Be Real Before It's Too Late
Leonie Cutts
Letting someone know how you feel, how you really feel, is hard. In organisations, sometimes it’s not just hard, it’s impermissible.
What is the cost to you as an individual, and to your organisation of not having the hard conversations?
Do you know why your top employee suddenly resigned? Why the husband left? Why the teen ran away? Did you give them the time and the opportunity to be themselves and to speak their truth?
Ash Beckham, in her TED talk, speaks beautifully about the need to open up, be courageous and share your truth, even if it’s hard.
…a closet is a hard conversation, and although our topics may vary tremendously, the experience of being in and coming out of the closet is universal. It is scary, and we hate it, and it needs to be done.
Susan Scott, in ‘Fierce Conversations’ says we must ‘master the courage to interrogate reality’ and to ‘come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real’.
Sounds good in theory, but much, much harder to do in practice.
We have been fortunate over the years to witness courageous people sharing openly things that have pained them, unspoken truths or simply ‘the way we really do things around here’ truth that needs to be spoken in an organisation or to a boss.
Recently, Julia Krawitz, training manager at Queenslands PCYC, shared her experience of using the CCS:
The CCS cards have created a safer environment, allowing people to verbalise their reflections, using the cards as a protective ‘shield’ or place to talk from. This increases communication, enabling open and honest discussions, focusing on outcome required across numerous topic areas
Sometimes having the hard conversation can be made just a little bit easier by having a tool, a figurative ‘shield’ to help you get through sharing your important truth.
Whether it’s with the CCS, or some other mechanism, don’t waste time – share your reality. Be courageous and have the conversation, before it’s too late.
How are you having the real conversations?
