When you have a challenging message to deliver, a sensitive conversation to have, a crucial conversation waiting to happen, it’s better to ask yourself how much trust you have in the relationship than plan the right words to say.
If trust is high, you can use the wrong words, muck up the details, and basically enter into it unprepared because you are afforded the opportunity to make mistakes.
If trust is low, you can prepare, do everything right, have all your proverbial ducks in a row and you have very little room for error. It could be a one and done opportunity that makes or breaks that conversation and/or relationship.
So, this begs the question: What can you do to build trust every day with those you interface with so that when the time comes, you can enter into your conversation authentically and worry less about the words?