The Communication Sandwich!

I can't remember who told me this one.

It came from a time and experience of being in therapy.

The therapist was helping the person communicate with their teenage son, who, strangely enough, wasn't willing to hear any challenging feedback.

The therapist shared the idea of "The Communication Sandwich".

You put the challenging feedback in a sandwich of positive feedback.

The first slice of bread of the sandwich is two positive acknowledgements - You give two encouraging positive statements to your communication target.

The filling of the sandwich is the challenging feeback. You deliver the challenging feedback to the communication target. Bam! - Ouch!

As soon as you finish delivering the challenging feedback, you quickly deliver another two positive acknowledgements - the second slice of bread!

Most times if you are quick enough with the second slice of bread, they don't even notice how much the challenging feedback hurt.

.....and instead of wanting to rebel against you, they want to please you to milk some more of that delicious positive acknowledgements.

The bread makes the filling palatable, and, most times, the challenging feeback slips right under the radar!

You avoid being the bad guy, you get your point across and they still get to feel good about themselves and know that there's work to be done.

Try this one out - practice it - The "Communication Sandwich" really works!