Let's “Bounce”: A framework for conversations

Let’s “Bounce(bouns)”: A framework for conversations(ˌkänvərˈsāSHən)

I’ve always been a little bit nervous(ˈnərvəs) socially, and I often feel unsure about myself when communicating with others. I don’t think others necessarily think of me as socially awkward(ˈôkwərd), but I certainly feel that way. So last year when I got the opportunity to take a communication program designed(dəˈzīn) by my friend MCK, I jumped(jəmp) at the chance.

The course(kôrs) was called MasterCom, and it focused on using communication to deal with professional(prəˈfeSHənl) and personal challenges. The core(kôr) of the course was learning and using a tool(to͞ol) called a “Bounce”, which is a simple conversation framework that MCK has developed. The format of a bounce conversation is actually quite simple: you listen to someone tell you about an issue(ˈiSHo͞o) that they are facing, and as the conversation goes along you facilitate(fəˈsiliˌtāt) their finding the best way forward. There’s more to it, but that’s my basic(ˈbāsik) understanding. In addition to having several(ˈsev(ə)rəl) bounce conversations with MCK, a big part of the course was reaching out to others and “bouncing” with them.

At first, I was extremely(ikˈstrēmlē) shy(SHī) about reaching out to friends and acquaintances(əˈkwāntns) to have these conversations, but I ended up being surprised(sə(r)ˈprīzd) at how willing and even excited(ikˈsītid) people were to participate(pärˈtisəˌpāt). It turned out to be a great excuse to have long-needed conversations with friends. Some people even shared things that they clearly needed to talk about but hadn’t shared even with close family members.

I was also surprised by how much I learned from the conversations. While the conversations were for the most part about other people, I learned a lot about myself as I listened. I learned that once I get past my initial(iˈniSHəl) nervousness, I’m almost always glad that I’ve initiated(ɪˈnɪʃiˌeɪt) a conversation with someone, and I learned that listening to how others think about their challenges can actually help me make progress on my own challenges.

If you’re interested in continuing this conversation with us, MCK and I will be talking about some of our biggest communication challenges and how to deal with them in a live conversation on Thursday(-dē,ˈTHərzdā). Would you like to join us?

http://cn.mikecrm.com/Bju3RZk