Impactful Conversations

Think about people you have met in the past, especially the ones who stood out for you. What did they say to you that made an impact in your life? Often, it is just a remark – a brief conversation where you felt that someone cared about you or they got you to think about something in a different way.

Remember that feeling?

As a leader, you have the opportunity to do this on a day-to-day basis. In fact, leadership is an on-going conversation. It is an opportunity for you to make a positive impact in someone else’s life.

Schedule time in your diary to have frequent short conversations with your team members. It doesn’t need to be a formal process. Think of it as a coach, talking to his players. You only need 2-3 minutes and you will be surprised how much you can cover in such a short time. Think about it – would you prefer to have an hour or two with your boss every 3 months, or would you prefer to have more frequent short 2-3 minute conversations with him/her?

This is what happens in most companies; people just don’t have the time to schedule these long catch up sessions.

The good thing about short conversations is that it gives your team members more frequent contact with you. It also helps you to shape your team members performance incrementally over time.

It doesn’t all have to be covered in one conversation – most people will not remember the whole conversation in any case. In the fast paced and instant world we live in, finding short pockets of time to have conversations about what’s working and how someone is doing humanizes the workplace and can certainly improve the impact you have others.