In the last module you touch upon the skill of "bottom lining" and having the employee get to the point. Can you give a recommendation as to how an HR professional can introduce and explain bottom lining to an employee?

The way that I do it as the coach is... if they are going on an on you first you use the the skill of intruding. It's not interrupting, because that's rude. But, using the skill of intruding you say "I'm sorry to interrupt and I'm so interested in what you have to say but I realize that our time is limited and I feel like the information you're sharing is information that you already know. And what we want to do together is have a different conversation that leads to different results".

Clients come and tell stories about what happened in their day and why they're frustrated with the this person or themselves and those are stories they told their best friend, they're coworker, their spouse, so by telling me it's benefiting them in no way shape or form. So if I feel like it's information I'm interested in but it's not going to serve them I will intrude and say... "In this situation what do you need? Or, what do you want?" are the two most important questions to ask and let them know, this is a skill called bottom lining and it's just to make the most efficient use of your time and if you feel the need to talk about things in more detail we'll set another time.

But you can't, as an HR person, allow somebody to vent in your office for forty minutes. It just it burns you out and it doesn't serve them and then your loyalty is split because you want to honor this person is talking to you, but you feel disloyal to the person they're talking about, just letting them.

Give them twenty, sixty seconds, maybe two minutes to vent and say... "You know, I hear what you're saying that sounds really frustrating but I'm curious to know what you want right now out of this situation". And when it's appropriate I ask permission "can I interrupt?". "Do you mind if I interrupt you for a second?" I say, "You know, there's a skill that I learn called bottom lining that is going to help us get to the juice of the matter.

Great! I love that love that recommendation. We understand that as HR professionals what it's like to have someone in your office and you want to help them, but getting them to a certain point to be able to truly help them as opposed to just having someone vent is incredibly helpful. Thank you for your time today. And, I appreciate all the additional information and guidance.