Hello, I'm Michael Kithcart, creator of the Wynning Your Way framework and high-performance coach to sales leaders. Welcome to the Champions of RISK podcast where we examine the many aspects of risks so that we can all face uncertainty with more courage, confidence, and humor together and after today, good communication. That is what's gonna happen, because look, we spend a lot of time communicating with each other, right? I mean, with words with our body language, with emojis, the tone of our voice, our hand gestures, we have found lots of different creative ways to communicate with one another through COVID, right? But, you know, we also communicate the way we don't say things, information that we leave out, or maybe even dramatic pauses, and how in the world do we even know if we're communicating well? That's, that's a big question. And the best way to answer that is to bring in a professional. And that's right, I've enlisted the help of a communications expert to help us better understand not only the importance of strong communication but also how we can get better at it. So please welcome Dr. Amelia Reigstad, PhD, she is a passionate change agent, corporate trainer, and coach with a passion for helping others. She consults and educates business professionals on the importance of understanding effective communication in the workplace, and how this leads to employee engagement, organizational improvements, and increased productivity. As the founder of the Women Empowerment series, she inspires and encourages women to use their voices to initiate change. Yes, championing that, Amelia, welcome to the Champions of RISK podcast.

Thank you so much for having me, I'm excited to be here.

This is just it's gonna be such a useful conversation, I already know that I'm going to learn so much as well, our listeners. So help me understand, how does one decide that they want to get good at communication? How did you get to this point?

Ah, that's a great question to kick it off. How did I get into communication? You know, it's, it's funny. So you know, offline, we're just chatting. I'm originally from Vancouver, Canada. And I've lived in the US for about nine years now. But I always had this desire to be an English teacher, a high school English teacher, I was involved in, you know, my school and communication and such. And I always had a passion for talking. Go figure. So, however, didn't end up going in that route. And all of my background is in public relations and communication. So I dabbled, in that I worked on the corporate side, I had my little PR agency back in Vancouver. And then I kind of came full circle and realize that okay, well, I don't want to be a high school English teacher, but I want to be able to educate. So I ended up spending the last 15 years as a university professor, teaching strategic communications.

Cool. I love strategic communications. I have a question about the English teacher's desire. So are you talking like you wanted to be an English Lit teacher? Or did you want to help us diagram sentences?

A little bit of both?

Oh!

Yeah, I just I love writing. I still love writing. Yeah, just the communication, and reading. You know, I've always I've had a book in my hand since I was really little, I'd be that kid that took herself off to bed because I wanted to read. So I've always had this interest in English and reading and writing. And so half, there you go communications.

Okay, I love it. What is strategic communications mean?

Well, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about communication, and especially from a public relations, corporate communications perspective. A lot of times people might not think that there is a strategy that goes into it. So it's not just about writing. It's not just about reading. There's this strategic element to communication, there's this planning behind what we do what we say, you know, all those advertising campaigns, you see, or public relations campaigns. I mean, there's a strategic element to that. Right, there's planning that goes into it. So that's what it means.

Okay. And when with all this experience that you have, what would you say causes communication to break down?

Conflict and misunderstanding? Hmm, good. Those are juicy ones. Say more. Right? So, conflict and misunderstanding, but I am truly such a proponent of everybody understanding their communication style. So how does, how does Michael communicate? Right How does Amelia communicate, so it is building an agenda Standing up not only our communication styles but also the styles of the people that we interact with on a day-to-day basis. Right? And if we can have that understanding that does help to mitigate conflict and miscommunication.

Okay, that makes sense. So as a strength coach, you know, we use Strengths Finders in organizations to help create a language so that there's some common thread there. Every business organization has its language of sorts, right? Whether it's acronym heavy, or, you know, whatever, just words that mean things inside the businesses, how do you help people identify what their communication style is like in a way that can be useful throughout an organization?

So there are plenty of different assessments out there. So and Strength Finders is one of them disc assessment, Myers Briggs, and they are all wonderful tools, and they have their purpose in organizations. What those particular assessments look at, though, they're more so aligned with our personality traits, which tend to be fixed characteristics, it's really hard to change our personalities. So there's a communication styles assessment that I use called the Straight Talk. And it is from an amazing gentleman out of Sacramento, Eric Douglas, there's a book that goes along with that. And it's all about determining our specific communication style. So his research was all about, you know, we view the world differently, we see things differently as individuals. So if we're viewing the world differently, we're likely then communicating differently. So this assessment takes us through a series of questions much like many of the other assessments do, and it places you on a communication matrix. So your primary styles are either a director and expression or a harmonizer, and a thinker. And then it takes your two highest scores and then positions you on this matrix that helps you delve into your particular style even further. So that's a tool that I typically use because it's focused really on helping you build an understanding of how you communicate, you know, where are your areas of improvement? And then what's it such a wonderful tool, because it's, it then places you on this matrix, and you can invite team members to take it as well, which then plugs them on the matrix, and kind of starts again, building that understanding of how you can communicate more effectively with that person?

