Much can be avoided by observing boundaries.  

What?!

The term ‘Boundaries’ can be off-putting, as it suggests rules and barbed wire fences, but we have them and attend to them all the time.  Do you open someone else’s desk to look for a stapler?  Do you look at someone else’s email to check a meeting time?   Do you jump into an argument between others?

Or do you want someone telling you how to manage your teen-ager – or your brother reviewing your recent spending choices?  Or a team member correcting your report?

Boundaries.

The reasons boundaries cause trouble include:

• We don’t recognize what is ‘ours’
• We don’t know how to set them
• We aren’t sure if we should or can say what is okay with us or not
• We fear sounding bossy or uncooperative or unfriendly.

With a few (sort of simple) changes, we can learn to recognize, establish, define and ask for boundaries, and prevent a lot of annoyance.  And disaster.

Let us help you and your group get on those- you can Build Better Boundaries.

The post Courses You Want #2:  Build Better Boundaries appeared first on Language at Work.

A lexicon, or specialized vocabulary, personal and specific to you consists of the words you most frequently use. We each have our own. Many words appear in the lexicons of many people, of course, and people who spend a lot of time talking with each other often share parts of their lexicons.

Over time, and without supervision, lexicons can become rigid and stale and predictable such that some of us can speak whole paragraphs without actually thinking about what words we’re going to use. While this speaking-without-thinking may seem efficient, it actually can be dangerous. When is an absence of thinking a good thing?!

Priscilla says she bores herself – not with the things she has to say, but with the words she chooses to say them. She notices the same old descriptors and introducers appearing again and again. ‘Terrific, awesome, great, interesting, really nice’ – do these words apply to everything in my life, she wonders. And as she begins to listen to herself she notices that she uses similar phrases and fillers: presumably, and so forth, and everything else, makes me crazy, bottom line, don’t go there, really.

What will she do about this? She listens to herself more, which, interestingly, means that she is thinking more carefully about what she is saying – a bonus, perhaps? And she’s more alert to more creative ways to express herself, which means that she does more listening – another bonus?
While this may seem like a problem for someone who has no actual problems, doesn’t it sound intriquing?

If your lexicon could use a reno, let us know. We can work on it together!

For more information about our courses, please see: ..//courses/ and/or call us at 202-298-7700.

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