Ellen Patnaude Assumed Her Past Experiences Would Buy Her a Seat at the Table

<p>Owner of the firm <a href="https://leadquine.com/">LeadQuine</a></p> <p>Episode page: <a href="https://www.markgraban.com/mistake141">https://www.markgraban.com/mistake141</a></p> <p>My guest for Episode #141 of the <a href="http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/">My Favorite Mistake podcast</a> is <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenpatnaude/">Ellen Patnaude</a>.</p> <p>She’s a Communication Coach. She’s owner of the firm <a href="https://leadquine.com/">LeadQuine</a>. And her LinkedIn headline describes her as:</p> <p><strong>“Truth teller. People-ing Guru. Tough Cookie.”</strong></p> <p>Ellen is also a friend of mine from high school, as we played together in a regional youth orchestra for a few years.</p> <p>In today's episode, Ellen shares her “favorite mistake” story about her time as a community organizer. She attended a meeting and assumed that her experiences growing up in Detroit would be relative to this group near Chicago. She was trying to prove her credentials, but learned that listening was more important than arguing about her bonafides. How did Ellen learn from this experience? Why is she now grateful that this happened?</p> <p>We also talk about questions and topics including:</p> <ul> <li>The importance of showing up, listening and asking questions (and not having your own agenda)</li> <li>Apologized… it was accepted… tough love</li> <li>You help people get better at communicating and interacting with others… common assumptions??</li> <li>How can leaders check for understanding without being parental?</li> <li>Asking better questions…</li> <li>Fired from a job for asking the wrong questions…</li> <li>Assumptions are #1 source of conflict</li> <li>Test your assumptions?</li> <li>Your firm’s tagline is “taking blinders off your team” — what’s the meaning behind that?</li> <li>What are some common mistakes people make in the realm of communication?</li> <li>Coaching people through those?</li> <li>Mistakes coaches make?</li> <li>Becoming less censored and less filtered?</li