Talk Well is for anyone whose working day runs on conversation: the meeting that drifts, the one-to-one that stays on the surface, the disagreement nobody wants to have, the colleague you would like to know better. It is a companion to Alison Wood Brooks' book Talk, and I ask you to read the book alongside it.
The course is organised by her four TALK maxims: Topics, Asking, Levity and Kindness. You prepare a few topics before an important conversation, climb from easy subjects to deeper ones and switch before the energy runs out, ask more questions and better ones, bring lightness where it fits, and listen so that people know they have been heard. Then the maxims are tested where work tests them most: in groups, in disagreement, across difference and in repair.
In Prepare to Talk you try Thirty-Second Topic Prep and Person Prep before a meeting that matters. Follow-Up Streak and Be a Journalist build the habit of the follow-up question, and Paraphrase Practice and the Listening Toolkit Tracker sharpen your listening. Many Minds brings Status Map, Pull Them In and The Steward's Plan for the meetings you run, while Receptive Reply, Cool It Down, Apology Builder and Feedback Plan help with the harder moments. The answer-first question banks have you answer each question yourself before you ask it of anyone else.
On WorkSmart4Life this course sits under Connect, the move about teams, leading and conversation, beside Big Talk and Converse Well. It comes with the Conversation Advisor, where you can describe a conversation you are facing and get practical answers with a tool to practise. Begin with Where Should I Start?; a free 24-hour trial of the whole course is open to you.
Dr Alten du PlessisFounder, WorkSmart4Life