How to communicate - for impact, for connection, and with purpose - has gotten complicated in recent years. Communication expert Laura Fravel joins Modern Mentor for a conversation on how to do it well in a hybrid world.
Communication expert Laura Fravel joins Modern Mentor for a conversation on how to do it well in a hybrid world.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com.
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.leadabovenoise.com/
Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor. I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise—a firm specializing in helping teams and organizations craft powerful employee experiences, and deliver leadership development that activates change. And today, I’m excited to share with you a conversation I had recently with Laura Fravel - expert in executive branding and communication, for leaders wanting to amplify their voices and spark change.
Laura helps others crush their comfort zone – to elevate their voice with purpose – to create connection, influence and their version of ‘changing the world for good.’ She’s helped executives from Adidas and TechStars, Warner Brothers and more. Her background in media informs the work she does today.
Having turned seemingly ordinary people into extraordinary stories, for National Geographic and Netflix, to Amazon and The New York Times, she’s seen the true power one person’s story can have to spark and inspire change – to even change the world.
So let’s hear what Laura had to say.
So, we’ve all been communicating since the beginning of time. But what we haven’t really done before is navigate this gray space of remote and virtual and hybrid - it feels a little like changing the tires on a moving bus. What’s making workplace communication so complicated these days?
“At the core,” Laura began, “it's really about that connection and trust. How do you get someone to listen to you and really move them to action to have that influence? You can have amazing expertise and knowledge and skills, but if you're not connecting with someone, they're not gonna be as open to what you have to offer, how you can help. So how do we first build that connection and trust with people to then really be able to help them to use our skills to influence them?”
Laura’s acknowledging that great communication begins with connection and trust - frankly two of the most difficult things to build in a world where we often aren’t sharing physical spaces. We’re often reporting to or collaborating with people we’ve never met in person - have never seen off a screen.
So where do connection and trust come from?
We need to begin by understanding how expectations have changed - from how we show up to what we say, and more.
How have expectations around communication in the workplace changed in recent years?
“I kinda love what Covid [did to] communication in the business world,” she says as I nod vigorously in agreement! “Because I was always one who hated being in that box in the corporate world. I mean, traditionally…you're supposed to act a certain way and dress a certain way and use a certain biz language or you didn't feel like an expert. And I think it was already changing, but Covid just fast forwarded that movement. And I think there's a real opportunity. I think the younger generations…demand more authenticity, vulnerability, transparency. So I think in terms of communication, I think that's where our world has really changed. And that's where I think there's an opportunity to really show up more authentic nowadays, which is amazing, but really hard at the same time for people.”
OK. So, what are some tactical, tangible things we can do to amp up our authenticity to drive trust and connection?
In three words, Perspective, personality, and purpose.
Perspective is essentially about empathy. It’s about taking off your own hat, for a moment, and trying on the hat of the person (or people) with whom you’re trying to connect. What might be on their mind? What questions or concerns might they be carrying? What’s something you can offer that might be of value or service?
Personality is about bringing more of yourself into the workplace. This doesn’t mean oversharing or disregarding your own need for privacy. But if you were trying to truly connect rather than impress, what would you share about yourself? What experiences have you had - in or out of the workplace - that might make you just a smidge more relatable?
And purpose. As in - why are you bringing people together? What is your shared need or goal? Is it a work deliverable? A brainstorming? A team building experience? Bringing people together for a reason beyond “Hey it’s Tuesday, so we all need to be in the office” will set you off on the right path.
Laura and I covered a lot more ground in the full interview which you can listen to here.
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Laura. You can learn more about her and the work she does at https://laurafravel.com/
Join me next week for another great episode. Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com if your organization is looking to dial up its Employee Experience or deliver some leadership development that activates change. You can follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find and follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for listening and have a successful week.