If you find yourself experiencing any of the following:
Annoyance
Lethargy
Resentment
Frustration
…you may be starving for connection and feedback.
Sure, you’re having surface conversations; but you still can’t shake that disconnected feeling. Maybe your team and peers are even asking (begging?) you for feedback.
OK, pharmaceutical commercial jest aside…
People are starving for connection and feedback; yet so many of us are remaining disconnected because the discomfort of having hard conversations gets in the way.
No one likes to be uncomfortable – I get it. Sometimes it feels really uncomfortable to ask for connection in a real way; sometimes it feels really uncomfortable to have difficult conversations. But it also feels really uncomfortable to exist in this place of disconnection. Professionally, it’s a terrible indicator for creativity, work product, engagement and everything else you can think of! Personally, we are wired for connection and not feeling it has pretty worrisome health impacts.
Is having a hard conversation standing between you and connection? Are you choosing the familiar discomfort over the unfamiliar discomfort of having the hard conversation? There is discomfort no matter which path you choose; but what we often forget is that the discomfort of doing the hard thing also includes a payoff.
We can do hard things. (hat tip: Glennon Doyle)
What if, on the other side of that hard conversation was the connection you’re craving?
What if, giving your team difficult feedback actually made them more engaged and satisfied at work?
What if you remembered all of the hard conversations you’ve fumbled through in the past and reminded yourself that you can do it again?
When you’re starving for connection & feedback, every crumb is delicious – but you deserve more than the crumbs of surface-conversations. What hard conversations do you need to have to move past discomfort into connection?