Yes, that makes perfect sense. Because then once you know that, and as a leader, and you think about all the different styles that you have on your team, right, then if you can adjust your communication style to fit better for the individual team members so that you can get further faster. So you can increase, that level of engagement, productivity outcomes, that kind of thing,

You know, so for me, I have a high expression score, followed by a director score. So a sort of, you know, leadership qualities; my low scores are a thinker and a harmonizer. So thinkers are quite analytic. Math, like, that's not my go-to at all. So for me, if I look at that read, if I'm interacting with somebody that aligns more as a thinker, and if I'm not modifying my style, you know, to communicate effectively with him or her, that could potentially cause some problems, because there are some significant differences in the way that we communicate.

Yes.

You can imagine that a whole organization, right? I mean, with all these different styles, and it's just, it's just so important to build an understanding.

Yes, it is. And so you said the two things that break down communication, right, are conflict in misunderstanding. So how much in your work? Do you teach people how to ask better questions?

Yeah, you know, what, I just did a workshop where I guided, you know, this organization through some client issues, and it was all about being able to ask better questions, right to try to get them in communication. There's, there's a couple of things. I mean, two-way dialogue is incredibly important. conversations were never meant to be one-sided, right? If you think about a volleyball game or a tennis match, you know, volleying that ball back and forth. I mean, that's a conversation. And sometimes we get trapped in just sitting there and listening. And active listening is a whole other important aspect of effective communication. But if we don't ask the right questions, or even just simply asked for clarity, that's when that communication breakdown starts to happen because we don't understand. Okay, we're not necessarily understanding what's being communicated to us. So you know, I agree. I mean, being able to ask questions for more information or ask for somebody to repeat something or, or more clarity to help mitigate that potential conflict is really important.

Yes. Because and the more we do it, don't you, I mean, I'll just say from my own experience, I started to realize how much assuming goes on in the absence of asking the clarifying questions.

Absolutely. Assumptions become an issue, for sure.

Yes. And so as since we're all human beings. What do we collectively get wrong about communication?

We think that we can communicate and we can't. Or like everybody thinks that they're good communicators. And that's not necessarily the case. I mean, there's, when we talk about effective communication or effective communication in the workplace, I find that it's so critical for, you know, organizations first to recognize how important effective communication is in the workplace. And that's step one. But then step two is, you know, how are you going to create this culture of effective communication, right, like, you need to put those steps in place to do something about it.

Right.

So whether it's doing these communication style assessments, you know, whether it's hiring somebody to come in and do training with your organization, recognizing it, but then doing something about it is important. You know, a few other things that we generally get wrong is listening. So I just mentioned that paying attention to how we actively listen, is so critical. And I'm sure many of the listeners, you know, right now, you know, you've got these words on the tip of your tongue when you're in a conversation, and you're just waiting to spit that out, right? However, we should be listening to understand not to reply.

Yes.

And I don't it myself included, everybody could do a better job of listening. I feel, you know, and there's a lot of research out there that, you know, talks a lot about active listening, our tone of voice is really important. Right, 10% of is about differences of opinion, and 90% is the tone of voice for us. Like in conflict, that's significant. Only 10% is about a difference of opinion. But 90% of conflict is due to the tone of voice that we use. Right? So it's just those things to pay attention to. And I always, you know, when I'm running some of my workshops, I'm trying to encourage folks to just realize that it does take some work, right, as it takes us to think about how we can improve our communication.

Yes.

And it's not something that just comes to fruition, right? Like, sometimes we have to work at certain things to improve and communication is no different.

Yes. How important do you think it is to have a culture of open and constant feedback?

