When NOT to ask a question

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

Many of you know my Mom passed away a couple of months ago (I wrote about three trust lessons as a tribute), and some of you know she was actively dying over a two-week period. I learned an important lesson about asking questions during those two weeks. The lesson is applicable to a lot of different circumstances and relationships, including the comparatively more mundane everyday business interactions—particularly between consultant/advisor and client.

Indelible trust-building lessons from my mom (RIP)

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

Photo by Jessica Earle, 2005.

In my last tip about influencing a skeptical audience I promised more on that topic. Life events intervened in the meantime, so this week’s tip is dedicated to my dear mom who passed away on June 18 at the extraordinary age of 94. Here’s a recap of three prior tips that feature the things I’ve learned either from her, or through her, about relationship building.

A mind-bendy approach for your skeptical audience

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

I’ve been immersed in the topic of influencing a skeptical audience of late, thanks in large part to public webinar I led last week where I outlined three “simple” steps to doing that more effectively. (“Simple” is in quotes because simple doesn’t mean easy.) This week’s tip focuses on one of the two most mind-bendy steps.

How to Influence a Skeptical Audience in Three Simple Steps

How to Influence a Skeptical Audience in Three Simple Steps

May 11th, 2021
@11:00 AM EST

Being influential can be challenging in-and-of-itself; being influential with a skeptical audience poses its own unique difficulties. Engaging with people who seem dubious or doubtful in the face of your really good ideas can feel like being in a mental tug of war.
Andrea P. Howe, co-author of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook and Founder of The Get Real Project, will lead an interactive “deep dive” discussion on three critical steps required to help a skeptical audience hear what you have to say. Specifically, you’ll learn:

  •  Why you should actually celebrate that they’re resistant;
  • How to open the conversation or presentation in an unexpected way that’s unexpectedly effective;
  • Specific techniques to listen masterfully while your audience has their guard up; and
  • How and when to bring your perspectives into the exchange.

Register now

A celebratory recap (con’t): four personal favorites

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

The celebration of my recent 300thWeekly-ish Tip continues a little longer. Last time I shared seven “fan favorites”; this time I offer a recap of my own personal favorites.

I started with a list of 25 or so in a few different categories: my favorite rants, my favorite explorations of trust paradoxes, my favorite reflections on trusted advisor mastery as personal mastery. In the end, I chose to feature four favorites in the category of “humorous and/or clever but also poignant.” (Which also happens to be my favorite movie formula, but I digress.)

A powerful combo to get unstuck: slack + support

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

This is my second tip in as many weeks, following a choppy cadence for a year, and I am 10 times more confident than I have been in months that a more consistent future lies ahead. Reflecting on what’s different, I’ve uncovered a combination of enablers that are worth sharing for anyone aiming to create any kind of personal change—including the kind of change required to walk the talk of trusted advisorship.

How to stay in touch without completely burning out

This post is part of our Monthly-ish Tips series.

I got an email from a client-turned-colleague-now-also-friend not long ago. It was a spontaneous reach-out and she really nailed it in terms of balancing competing priorities, like how to stay in touch in a genuine and meaningful way without inflicting more video call fatigue—or just plain fatigue—on either of us.

I’ll call her “PJ.” Here’s what PJ wrote: