Workplace Communication Tip -- Week 2

Use Your Training Wheels

Are you ambitious? Have you found yourself impatient to fully incorporate your new NVC skills into your workplace communication so you can start seeing results?

Learning to ingrain the basic distinctions of NVC at a deep level requires a reprogramming of our thinking so we can act out of an intention that is in better alignment with our values. Simply put, it takes time and practice.

Using what is called the NVC training wheels sentence helps us begin to ingrain the four basic distinctions of NVC, each of which is imbedded in the training wheels sentence.

The four basic distinctions of NVC and the Training Wheels Sentence:
(1) Observations — “When I hear …,”
(2) Feelings — “I feel …,”
(3) Needs — “because I need …”
(4) Requests — “Would you be wiling to …?”

“I’ve found that people who skip this stage take longer to really embody the perspective-altering potential of NVC, if they ever do,” says Ike Lasater. “Practicing the training wheels sentence is the only way I have found to get these basic distinctions at a deep level.”

Instead of skipping past the training wheels, embrace them as a critical and necessary part of reaching the future results you seek.

Mindful Practice for the Week

This week, keep the training wheels sentence at hand: “When I hear/see … I feel … because I need … Would you be willing to …” Use it at least once a day to reflect on an interaction you had. Notice how it connects you to the four distinctions of NVC.