
It's a noisy world out there.
It's a noisy world out there.
Welcome to The Latimer Blog.
Twice a week, The Latimer Group’s experienced facilitators deliver clear, succinct, and actionable lessons about business communication to tens of thousands of readers worldwide. These are real-world observations from our team, underpinned by working with over 25,000 participants since 2000.
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The Flag on My Front Porch
I love the quiet of the early mornings. One of my favorite things to do is wake up early, pour a cup of hot coffee, sit in a rocking chair on our front porch and just
Solving for Time
We have been having the same conversation over and over lately, with many different client companies. Many of our clients are looking closely into
Three Foundational Mindsets
Great communication requires a full toolbox of strong communication skills. And my colleagues and I can (and do) talk about such skills with our clients every day. But before we can fill up your toolbox with strong skills, we first need to lay the foundation of strong mindsets
Help Your Team Help You
We do an enormous amount of writing here about how to prepare well, and not waste other people’s time… especially if that person is your boss. We all know how important it is to be able to communicate well to people above you on the org chart. But let’s flip that around for a moment.
Use Your Voice to Help Others Find Theirs
Before you start your day, take a moment and walk with me… a quick, figurative one. I know you are busy and you have a lot to do today. Just a few minutes, is all I ask.
The Balancing Act of Leadership Communication
A great leader will find a balance between her or his own priorities, and the needs of the team. A great leader will have a range of styles and behaviors from which to draw depending on the situation. Here are some of things to strive for when leading and communicating with your team
Leadership Agility and The Evolving Organization
Every organization is a dynamic organism, in a constant state of evolution… sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting, sometimes getting stronger, sometimes weaker. What an organization needs at any given moment is likely to
Good Internal Communication Leads to Good External Communication
My colleagues and I coach people on their communication skills for a living… all day, every day, for the last 21+ years. And one of our biggest lessons learned over these last two decades is this:
Don’t Be a Static Leader
People are constantly evolving. As we grow, get older, and experience new things, the sum total of who we are is constantly changing. We are not the same people we were a year ago, two years ago, ten years ago. Because every experience,
Leadership and Followership: Both Matter
No one, and I mean NO ONE, leads ALL the time. At some point, we all need to know how to follow. And following is not a bad thing.
Leadership Must Be More Than Platitudes
Your people will follow you for one of two reasons: because they want to, or because they have no choice. One of those is better than the other. How will you choose to show up?
Organizational Blood Flow
We now live in an “information overload” environment. We have too much information, and it flows at us in overwhelming ways.
In this sort of an environment, the best organizations need to be very clear about what information is most important to their success, and then make sure that it is flowing in the healthiest ways possible.
Assess Your “Degree of Difficulty”
There are lots of ways to think about persuasion. And our team always advocates an approach that is based on preparation and a thorough understanding of the audience. But there’s one fundamental and additional element that can never be forgotten.
Simple Advice: Bring Positivity, Every Day
Keeping your energy level up all the time is hard. We all get tired. We all get frustrated. We all get sick of our work/colleagues/friends/selves. And when we are any of these things,
“Changing” Gen Z Starts with Us
We hear many of our senior executive clients say, over and over, that their Gen Z employees are lacking certain critical communication skills that are required for business success. We get asked all the time to help bridge this gap,
Early Career Professionals: Need Approval? Be Ready with Answers to These 8 Questions
In our communication workshops, we work with clients from many countries, across several continents, and of course, in varying age groups, from just-out-of-college Gen Z’ers to Millennials to Gen X’ers to late Baby-Boomers.
The Distinction Between Influence and Authority
There are two ways we can get people to do what we want or need them to do: because we have influence over them, or because we have authority over them. We can have influence without authority, and we can have authority without influence.
The Power of Your Leadership Voice
Leaders, mentors and people with positions of authority have enormous power in many, many ways. But today our topic is not about the power to make decisions, or set rules or regulations, or run the P&L. No… today our topic is the power to impact the way people around that leader see themselves. Because the
Leaders: You Are Allowed to Be “In Development”
I spend a lot of my time coaching business leaders, emerging and established ones, on their leadership and communication skills. And the best versions of these conversations occur when the leader is willing to make themselves
Your Presence is The Sum Total of You
There is a mindset I hear people articulate from time to time… and that mindset is that your presence is primarily created by the way you look and carry yourself. I heard this again recently