Who Needs to Hear What from Whom?

Conversations can be funny things.

Sometimes we need to have conversations so that we can hear something from someone else. Other times we need to have conversations so that someone else can hear something from us. And knowing which type of conversation to have when is key.

Here's the exercise:

1. Make a list of 3-5 people in your personal and/or professional world who you feel out-of-balance with. Decide whether the issue is you needing to hear something from them (information, acknowledgement, recognition, permission, etc.) or if it's something that they need to hear from you (information, acknowledgement, recognition, permission, etc.).
2. Have that (set of) conversation(s).

You may notice that the specific content to be discussed is quite possibly the exact same for either type of conversation. Nevertheless, they are conversations for entirely different purposes.

Knowing who needs to hear what from whom at any point in time is an important realization to keep top-of-mind.