Sitting in a Costa Coffee in an anonymous Surrey mall nursing a half-finished  coffee, watching a parade of young mums pushing buggies in and out and I was aware of feeling suddenly sad.  At another time, I might have felt something very different.  I realised that there was nothing in what was happening that was intrinsically emotionally charged, it was just the places it took me to that triggered these responses.  This generally true too, most things,   are emotionally neutral but can trigger powerful emotional responses. 

This is something we need to remember when working with Change; sometimes we get unexpected responses to what is said or suggested and this can be because of the listener’s own internal wiring has added a very different flavour & meaning to our content.  It is a fundamental facet of communication that meaning is something overlaid onto content.

So, if you get an unexpected response to your message, it’s time to explore and listen and to avoid making assumptions and judgements (which is the usual response!)

“The meaning of your communication is the response you get.”   NLP Precept