Collins: Communication is a team sport. If you were to capture the best communication advice you ever received as a five to seven word presentation slide title, what would it be? "It reminds me that we're in this together and I have to be more expansive," Collins says.
Being a better listener has a lot to do with silence, says Collins Dobbs, a lecturer in management at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “A lot of people are uncomfortable with the smallest modicum of silence, but learning often happens when we create distance for useful reflection.”
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Dobbs talks with host Matt Abrahams about the importance of “space, pace, and grace” when you’re receiving others’ feedback and handling the emotions that come out during tough discussions.
“There’s often a lot more focus on the skill set on delivering emotion than receiving emotion, but if the receiver of emotion can put themselves in a place of curiosity, agency, and openness … it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.”
Dobbs is an executive coach and teaches several courses, including Interpersonal Dynamics and Leadership Labs.
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