I should look like both E- and I-types since I’ve been working hard to adopt the strengths of my opposing communicator style. Jill sounds like an Instigator communicator, given her behavior. Her style isn’t better or worse than yours; just different. Here are researched differences explained:

I-types…

1. …consider giving compliments unnecessary

2. …think needing compliments is a weakness

3. …try to put misunderstandings in the past by “forgetting about them”

4. …don’t like to feel vulnerable or rely on others for help

5. …believe they can put a strong mind over difficult relationship matters

6. …are afraid that emotions will spin their communicator car out of control

7. …want to send all E-types to “Empathizer Island” when frustration mounts

8. …value Empathizers’ ability to be true to their emotions

9. …love to solve problems

10. …are natural born leaders

It’s not a boy-girl thing, Jack. Gender just gives us ideas about what is the warm or cold thing to do in a relationship. You are comfortable with non-manipulative compliments. Your style is right on!

I hope this helps clear up any confusing communication matters for you on this beautiful fall weekend, Jack!

Thanks for talking to me….

COMMUNICATION CLIFF NOTES: COMPLIMENTS ARE EXPERIENCED VERY DIFFERENTLY BY EMPATHIZER VS. INSTIGATOR COMMUNICATORS

Empathizers freely give genuine praise, and they function best when their good works are recognized in words of genuine praise. Instigators believe that actions speak louder than words, and they function best when their genuine words are recognized in good works accomplished. So, it’s not that women praise more than men, or that men praise to get their way. It’s all about the communicator shoes you’re comfortable walking in. In the above case, the young man is an Empathizer talker and the young woman behaves like an Instigator communicator. Can you tell the difference? Each type perceives the giving and receiving of positive feedback very differently.

ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGIST DENNIS E. O’GRADY, PSY.D.

Dennis O’Grady is the father and developer of the Talk to Me© communication system, which streamlines communication to be productive and useful…inside your head and inside your relationships. The Talk to Me© approach to good communication will help boost your mood, keep your energy up, and free yourself from the tar baby of negative relationships or emotions.

IF YOU CAN’T TALK ABOUT FEELINGS…YOU CAN’T TALK

Do you find it nearly impossible to listen as people discuss every aspect of their feelings? Join the gang! As a teenager, the Mission Impossible T.V. show was a favorite of mine. The part when the secret instructions played on the audio tape, which then burst into flames, made my teen day. Heck, as a teen I’m not sure I listened carefully enough to catch all the instructions! So, in my seminars now, I give clues where to find a 50 dollar bill in the meeting room. “You can put all the clues together if you really listen. Of course, ‘If you accept this mission of listening, I won’t disavow all knowledge that we ever spoke….'” Effective listening doesn’t have to feel like a mission impossible.

YOUR POSITIVE TALK ATTITUDE

How you hear a transaction can change how you respond. For example, What is that supposed to mean? can sound like curiosity or criticism. How you say what you say really matters. Is your listen-before-you-talk attitude a positive one? How to know:

You —

• Use an upbeat voice tone which conveys friendliness

• Transmit energy that you are curious instead of judgmental

• Nod your head to indicate that the speaker’s message is registering with you

• Clear your mind so you can really listen

• Give more than a minute to listen completely

• Pat yourself on the back for even trying

STARING AT YOUR WATCH OR TAPPING YOUR FINGERS ON THE TABLE?

Moreover, you don’t send out non-verbal clues — like staring at your watch or looking around the room — that suggest you’re impatient or peeved, nor do you sigh deeply or loudly tap your fingers on the table. You can’t hide your listening attitude of interest and curiosity vs. boredom and close-mindedness, so choose to be an attentive listener and stop blaming others for not talking openly to you.

TALK IS A TWO-WAY STREET

Do you talk by listening? Then what is, “Why don’t you talk to me?” supposed to mean? Does that imply that if I talk, you will listen open-mindedly? Well, in the Talk to Me© system, talk IS a two-way street. Not listening is summed up in this gem: “It’s my way or the highway. If you don’t like it, then you’ll just have to lump it and find your own way home.” Let’s be fair. Here are five key ways which enable communicators to be effective when talking to others and to the inner self:

1. First, ask good questions which don’t box a person in.

2. Second, actually listen to the answers without preconceptions.

3. Third, listen with the ultimate goal to understand the speaker.

4. Fourth, don’t interrupt by talking over or talking down to anyone.

5. Fifth, go back to first base and ask more directive questions.

WALK THAT TALK WAY

When you walk the talk of living life on a two-way communication street in your interpersonal world, get ready to go from the horse-and-buggy age to the jet plane era. As an innovative directive communicator, you won’t wait to get behind the steering wheel of your communicator car so you can follow the roadmap of good communication, you will take the initiative and start the engine, following the signs along the highway to ensure a smooth communication journey.