I think is critical. Critical. And that kind of goes again, to that two-way, communication, that two-way, dialogue? You know, it's great. I mean, so that can even consider, let me backtrack a little bit, you know, one of those common communication challenges is about feedback because it can be challenging to give that feedback. And it can also be challenging to receive it right, depending on how it's communicated to you what else is going on in your day-to-day, but then being able to, again, ask those questions, and be able to, you know, I truly believe in all of us being able to be our authentic selves when we communicate. So if we're in one of those situations, where we're, you know, being provided with feedback, we should be able to be authentic and be able to be comfortable enough to, you know, question it, if we don't necessarily agree, or ask why or, you know, how can I, in turn, get better at something, right, you know, being able to, like, be transparent in our conversations, even if we're in those tough positions. I mean, it does involve us being vulnerable, as well.

One the I'll, I'll share two things, that about my communication style that I had to work on that I received feedback on as a leader and the, I mean, the higher you go up in your leadership roles to like, understanding the weight of your words, and your delivery is so critical because you think that you're just being yourself. So to your point about just going ahead and being authentic, and yet having to put that in context to the role that you have and the responsibility that you have to others is important. I tend to have a very direct style and tone was has always been a thing that I've had to be aware of. And I wasn't and it wasn't necessary, it wasn't intentional, but I had to get feedback on how it was received and how it came across. Not my intention at all. But it took me a while to learn that my tone carried so much weight because I had my grip, my grandfather's gift for being very direct. And the other piece that I used to do when I would facilitate is I would snap, I would snap and point, okay, sometimes I still point. But man, people had to say like, that's offensive like that, don't be directing me through that type of thing. So those are just like communication styles that I had to be in that environment to get that feedback that helped me but,

Also, you know, so going off of that with you snapping and pointing, that is likely part of your linguistic style. And you likely learned that at a very young age, 2, 3, 4 years of age, literally playing on the playground. So linguistic styles, we learn that young. And so for me, like I'm sitting here, right now, we're on a Zoom call, and I can see my hands moving. I use my hands a lot when I communicate and hand gestures are also part of a linguistic style. And it sticks with you, as well. So, I mean, it's something to be cognizant of, but I wouldn't I would say necessarily to you. That's unnecessarily negative.

Hmm. Well, where were you when people were telling me to stop doing that, Amelia?

I know. But the thing is, everybody has their opinions, too, because I just did an online session last week, and they sent feedback from the speakers. And some of the feedback was, you know, that person needs to, you know, learn how to control her hands because it was distracting. Okay, I mean, everybody has their opinion, you can't please everybody, but I use my hands a lot when I speak, so be it.

Yes, yes. Which translates differently, right between if we're looking at it through a screen? Or if you're on a big stage? Right?

Absolutely.

That piece? Okay, one of the things I wanted to address because for talking about effective communication in the workplace, in particular, is that from a coaching standpoint, right, a lot of times, I'll work with leaders on important conversations, where something needs to be addressed to the organization, or they're having a tough conversation with somebody and framing that right. But talk about how important daily communication is because people tend to plan for the big ones. But that daily interaction is so critical and so how do you help organizations get better overall?

Well, I think that's where it goes back to you asking that question of what strategic communications right, so strategy, that planning component, you know, proactively planning our communication. And it's not so much that we're, you know, planning every conversation that we need to have, however, especially if it's leaders for a larger organization, you know, having some kind of plan in place that kind of showcases what needs to be communicated and when. Right, maybe it's you're having, you know, monthly fireside chats, right, so your employees know that the third Wednesday of every month between, you know, 10 and 11, you're available for them. Right, that's part of your strategic communication. Your employees know that you know, it's a little bit trickier now, especially as we are returning to the workplace, whether it's hybrid remote, what does that look like for organizations I hope that organizations are putting some kind of plan in place to facilitate all those modalities, but it becomes important. I'm just, you know, recognizing again, how important effective communication is. And like I said, make it a part of your day-to-day checking in with employees. But again, also knowing how they communicate, how they receive information, or how they best receive information? Not everybody does well, via Zoom. Not everybody does well, via email. Sometimes you have to pick up the phone. And you know, really just building an understanding of your employees and how they best communicate.

Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, you are working with a lot of organizations now as there, we've now led into this new era, this post-COVID hybrid, as you mentioned, on that, so how do leaders need to communicate differently given the different type of work environment people are in?

