Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Opinions differ, people disagree, conflict happens.
I like seeing people resolve potentially flammable situations amicably. I like it when two people respect each other enough to work together on a resolution. And I don’t like it when disagreements spiral out of control.
Here is one behavior, that above all others, I think can throw an innocent discussion to the wolves:
The raised voice.
An empassioned discussion can lend itself to your raising your voice to be “heard.” That just doesn’t work. You’ve just taken the focus off your words and onto your volume, which can and will be heard as offensive. A raised voice changes the discussion the millisecond the decibel level grows.
Raising your voice shifts the focus from the message to the messenger.
Last week, I heard someone say, “No argument has ever been won by a raised voice.” Definitely food for thought…
Instead of raising your voice, raise the level of other things–
- Your respect for the other person
- Your desire to understand all sides of the discussion
- Your sincere desire for a resolution
Try it, and let us know how it works!
About Marsha Egan, CPCU, CSP, PCC, ICF-Certified CoachMarsha Egan, is CEO of the Egan Group, Inc., Nantucket MA and an internationally recognized professional speaker. She is a leading authority on email productivity. Her acclaimed ?12 Step Program for E-Mail E-ddiction? received international attention, being featured on ABC Nightly News, Fox News, and newspapers across the globe. In early 2009, the program was adapted into a book, Inbox Detox and the Habit of E-mail Excellence (Acanthus 2009 - http://InboxDetox.com/book) Marsha works with forward-thinking organizations that want to create a profit-rich and productive email culture. Marsha was named one of Pennsylvania?s Top 50 Women in Business in 2006.