ABOUT EXECUTIVE COACH DENNIS O’GRADY, PSY.D.

Dr. Dennis O’Grady wrote the book on good communication, called Talk to Me: Communication Moves To Get Along With Anyone, available at drogrady.com or at Amazon. Dennis is a communications psychologist who leads Listen Up! workshops, which teach teams to listen better and become better communicators. These innovative workshops help doctors communicate better with patients, managers to communicate better with their employees, team members to build the spirit of Team Listen! and couples to find solutions to problems, opening up communication lanes on the two-way communicator highway. Dennis never tires of talking about the fine art of Talking to Listen, using his new talk technology. Dr. O’Grady is the original developer of the powerful new person-driven and leadership communication system called Talk to Me©. The self-study form of his system is found in his latest book. Get your roadmap to communication success today by consulting with Dennis O’Grady.

TAKE THE COTTON OUT OF YOUR EARS

Do you listen to hear, or are you just waiting to jump in and make your point at the expense of good talking? When your ears are stuffed with cotton, it’s as though money and opportunities fly right out of your communicator car window. Worse yet, you can end up in a fender bender or a talk collision. Tempers flare as the communication police arrive, and anxiety fills your ears with even more cotton. “Listen to hear!” will get you from here to there fast.

WHY SHOULD I TALK IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ME?

70-75% of good communication is listening effectively. “God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason!” joked one of my entrepreneurial clients. As a communications psychologist and developer of the results-driven Talk to Me© system, I’m often asked:

If I want to be a better communicator, how can I listen better? I have extra trouble just hearing what’s being said or understanding what’s being implied, because my mind is like a busy intersection, with ideas and thoughts running red lights and stop signs. How do I slow down my mind so I can just concentrate and listen? I’m also prone to going to extremes by talking too much or not speaking up enough. How can I become an enlightened listener?

LISTEN TO ME

Now, those are great questions with some powerful answers. Listening is a skill, and you can become a better and more effective listener today with just a little practice. Why go there? Because not listening is akin to a loud radio with the bass booming, blaring out grating music from your communicator car and causing communication confusion for everyone around you.

SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS TO LISTEN TO HEAR

Taking baby steps will get you where you want to go before you can say, “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

1. TAKE THE COTTON OUT OF YOUR EARS. Calm your mind by turning your full attention over to the speaker.

2. ASK AN OPEN-ENDED QUESTION. Ask an open-ended question that doesn’t evoke an automatic answer. For example, “What’s going well in your work today?” or “What one thing do you feel I can do better to assist you?”

3. STARE AT THE SPEAKER’S FACE, NOT INTO SPACE. You’re dead meat if you look at your watch, stare into space, fidget nervously, or pace around like a caged cat.

4. NOD YOUR HEAD IN AGREEMENT UP AND DOWN. Come on, it’s not too terribly hard to act like you’re listening! Who knows, you might end up actually listening for a change.

5. IN A NUTSHELL, REPEAT AND JOT DOWN WHAT’S BEEN SAID. Information overload is common nowadays because people talk fast to get everything in. Why? Speakers talk rapidly because they do not really expect to be heard after a minute. Do a listening check and jot down on paper what you think was said.

6. TURN OFF YOUR NOISY SELF-TALK IN YOUR SKULL. Easy does it. In your mind, you’re going 90 miles an hour down the Talk Highway. Ease up on the gas pedal and coast for awhile. You can’t really multi-task and listen effectively. Quiet thyself!

7. ASK ANOTHER QUESTION BASED ON WHAT’S ALREADY BEEN SAID. If the speaker runs out of gas, then and only then can you add your two cents to the conversation. OR, better yet, you can ask a follow-up question based on what has already been said. Talk about blowing a person away — you actually care enough to listen!

How many opportunities, that have been right under your nose, have you missed because you failed to take the opportunity to just listen to your customer, spouse, or teen? Too many! Always remember: Not listening equals money and love walking right out the front door of your business and home.

PRACTICING YOUR LISTENING SKILLS DAILY

Listening is one of the seven habits of highly effective communicators. Stephen Covey’s principles of, “First seek to understand, then to be understood!” or “Start with the end in mind!” ring true in my mind. Take a 60-second listening course today. It’s like taking a 60-second mental vacation which will help people talking with you feel more connected to you.

POSITIVE LISTENING RULES ON THE TWO-WAY COMMUNICATOR HIGHWAY

Listening is a little step that will seal a big deal right over the next hill on the communication road less traveled.

You build trusting relationships as you freely give the gift of active listening. It’s the same as making big deposits into the relationship savings account, from which you both can make withdrawals when times are tense. But you can’t improve your communicator car driving skills without practicing and engaging in a little coaching that’s directive and that focuses your positive intent, right?

There are two types of listeners and talkers with whom you should be intimately familiar, enabling you to walk the talk of: Positive listening rules on the two-way communication highway.

KNOW THY COMMUNICATOR TYPE OR THOU WON’T GET FAR

The steering wheels of E-types and I-types are on opposite sides of the car, as are the steering wheels on American and European cars. Do you know your communicator type and how your type prefers to listen and hear? If you don’t work with your communicator type, ignorance and making innocent but costly mistakes will ensure that your trip is cut short.

LISTENING CLIFF NOTES FOR EMPATHIZER AND INSTIGATOR COMMUNICATORS

Empathizer-type (E-types) communicators approach listening far differently than do their Instigator-type (I-types) communicator counterparts. Here are the Listening Cliff Notes for ways E- and I-types differ:

Type I: EMPATHIZERS. Won’t typically interrupt when someone’s talking, because it’s considered a sign of disrespect. E-types won’t jump in, interrupt, redirect, talk over, be pushy about a point, or say “no” without feeling guilty. Thus, much wisdom and knowledge of creative solutions to pesky problems lie dormant in their skulls. You can count on the fact that E-typers listen with “three ears.”

Type II: INSTIGATORS. Believe actively jumping into the flow of talk or interrupting is a sign of a passionate discussion and intelligent dialogue. I-types naturally and assertively put their ideas on the communicator table and easily influence people in conversation…or dominate in a debate. Thus, much focus of their innate leadership skills is “off the map” of what works best to solve emerging problems. I-typers listen with one ear — until trained to do otherwise.

You can take advantage of the strengths of both communicator types to net the biggest dividends for even your smallest feats of listening.

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS

E-types listen from the viewpoint of, “I’m supposed to help others!” while I-types listen from their viewpoint of, “I’m supposed to help myself!” Neither is right or wrong, better or worse off…just different strokes for different folks. But if you don’t know your communicator type, or you don’t “match” the communicator type of your customers, then you will run into trouble as sure as running an engine without the oil lubricant.

INTENTIONAL LISTENING: THE ONE MINUTE LISTENER

Perhaps my next book will be The One Minute Listener or Listen to Me, using my advanced communicator theory. I realize it’s a stretch to adopt the strengths of your opposite communicator type…it just goes against the grain of your communicator style! For example, Empathizers need to jump in and direct the traffic flow of talk, while instigators should enjoy being in the passenger seat, passively allowing someone else to drive the team communicator car for a while. Why listen with the positive intention to hear? Because it works wonders and profits everyone. You will never hear without utilizing your listening skills once you experience the positive results.

WHO IS COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT DENNIS E. O’GRADY, PSY.D.?

Dr. Dennis O’Grady is a Dayton region relationship coach, corporate trainer, and keynote speaker. Dr. O’Grady is a communications psychologist who leads Listen Up! workshops, which teach teams to listen better and become better communicators. These innovative workshops help doctors communicate better with patients, managers to communicate better with their employees, team members to build the spirit of Team Listen! and couples to find solutions to problems, opening up communication lanes on the two-way communicator highway. Dennis never tires of talking about the fine art of Talking to Listen, using his new talk technology. Dr. O’Grady is the developer of the powerful new person-driven and leadership communication system called Talk to Me© . The self-study form of his system is found in his latest book Talk to Me: Communication Moves To Get Along with Anyone available at drogrady.com or at Amazon. Get your roadmap to communication success today by consulting with Dennis O’Grady!