Each month, I have the privilege of engaging in wide-ranging conversations with ambitious professionals - bankers, attorneys, physicians, start-up founders, non-profit executives, and small business owners.

Each week, I take a front row seat to their busy schedules, their remarkably complex responsibilities, their tenuous relationships, and their bold visions.

So I know how noisy and exhausting a single workday can be…

And I also know how much you long to feel seen, heard, understood, and respected by your colleagues, clients, or customers…because we all do!

Fortunately, there are some simple communication change you can make to build stronger bonds and gain your advantage in the new “relationship economy.”

You can have more ‘super’ conversations - the kind of dialogues that are practical, emotional, and socially advantageous.

The kind of dialogues that generative AI can’t quite replace!

CONVERSE AT MORE THAN ONE LEVEL

According to the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, Charles Duhigg, the new world of work is challenging us all to become supercommunicators.

Supercommunicators are not smarter or more disciplined than anyone else. They are simply willing to converse at more than one level.

Duhigg explains there are actually three different levels of conversations going on at any one time: practical, emotional, and social.

Practical conversations

These are surface-level, problem-solving conversations. They are extremely common in the workplace, to exchange information and risk in order to minimize or fix problems…but often overlook emotional data that could reinforce (or undermine) your relationships.

Emotional Conversations

These are deeper-level, bonding conversations, to exchange conscious (and subconscious) wishes, needs, and fears, and are historically less common in the American workplace. They help you surface tons of valuable emotional data…but do not necessarily yield immediate resolutions or results.

Social Conversations

These are aspirational, identity-generating conversations to position your self, your solutions, or your relationships within some greater social context, such as your team, division, organization, or industry.

SUPERCOMMUNICATORS PRIORITIZE CONGRUENCE

What supercommunicators do that's especially ‘super’ is prioritize congruence in their conversations.

They tune in deeply - with matched breath and eye contact - to engage at the same level as their conversation partners, even when those levels change and even when it’s hard.

Supercommunicators understand that the most socially-advantageous thing to do is help someone feel heard and understood, and by building stronger conversational bonds they help themselves 9and others!) feel like they are part of something greater.

But supercommunicators don’t stop there…

They also set themselves up for success by starting every conversation at the learning level, by asking simple questions like:

What’s been on your mind lately?
What’s that felt like?
What’s most important right?
How can I show up for you?

Simple questions like these can transform a single workday for someone, and they have the power to strengthen every single one of your professional relationships!