NEEDS-BASED COMMUNICATION (NVC)

Live Interactive Workshops
Designed for the Workplace

What is "Needs-Based Communication" or NVC?

Needs-Based Communication (NVC) is a potent process that can support us when we are having — or need to have — challenging conversations that matter to us ...

... like giving authentic feedback to a co-worker ...
... or listening to someone at work or at home when we disagree with what they are saying ...
... or how we respond when we perceive ourselves as being "attacked" in a conversation ...
... or expressing clearly our personal or professional boundaries when a colleague has stepped beyond them ...
... or what we do when we feel anger rising in ourselves and we know we will likely regret the words we are about to say ...
... or when we've just expressed something in a meeting that really matters to us, but no one seems to have heard it ...
... or when we're too scared to speak up at all.

NVC guides us to move beyond blame.

To recognize our own reactivity.
To understand our reactivity in terms of what matters to us.
To see another person's reactivity in terms of what matters to them.
In this new way of perceiving the situation, to respond consciously in a way that is likely to create mutual understanding.
In that understanding, to make choices and take actions that are more likely to advance all of us toward what matters to each of us and to the larger "We" that holds us.

Here are some of the skills and benefits of using Needs-Based Communication (NVC) in the workplace ... or at home:

listening — so that the other person has an experience of being heard, even if we don't agree with what they are saying
empathy — the basis of care and compassion -- recognizing the weird ways that we unconsciously ask for empathy
expressing disagreement without blame -- an integral skill of conscious feedback and mutual accountability
recognizing our own unconscious reactions and limiting beliefs — these are what diminish our relationships and effectiveness, especially as leaders
seeing conflict as something to be harvested, not avoided — learn to "lean into" conflict instead of away from it, learn to hear the underlying essence of what matters to the people involved

Needs-Based Communication invites us to expand our perception so that we see ways to bring connection amidst conflict. At the core of this expanded perception is the skill to focus our attention on the underlying human needs that are seeking to be nurtured in any moment, both within ourselves and within the people around us.

These underlying human needs are the motivation for our actions and our words ... the "why" behind what we do or say. Because human needs are universal — they are common to all human beings — when we bring them into explicit focus, they tend to stimulate understanding and draw us closer together.

The potency of NVC is in its pragmatic simplicity. In any moment, including a moment of conflict, there are two ways to enhance connection & understanding:

authentically express our own feelings & needs, or
empathically listen to the feelings & needs of the other.

These are radically different choices than we are accustomed to experience when we are in conflict: namely, fight, freeze or flee.

While simple, NVC is often challenging to embody because we are so deeply conditioned to perceive each other through judgments and blame.

With practice, the process of NVC helps us navigate within ourselves to transform unconscious reactions into conscious responses.

What NVC is not ...

NVC is not about being nice; it's about being real.
It's not about stifling intensity, but transforming it.
NVC is not about changing other people or getting them to do what we want. It's about changing ourselves, and in that change, we are better able to inspire connection & understanding.
NVC is not a technique or formula. It's a process that helps guide our consciousness to a new awareness around human needs.

*Needs-Based Communication is based on the work of Marshall Rosenberg, which he called "Nonviolent Communication™" or NVC.

I have chosen to call the process Needs-Based Communication for two reasons:

First, human needs are the heart of the process.

Secondly, I have wanted to avoid the common initial reaction from people in business that "... we're not a violent place."

I have chosen to keep the "NVC" abbreviation for Needs-Based Communication because many people are familiar with NVC as a process — and it lacks the "nonviolent" connotation.

quick links

NVC Resources & Books

Live Interactive Workshops

Our Needs-Based Communication (NVC) workshops are focused on skills needed for the workplace.

That said, our clients often express a beautiful side-effect: it enriches their personal relationships as well as their professional ones.

Foundations in Needs-Based Communication (NVC)

Introduction to Needs-Based Communication {NVC): Communication grounded in self-awareness and self-responsibility, not blame

NVC Core Concepts: Enhancing Self-Awareness & Self-Responsibility

Workplace Applications of Needs-Based Communication (NVC)

Connect First:
Bringing conscious presence into the workplace
(a 3-hour workshop)
The pragmatic application of Needs-Based Communication skills into the brief moments of interactions that a leader has with staff or colleagues so that they experience a fullness of being valued.

Conscious Accountability
(a 6-hour workshop)
Move beyond blame and punishment to learn the skills and mindsets to activate conscious accountability. Support the Conscious Leader to dynamically ensure that each person on the team fulfills their role in alignment with the shared purpose, the core values, and other guiding principles.

Conscious Conversations
(a 6-hour workshop)
Enhancing the Conscious Leader's skills to engage in connecting conversations even when emotions are rising, the stakes are high, and reactivity is abundant.

Building Conscious Teams
(a 6-hour workshop)
The primary goal of every Conscious Leader is to build a Conscious Team that is cohesive and effective. Ensuring your team has the direction, the structures and the supervision to succeed.