So, I believe that, of course, you know, having some kind of plan in place, I know that organizations are thinking about it, because they have to, you know, when COVID hit, we all just went, Oh my gosh, right. And we just had to adapt and figure it out as we went along. But now organizations, you know, we've been at this for 18 months, we can start to give a thought of how we're going to return to the workplace of that is what's going to happen, but, you know, again, putting that plan into place, giving thought to again, how, how you're going to communicate over those different modalities, I use the example of you know, what if you have your monthly team meeting, but your organization is on a hybrid schedule, and now you've got, you know, your monthly meeting, where you've got everybody together, it's a time for the employees to be engaged, you know, great announcements could be made, celebrations can happen, but you got to have staff at home. Right, like, there's gonna have to be some thinking that goes into those types of situations, you know, business meeting admin, how are you going to do that when half the team's online and half is at home? So every organization is different. And I just feel that people are going to have to adapt and give some thought to how are we all going to communicate. It's such an important part of the organization?

Yes. What does it mean to be a compassionate communicator?

Empathy. Being an empathetic communicator, being an empathetic listener, right, I think that goes back to how significant listening is, right? And I think, too, you know, it's we don't know what everybody is going through on a day-to-day basis. And certainly, that was one thing that I learned during COVID. I mean, we had kids running through the house, we had pets at home, I was sharing an office with my spouse, like, there are all sorts of things that happened over the last 18 months. And we can't just assume, right, it goes back to those assumptions, that everybody is on the same page. But I think that also goes towards, you know, being able to be your authentic self and situations. And if you're having a crummy day, because something happened, you have the ability to go into your office or talk to your manager, say, Hey, you know, what I'm going to check out today, you know, know that you know, I'm just gonna kind of be silent during this meeting, I'm here I'm listening. But you know, I've got some stuff going on at home, and I just really need to put my head down and get some work done. And being okay, and being comfortable enough to say that, and that hopefully, that response is as compassionate.

Yes. Do- on some level, could that maybe be one of the best things that's come out of COVID? Because it's always been humans that showed up for work, right? But is the likelihood that we shared those human elements?

Yeah,

It was kind of rare, depending on the environment. You were in, right? But now, it like, normalized it on some level. And so how do we make sure that doesn't go away?

Right. And I don't know if I have the answer to that. I don't know if we can, I think as much as it. You know, we had to get used to COVID and work, from working from home and just everybody's lives changed drastically without any prep. Like, it's like, there was a place Oh, hello, global pandemic. But now, it's like, how do we adjust? Going back? You know, even you know, from that communication perspective, I mean, and I have worked in communications for 20 years now, and I'm still struggling with, like, you and I read a networking event last week. I don't know if I was 100%. comfortable in that environment. And I've always been able to network. Right, but I was kind of like, Oh, this table too close. Oh, too close to this person. Like, it's just weird. And we have to readjust. And I think everybody needs to give everybody grace. You know, as we start to transition back into whatever I mean, it's kind of this cliche statement of whatever our new normal will be. But it is going to be our new normal, right? Things aren't going to be completely the same.

Right. Right. And what we all are out of practice. Yeah, some aspects of our life. What would you agree? I think we were having a lot of those conversations, even if they were just like girlfriends, conversations on the other piece, and curious because I think communication gets impacted by this, just like we shut down, all of a sudden we opened up. And then people's, like social calendars have filled up for the first time in 18 months, right? People are exhausted. It was exhausting being on Zoom all the time, now it's exhausting being with-

Yeah. And I think too, and that's what is interesting too, because, you know, I from it again, from a communication perspective. And now maybe it's just me being lazy, and I can be authentic and admit that. But it's a heck of a lot easier to hop on a Zoom call to have a meeting with somebody than it is to drive 45 minutes into downtown Minneapolis.

Yes, yes, so true.

So that has shifted. And I'm curious. And so for me, myself, and I'm sure you do, like as a business owner, right? Like, we are entrepreneurs, we need to if we're going to do this, we need to be able to get clients and this and that. How has that shifted? Kind of the entrepreneurial spirit from, you know, again, networking, client meetings, going to meet new people? What have you can just sit on your computer and chat on Zoom? And I don't think that that's going to go away.

Well, I think there's some efficiency around it, right, like, so when does it make sense? And then where do we have to like, kind of stretch ourselves on that,

I think you make a really good point there about stretching ourselves. And I think that's where it's gonna take time again.

Mm-hmm.

You know, you just kind of get back into that groove.

And it to your point, you've said this, you know, a couple of times, like, it doesn't have to, it doesn't mean going back to the old way. Because that's where I start to see some resistance and people are like, well, that wasn't great. Before, I don't want to go back to that. It's like, Okay, well don't write, don't visit this, okay? If your communication sucked internally, and in your organization before, this is your opportunity to right it. To, improve it to reset. And, you spend, you talk to organizations, but you also have some training, some opportunities that specifically address women in communication in the workplace. So tell us a little bit about the Women Empowerment series in particular.

