Effective Communication Styles Part Four: Co-Active Communication

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sikach** (0:17)
Hello and welcome back to the show. We are continuing our dive into communication techniques today by exploring the concept of co-active communication. I'm Stephen Sikach here again with Tuleo, Styragusa, and Ash Mar. Hey, guys.

**Tuleo Styragusa** (0:35)
Hello.

**Stephen Sikach** (0:37)
So we're diving into co-active communication. So its approach is rooted in the co-active coaching framework, pioneered by the Coactive Training Institute. It's built on the idea that all parties in a conversation are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. This approach encourages collaboration, curiosity, and intentionality. So it's shifting how we communicate in both personal and professional level. So Tulio, I know you've seen how co-active communication aligns with a purpose-driven mindset, but can you kick us off by sharing your perspective on how this fits into creating trust and transformation in teams?

**Tuleo Styragusa** (1:22)
Yes, there's a lot of applicability with this, a lot of roots in design thinking, a lot of self-management ideology. So, you know, co-active communication, really it's about not just about exchanging ideas, it's about building relationships that foster trust and unlock potential. So the highest form or goal is intimacy. It's building relationships. And when teams embrace this mindset, they move from just simply collaborating, which is great in itself, to creating meaning and achieving shared purpose. So it's elevating the collaboration toward what we all really strive for. Why are we doing this? What's the purpose behind this? Does it give meaning to our lives and what we're doing? So it's intentionally and very consciously focused on creating that. And it's transformational, because it shifts the dynamic of one of mutual respect and ownership. That's the ideal goal for co-active communication.
Pretty cool.

**Stephen Sikach** (2:33)
Yeah. Ash, what's the key here?

**Ash Mar** (2:36)
The key here is believing, it's seeing that everyone has inherent value, right? Whether it's the entry-level employee or the CEO at the very top, it's building equality in the sense that everybody has set up a perspective that they could bring into the mix, and you're bringing the fact that everyone has value that they could provide. There's a typical hierarchy approach, and then there's the approach of saying, hey, everyone has ownership in this task, everyone has ownership in this project that we're working on together, and everyone has a perspective that they could bring in, versus the hierarchy approach, which is, hey, this is how it needs to be done, right? So the core concept here is that you're looking at everyone at equal playing field. And this really fosters a collaboration, innovation, and essentially buy-in, right? A lot of people have increased engagement, essentially. So it's just saying that, hey, you know, no matter what level of person is in the field, the workforce or so on and so forth, or your colleagues, everyone has something to offer.

**Tuleo Styragusa** (3:31)
You know, and this is what I love about it, because we talk a great deal about being purpose-driven or purpose-driven leadership. We talk about empathy.
We discuss in great detail these concepts and the value of them and even the roots in design thinking. And so this co-active communication really aligns perfectly with being purpose-driven and purpose-driven leadership, because when people feel really value and heard, it's not just their contribution that improve, it's how they engage. It's the trust they have with each other and also the commitment to the team's vision. It's moving away from this idea of just fulfilling a transaction. Getting a goal done is a transaction, but creating an experience, and that's the whole beauty of empathetic, even empathetic marketing, right? In empathetic marketing, it's not just about connecting with customers, it's creating memorable experiences for people. So what makes co-active communication such a vital tool for leaders is that it's focused on the long-term impact they're going to have on the organization.

**Stephen Sikach** (4:40)
Ash, what are some of the key principles here?

**Ash Mar** (4:44)
So first one is equality, as I mentioned above. It's the communication process that recognizes that both sides bring valuable perspectives, expertise, and wisdom to the table. Rather than a top-down instructive approach, it's about meeting each other on equal ground to foster shared ownership and respect. And with this approach also, there's a level of connection that gets created as well. It's that fostering that, when Tulio mentioned people feel safer and more engaged, they also, it's because they feel more connected, right? Another key principle is curiosity and discovery. Emphasizes on asking powerful, open-ended questions, giving, rather than giving directives. This invites deeper understanding, uncovers motivations, and creates new possibilities. So rather than just telling someone, hey, do this task, it's asking the question, hey, what is based on your experience? What is your perspective on this? What do you think would work well on this? And allowing that person to really engage in that thought process and communicate and share their perspective. It opens up collaboration. They feel connected to the project, and more innovation is completed that way.