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For National Conversation Week, our copywriter, George, discusses the different types of conversation you have at work. From the awkward ‘hey’s every morning to the conversations with clients.
Honestly, I didn’t even know National Conversation Week was a thing. But boy am I glad it is. I like to talk. To have conversations and share dialogue with people as often as I can. Sure, there are times where I’m more than happy to keep my head pointed firmly and unnaturally in the direction it was pointed when I realised an interaction might be on the cards, but largely, I’ll engage. It’s important to do so. To acknowledge each other in whatever the necessary capacity. To give and be given the opportunity to interact. It’s part of being human.
It’s also part of workplace interaction.
Here it takes on a range of forms that span the day, the week, the quarter and the year, all the way up to career-spanning familiarity and even, in some instance, family itself. From run-of-the-mill daily conversation within your team and wider contemporaries. To those you have with line managers and HR. The well-known, the tough to navigate, and the disagreements – which I like to refer to as the ‘firm and stern’ – which are so frequently shared across social and parodied time and time again. You’ve got friendly banter and flirty encounter, pub chat and lunch crunch, heated debate and polite escape.
But what connects them all is the fundamental necessity to understand where the boundaries lie. Where polite becomes professional; friendly becomes functional; constructive becomes cryptic. Conversations are essential to every business. They enable collaboration and understanding. They open up doors to resources that you might not have even realised you had as an organisation.
And while your next success might be just a conversation away, I’ve shortlisted my top five conversations from in and around the workplace.
Conversation 1. Conversations with myself
Whether it’s in my head or out loud, I talk to myself quite a lot. But in the context of work, I’d say that the majority of these conversations happen on my commute. I cycle to work which gives me about 90 minutes a day of almost uninterrupted thinking time as I wind down from or build up to my working day.
I find this time immensely helpful. The space to think and process what needs to be done. To think about the day ahead or the day just passed and analyse it. How were my interactions? Did I compose myself properly? How was my understanding and interpretation of boundaries. What could I improve? Did I have any negative conversations?
These silent conversations (I guess you could just call it thinking) are the contemplative solution to the vast majority of work flare ups or confrontation. Taking 45 minutes to separate my personal life from my work life and vice versa massively benefits my ability to build and maintain relationships. Moral of the story? Check in with yourself more. You’d be amazed at how far it can get you.
Conversation 2. Conversations when I’m hungry
Me: [walks over to colleague] Hey.
Them: [pauses as they finish their important work task] … [swivels around in their swivel chair. Sighs.] … Hey.
Me: [smiling] You alright?
Them: [clearly annoyed at being disturbed] Yeh
Me: [too hungry to actually concentrate on carrying on with small talk] Yeh… what are you doing for lunch?
Conversation 3. Conversations with colleagues 101
The vast majority of us will have conversations every day. With friends and family, housemates and partners and strangers alike. But when it comes to colleagues, now that is a different kettle of fish. In my now several years of working in offices, businesses, start-ups and freelance positions alike, I’ll break down for you every type of conversation you’ll have with colleagues on a daily basis.
The first one, of which 95% of conversations will follow a similar structure, is:
Me: Hey…
My colleague: …hey
Short and sweet. Well, short anyway.
What you’ve got to remember is that we’re now in a totally new, totally different league here from the very second you walk in that door. These are your colleagues. They’re not your friends. You’ve been forced together for a few days a week, 7.5 hours a day, 47ish weeks of the year.
And yes, of course, some of them go into more detail:
Me: Hey…
My colleague: …hey
My colleague: Nice weekend?
Me: …. Yes thanks, lovely… [walks into the bathroom] You?
My colleague: [heard in the near distance as the bathroom door closes] Yeh not bad, thanks.
Annnd that’s about it! You’ve got yourself some good detail in there. Some information that you can use in your next conversation. You’ve learnt something and you’ve bonded. After completing this scenario you should now be able to spend the rest of your day nodding spiritedly at each other instead of saying ‘hey’. A real result. Real time saved.
Congratulations! You’ve now completed colleague communications 101. Using these skills, you should now be able to walk into any office and believably pose as, at the very least, a new starter. Try it for yourself and let me know how it goes (I’m kidding. Do not try this at work).
Conversation 4. Conversations with the boss.
In the office: [pretend I don’t exist]
Out of the office: [Pub. Inside. 9:30pm] Do you want to go to an open mic night? There’s comedy happening right now downstairs. No I’m not making it up! There’s one happening downstairs. Yes, right now. Let’s go!
Conversation 5. Conversations with clients
A big part of our creative delivery comes from meeting and talking to our clients’ people. The output of these conversations usually takes the form of award winning films and pieces of social content that we seamlessly build into our output strategies. We pride ourselves on our ability to do this. High production value. Industry-leading filmmakers. Experienced interviewers. Make-up artists. It’s the real deal. And it can seem intimidating to anyone in front of camera for the first time. You can sense it. The tension and discomfort that people feel is palpable.
As a copywriter, pretending to myself that I am the future late night talk show host I’m not, is the most enjoyable part of my job. But that’s where this form of conversation is so important. The ice breaking capacity of just a few simple questions can see a previously jittery interviewee really come into their own and shine on camera.
I like to start of nice and easy. A ‘hey’ works wonders. Often, jumping straight into the questions is a daunting place to start for the person sitting in front of camera, lights in their face, surrounded by total strangers. But by getting a sense for who the person is, their name, where they’ve come from and a bit about their career. You’d be amazed at how visible the change is. The way the posture relaxes and answers flow easily.
This isn’t a corporate conversation. We don’t really want to know about the intricate details of the job. You can read all about that in job descriptions and websites. What we want to get into is who the person in front of camera is. Why they enjoy this role, what makes them stay.
I suppose this all sits underneath a framework of Employer Brand Comms. By correctly and authentically positioning yourself as an employer of choice, one that champions culture and inclusivity, your people can excel and thrive around these conversations. Because conversation, by definition, is communication. Dialogue and discussion. It’s thought sharing and brainstorming, recognition to celebration, new business leads to leadership decisions, brand development, professional successes, birthdays, babies, weddings. The lot.
And that’s the thing about employer branding when it’s done well. These conversations aren’t just the basis of work. But of life itself.
