Business Leaders Offer Insights and Strategies for Effective Communication

Five BCW members shared insights and offered practical ideas on choosing words with confidence, authenticity, and mindfulness at Wednesday’s Tompkins Community Bank Power Breakfast Beyond Words: Impactful Communication and Navigating Conversations.

Moderator Heidi Davidson, co-founder of Galvanize Worldwide, led the panel and she spoke with Kelly Keck, co-owner and a NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor at the Pleasantville Wellness Group; Moish Peltz, a partner at Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP; Jamie Schutzer, chair of the BCW’s board of directors and a senior partner at JDM Benefits, an Alera Group company; and Patricia Stark, president of Patricia Stark Communications.

Davidson began the event by emphasizing the need for active listening and navigating every day and difficult conversations with clarity, respect, and empathy. She also stressed the importance of multigenerational communication.

“We have learned—and we’re focusing on this with the Business Council—a lot about multi-generational communication and how each generation receives information, asks for feedback, and what their expectations are,” said Davidson.

Keck described how she navigated a difficult conversation with a former boss a former boss about what she needed to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Before the meeting, she wrote a list of talking points and brought them to the meeting.

“As some people might feel, it gets emotional to have a conversation that feels frustrating, scary, or worrisome. You want to make sure that you hit all your points,” said Keck, advising attendees to not focus on suppressing emotions. “You have to lean into it, because fighting the emotion is going to mean that you’re not having the kind of conversation you need to have…. If you need a break (from the conversation) ask for some time.”

Peltz said that the key to fighting self-doubt when walking into a meeting or a networking event is repetition.

“You just do it, and it might be scary, and it might go badly, but you get back on the horse and you do it again,” said Peltz, who also relies on colleagues for feedback. “You talk through it: I have this thing coming up. I’m intimidated. I’m concerned about this, or I just went through this thing, and it did not go well. How could I do better next time?”

Schutzer has navigated difficult conversations with help from the book “The Collaborative Way: A story about engaging the mind and spirit of a company.” Schutzer said two of the book’s guiding principles—speaking straight and listening generously—have helped him address conflicts in his organization.

“Everyone internally knows that this conversation is going to go in a direction that you may not be so happy about but what it also does is really tear down the walls of this is going to be an uncomfortable conversation, but then you feel kind of liberated that you could say whatever you want,” said Schutzer, adding that active listening is critical to successful conversations. “If they don’t think they’re being heard and you’re listening, then the conversation is irrelevant.”

Stark discussed social intelligence as a pillar of effective communication, along with mindfully focusing on others when attending events or meetings.

“It’s the intelligence of being able to read a room, of getting the sense from nonverbal cues, feeling the energy and knowing maybe the ways that you can switch that and influence that,” said Stark, who recommended Daniel Goleman’s book “Social Intelligence.”  “It really does open up your eyes more to how you can be other-focused and not so self-focused.”

The event concluded with questions and attendees sharing their communications best practices. The next BCW event is the October 10 State of the Economy—Focus on Westchester’s Most Transformational Projects. Click here to register.