So this is a passion project that come to life that I didn't realize that I had, oh, which is, which is great. Right? So it was last September. And I mean, I've always been, I've always considered myself a feminist, my master's, and my Ph.D. were all about gender differences and communication styles. So there's this gender aspect, you know, that I'm passionate about. And then gender equality is important to me. But it wasn't until the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in September of last year, that I started to give thought, or even, you know, build an understanding of what she represented. I mean, she was responsible for women being able to have credit cards or to be able to get a loan on their own without their husband's signature. And it's mind-boggling to me, like, you know, at that time, I kind of was delving into what she stood for. And given my areas of interest and what I was passionate about, for me, it was like, Well, what can I do to continue her legacy? And it was, I was sitting on the couch, and I was chatting with my husband about it, and what I wanted to do, and he's like, woman empowerment series. Like, I like that. So it came to fruition based on the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but the woman empowerment series is all about inspiring and encouraging women to use their voice to initiate change. And then when I say use our voice, I mean our voices. So through communication, building those communication skills to have those tough conversations. And it can be big, it can be small. So for myself, using my voice to initiate change is about gender equality in the workplace. But for a woman who takes this series, it could be just about navigating through a tough conversation with her mailbox. Right. So it's a three-part series all about communication. So we delve into linguistics and communication styles, conversation, rituals, confident, authentic communicators, and then those common, you know, miscommunications that happened in the workplace and how do we navigate through that?

Yes, yeah, that's great. I love how it came to be. Yeah, that's, that's a great sort of gave me goosebumps as you're talking about RBG. So how would you say, How can communication style help empower women in the workplace? Let's take this train. One step further.

Yeah. So it's, it's it is really about and I do encourage the women that participate in the program to, to go through, you know, this that straight talk communication styles assessment that I had mentioned to you and building an understanding of how you communicate, but again, how do the people that you interact with communicate on a day to day basis, you know, it's also about, you know, something that is called a conversion ritual. It's relatively theoretic, or theoretical, rather. But it's all about these reoccurring patterns of behavior that happen, if we don't understand that it's a conversation ritual, that's where miscommunication can play a role. So, unfortunately, women tend to over-apologize, so saying, I am sorry, is considered a conversation ritual. Yes, men will tend to avoid it. Okay. But that and that's purely based on research is not my opinion. I mean, that's, that's what the research will tell us. But then women will tend to overuse it. And when we overuse it, it doesn't make us sound, you know, as smart or as effective as our counterparts in the room. And there's a great Google Chrome plugin that you can download into your email, and it will catch all of the I'm sorry's, it will catch the just, I'm just emailing to... And it's such a great tool to help men and women to become more confident and empowered in their written word because that plays a significant part in our day to day as well. And we spent a lot of time emailing back and forth. So those that kind of tools that the woman empowerment series takes the participants through.

I like that, have another phrase, I'd like to add to that one, that I'd like that I want to bust up. Women this is okay, I don't have research to support this. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's one. But women are more likely than men to say, I think, rather than just make a statement. But to start with I think.

It's very factual. And so, literally, I was just gonna say, I think, too, I'm so guilty of it all the time. And I, in retrospect, always think about it.

Yes.

When I say it, like, oh, shoot, I just said, I think

I do the same thing. Right. This is why I want to bust it because I do it too.

I think Well, there you go. I just did it. The Google Chrome plugin catches the I think?

Yes. Oh, my gosh, okay, I'm gonna figure this out, we have to put this in the show notes, so that people can-

I'll send you this specific link, and you can include it.

Okay, that that is so helpful because I can hear it in others. And then I bring it to their attention. And I have a series of women who have like, I think and on a post-it with a big x through it. And yet, I'm still saying it myself. So we have to help each other with that.

It's funny, too, because even in some of the conversations I'll have with some of the women who have taken this series, you know, we'll send emails back and forth. Many of them after the I'm sorry, conversation ritual session, will somehow in their emails, say I'm sorry. And it is a matter of it, I would send that email back saying, You're not sorry. You don't need to say I'm sorry. And I'm gonna call you out on it.

Okay, I have another question around, because you talked about gender equity. And I'm just out of curiosity because we're talking about communication language, as we continue to get better at inclusion with nonbinary people. And the conversation coming up more frequently about replacing his and her with them, right from just, I'm curious about your take on this, is it? Does it pop up in conversation? And what do you think about it?

