#197: Why Being Clear Can Feel Hard (with Jennifer Abrams): Do “Hard” Conversations Actually Have to Be Hard?

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In this episode, Becca sits down with Jennifer Abrams, author of five books on adult-to-adult communication in schools including Having Hard Conversations and Stretching Your Learning Edges, for a conversation on hard conversations, school culture, and adult development in education. 

Topics covered in this episode: 

• The difference between resistance and a hard conversation, and where one line ends and the other begins
• Why "niceness culture" in schools gets confused with kindness, and how it undermines belonging
• The cognitive load behind clear communication, and why so many educators avoid it
• The neuroscience of being right: why our brains reward judgment over effectiveness
• The five capacities from Stretching Your Learning Edges: knowing our identities, suspending certainty, taking responsibility for communication, building resilience, and engaging in reciprocity
• A simple, practical cue for naming dysregulation in a meeting, without shame
• Robert Kegan's stages of adult development (instrumental, socialized, self-authoring, self-transforming) and how understanding them builds empathy across a school team

Guest: Jennifer Abrams, adult communication and school culture expert, jenniferabrams.com | LinkedIn | [email protected]

Grab your copy of 📖 The Resistance Solution

Book Study Facilitator Training: www.thewholeeducator.com/book-study-facilitator-training 

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