Improve Communication

In the film 'Freaky Friday', a mother and teenage daughter exchange bodies. It's a hilarious comedy where they both get to experience what it's like to be the other person and in their situation.

As I was watching this film it reminded me of how powerful it is having the opportunity to understand other people. We have this opportunity in our lives every day and yet how many of us take up the opportunity. We don't need to be quite as extreme as exchanging bodies, but we can step into other peoples' shoes, metaphorically speaking.

Stepping into other people's shoes enables great communication to take place, even under difficult circumstances. Many of the problems we experience on a daily basis are due to either a lack of, or poor communication. One of the best ways to improve communication and break down any barriers is to understand other people.

Once we truly consider things from others perspectives and understand what inspires them, their beliefs and fears etc, interpersonal relationships improve dramatically. These relationships include:
· Intimate relationship with spouse or partner
· Parent and child
· Co-workers
· Managers and team
· Peers
· Clients and potential clients.

With all these situations and many more, stepping into their shoes and learning what it's like for them is a great opportunity for you to grow personally and benefit from powerful communication.

So, how do you step into their shoes?

The first step is having the awareness that you can do this and regularly stopping yourself enough to enable this to happen. So, instead of just jumping ahead with any communication, whether written or verbal, I invite you to stop and consider what's it's like in the other persons shoes. If appropriate, you may choose to spend some time gaining a better understanding of them by asking some questions and listening to their responses fully.

All it takes is this simple step and for you to let go of things such as your ideas, perspectives and thoughts, being the only right ones. However, these steps may cause fear to raise it's ugly head. As with any fear, the only way forward is to face it and that means keep practicing stepping into other shoes.

The more you practice stepping into other peoples' shoes, the more you'll experience the results and benefits. This encourages and inspires you to do it even more. I invite you today to take that first step into someone else's shoes.

About the Author
Wendy Hearn, Coach She works with business owners, professionals and executives to discover and unlock their own inspiration, to effortlessly take the actions required to have the success they desire. To receive Wendy's free newsletter, send an email to: newsletter@wendyhearn.par32.com www.Business-Personal-Coaching.com
Copyright 2003, Wendy Hearn. All rights reserved.