That is such a great question. And now my area of expertise is certainly in the male and female gender. That's what my research is in. You know, however, I appreciate it and understand that gender is a spectrum and there are many different genders. I have not started to put you know, she hers behind my name. Because for me, I'm just like, I'm just me. And I don't know if I would be maybe forcing something. If I did that, because, for me, I was like, I'm familiar with that. And I don't feel like I need to specifically state that I'm a she or her, but some people do. And that's them being their authentic selves. And I'm like, more power to you.

Yeah, it's, I- So this just tells me I need to find somebody that is an expert in this area, right? Because communication is so broad and big. And anybody who's learned a foreign language, so I learned French as an adult, which I highly recommend learning when you're young. But it used to make me mad. Because our articles get assigned either a feminine or what's the other gender? Oh, yeah, a masculine. (laughing) Oh, I forget. But you write like articles, like the chair, it is a, it's lush as its feminine, but the couch is masculine. And maybe it makes zero sense. And you just have to, like, sit and memorize that. And I just wonder, as we continue to evolve and progress, how that will influence language in the future.

And too, I mean, there's something to be said. So again, much of my research has been on the male-female gender. So I delve into your masculine and feminine traits.

There you go.

Right. And so, but that's, there's a, there's an important conversation there, too, about how then that leads us to stereotyping.

Mm-hmm.

Because I'm very assertive. But assertive means that I'm taking on a typical or stereotypical male characteristic, because of traditional traits that research will tell us, research will tell us is that, you know, males are more assertive. Right? So there's a whole conversation surrounding that feminine masculine, you know, stuff too. So I appreciate what you're saying what about the languages?

Yeah, well, it's

It's messy. It's messy, and it's sticky. And I look forward to you knowing, I'm still suffering from my Ph.D. So it's only been done a year. (laughing) It was traumatic to spend seven years working on it. So I'm nowhere close to doing any other kind of research anytime soon.

Yes.

However, I hope that other people can take that on. And then I will support them, and I will read them and I will participate in their studies. Because I look forward to learning more about that, too.

That's, that's great. Did you get sick after you finished your Ph.D.? Like when you handed it in? Did anything else happen to you physically?

Um, it, I was exhausted. It was. So I and again, too, it was during COVID. So, I completed both my master's and my Ph.D. through the University of Leicester in the UK. Okay, so I defended in June 2020. I should have gone overseas to do it face-to-face, but I did it virtually. And it was three and a half hours. You know, they tell you at the end, you know, I successfully defended it. So great done. I've never been so tired in my life. And I thought having a six-year-old son made me tired, but it was like the most incredible exhaustion.

Yeah,

But also like a big weight lifted off my shoulders, too. And I had said to my husband on that day, I love champagne. But I mean, we buy fake champagne, right? Like, it's not champagne, champagne. And I'm like, I want a bottle of Dom Perignon because I've never tried it. And successfully defending my Ph.D. deserves it. So I was exhausted. But then we popped the bubbly and it was all great.

Oh, calls for bubbles in that type of circumstance. Okay, before I let you go, I just want to know any tips that you could share for effective communication that just would help us all get a little bit better. Or we can at least be more mindful of it?

Yeah, absolutely. I would highly recommend doing some type of communication style assessment. And putting that time in. Because it's not easy, right? We have to put in the time and if we want to become more effective communicators, practicing our active listening, right, again, listening to understand and not to reply, being cautious of our tone of voice in conversations is important. And then being our authentic selves, giving thought to being more compassionate communicators, and putting ourselves into the shoes of others. We don't always know what's going on. And I think there's a lot that could be done to mitigate miscommunication if we just put that time in to learn how to communicate a little bit more effectively.

That's great. Well, Amelia, thank you so much for your time and the conversation. It was very enlightening, and I'm walking with the tips. I know our listeners will too. You will also put out great information so how can people follow you and your work?

Thank you so much. It was great. Great, great to be with you today. My website is AmeliaReigstad.com. And then I'm on all of the social media platforms. So Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. That's where I am.

Okay, I love that. And then we have, are we able to put that Straight Talk communication assessment, would, do you have a link that we would be able to add in the show notes for those?

It's GoStraightTalk.com.

It's great. We'll add that so that we can all start becoming better communicators. Amelia, thank you so much for being on the Champions of RISK podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

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