How Do You Address the Elephant in the Room?
Guest User
Of course, the answer to the question, “How do you address the elephant in the room?” is one thoughtful strategy at a time! Granted, it is incredibly uncomfortable for most of us to name the “thing” that is below the surface. We might fear being wrong. We might worry about retaliation from leadership. We might be afraid of change.
Naming the proverbial elephant in the room takes courage, but doing so doesn’t have to be scary. Elena Aguilar provides seven pro-active and empowering strategies in her blog post, “How to Address Tough Topics at Staff Meetings.” Here’s a preview of the strategies:
State the topic.
Acknowledge fear.
Express confidence that the elephant can be discussed.
Communicate how the elephant impacts you and the consequences of not addressing it.
Ask for others’ perspective on how the elephant impacts them.
Acknowledge that just talking about the elephant doesn’t solve the problem.
Practice active listening and encourage others to do the same.
We encourage you to read the full article as well check-out Aguilar’s “Reflection and Process for Raising Difficult Topics in Meetings.”
Aguilar, E. (2019, September 12). How to Address Tough Topics in Staff Meetings. Retrieved November 12, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-address-tough-topics-staff-meetings.