Good day all!

Today’s excerpt from the book, Crucial Conversations – Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High, focuses on the importance of information sharing for successful conversations.
As you read this, think about how you can use this to impact your crucial conversations.

At the core of every successful conversation lies the free flow of relevant information. People openly and honestly express their opinions, share their feelings, and articulate their theories.
They willingly and capably share their views, even when their ideas are controversial or unpopular.

Each of us enters conversations with our own opinions, feelings, theories, and experiences about the topic at hand.
This unique combination of thoughts and feelings makes up our personal pool of meaning.
This pool, not only informs us, but also propels our every action.

When two or more of us, enter crucial conversations, by definition, we don’t share the same pool.
Our opinions differ.
I believe one thing; you another.
I have one history; you another.

People who are skilled at dialogue do their best to make it safe for everyone to add their meaning to the shared pool.
As the Pool of Shared Meaning grows, it helps people in two ways.
First, as individuals are exposed to more accurate and relevant information, they make better choices.
Not only does a shared pool, help individuals make better choices, but since the meaning is shared, people willingly act on whatever decisions they make – with both unity and conviction.

The time you spend upfront, establishing a shared pool of meaning is more than paid for by faster, more unified, and more committed action later on.

~Evolution of Self
#crucialconversations #sharedmeaning #dialogue #fridayfocus