"The most important thing I learned in Lil's class is that talking is easy, communicating is hard. And you can’t fake it. Trust me. I’ve tried. Now I know what you’re all thinking: what a great-looking and confident guy. I wish I was him. And it’s true: I’ve always been a pretty confident guy. But I learned that being confident, and communicating confidence, are two very different things. To be confident, all you have to do is believe in yourself. Easy. To communicate confidence, you have to get your audience to believe in you. That’s a little harder. The only way to communicate confidence is to be authentic. To be real. Steve Jobs makes it look effortless. But what this course has taught me is that being real in front of a roomful of people takes a lot of practice. And you will never get a better chance to practice than in CSC 290."
"I was the nursing educator in an LTC residence. The most senior nurse was always pleasant to me, but when I asked her to do something, she often did not respond. Sometimes she followed through, sometimes not. If I sent her an email, it was not acknowledged. One day there was a problem which required some immediate investigation. She did nothing, so I investigated the problem, and thenordered her to do a physical assessment of the resident. She did the assessment, but not until hours later. The manager wanted to discipline her. I asked the manager to hold off and to let me tackle the situation. I decided that this woman would not want to talk with me face to face – that would be too confrontational. I emailed her. I reviewed what had happened from my perspective and then I applied a technique I had learned in Lil’sCommunicating Nondefensively workshop -- I put myself in her shoes and tried to imagine how she saw the situation: “I wonder if you felt that I did not acknowledge your experience and knowledge. Here I come in, a new person, and I am telling you what to do. It must have felt as if I had no respect for your many years here. Is that it? I would like to apologize right now for that. I think you are a good nurse." (I supplied some examples of good work I had witnessed.) "I also think you care about our residents." (More examples.) "I need to learn from you if I am to do a good job.” It seemed to work – she thawed and became more responsive. Wendy MacDougall, BScN, Nurse Educator.