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Effective communication is a leadership skill that makes a difference during the holidays and beyond. Melanie Parish, MCC and Dr. Mel Rutherford, PCC, explore how sharing priorities, setting expectations, and planning together can reduce misunderstandings, strengthen collaboration, and help everyone feel heard, both at home and in the workplace. Discover how small changes in communication can create more meaningful connections and better leadership.

 

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Skill Up: Communicating Through the Holidays

Hello, I’m Melanie Parish. I’m one of the co-hosts of the Experimental Leader podcast. I’m a master certified coach, content creator, educator, occasional farmer, and it’s great to be here with you today.

I am a co-host of the Experimental Leader podcast. My name’s Mel Rutherford. I’m an academic psychologist. I’m a a PCC, and I’m the author of the Glass Cliff: One Trans Man’s Leadership Odyssey. Welcome to our episode today as we talk about skilling up.

Skilling up. I love this term because it’s like you have one skill, but then you can always up the level or figure out like what the situation needs or what your challenge needs. And we aren’t static people; we get to keep growing. And so the idea that some things are just skill based-it’s not inherent. And I think leadership is really in that category. Like you don’t-you’re not born with leadership skill. You get to skill yourself up over your career.

Yeah. So, did you want to talk about communication today?

Yeah, I do want to talk about communication. I think you know we’re going into the fall and holidays. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving soon. It’ll be U.S. Thanksgiving. Then it’ll be Christmas, and these are times that people come together. There’s also a lot of work-related things that happen, and communication is sort of the skill up that’s helpful in both. So, like, what are your what are you your plans? What are you hoping for? What what’s the dream behind the the Thanksgiving meal, for example? Like, what would be important for each person to have at the meal to make sure that their dream is also satisfied? So, for example, what’s important to you at Thanksgiving?

Apple pie.

 

Apple pie, and so it isn’t about me providing apple pie, but it is important to have us as a family acquire apple pie, so that your dream is a part of our holiday.

I’m not going to acquire apple pie. I’m going to make apple pie.

I’m going to acquire apple pie. And I think, but also, so that’s like you know, and just like, what time do you want to come? Is a different conversation that come at four, and then everybody’s working till five, and then they’re late, and so there’s just so many opportunities to communicate around gathering. And then the other corollary is there’s a lot of things like sometimes work needs to be covered, and so there’s conversations. I have friends who are single who always work the holidays because they know that other colleagues want to be with their families then, and they don’t care, so they choose to say, “Hey, I’ve got this. You go do your holiday. I’ll take my holidays in you know February.

 

And what do you get when communication is going really well through the holidays?

Well, I think you get some shared purpose. You also-it’s like insurance against hurt feelings or people’s reactivity. Like if you are just told everything that’s going to happen, you can have a response that’s sort of like almost a triggered response, like you you react in a way that may or may not be reasonable. But if if you’re part of the collaboration of the work planning or the holiday planning, you have a better shot at feeling more skilled, being more skilled, everybody gets to bring their best selves if communication is present.

Sounds great! Thanks for joining this episode of Skilling Up in the Experimental Leader Podcast.

Go experiment!

Go experiment!

 

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