Michelle J. Miller is an experienced international attorney and speaker. Michelle is an emerging leading voice on building multicultural teams, diversity, business asset protection, intellectual property and communications. As a woman who has worked in various diverse group government, corporate and religious environments, Michelle realize communication and diversity issues created some greatest challenges in each one of these groups. Michelle's international education, speaking opportunity and corporate experience became a pathway for her to realize communication breakdown and a passive diversity approach were the leading reason why teams didn't get the results expected.

 

Early on in her career as a Corporate Lawyer, Michelle saw some of these challenges first hand. Michelle decided to obtain her advanced law degree in international business and actively seek international speaking opportunities to emerge herself into the culture of people around the world. Thus far, Michelle's global travels have taken her to China, Dubai, South Africa, Russia, Haiti, Singapore, Trinidad, Peru, and Tanzania and she has more places identified for future travels. As Michelle expanding her global footprint personally and professionally, Michelle began to identify speaking topics, training programs, and seminars to address challenges faced in a growing corporate culture. The result of her efforts was the creation of the S.T.E.P. U.P. Method™ of communication. Michelle believes corporate culture can change transform with everyone embraced the S.T.E.P. U.P. Method™ of communication.

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S.T.E.P. U.P. stands for Safety, Technique, Empathy, Passion, Understanding, and Practice.

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Safety - Creating a safety zone for diverse corporate communication is one of the best ways to encourage honest and open communication. If people do not feel safe, they hold in the topics that they would love to talk about. We all would like to believe that we make people feel as if it's safe to talk to us but, sometimes that's simply not true. Creating a communication safety protocol will encourage powerful and productive conversation which will ultimately foster more teamwork and greater results.

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Technique - We are fooling ourselves if we believe that the same communication technique works for everyone. Understanding that there are various techniques for communication with people will help us stop trying to implement a one size fits all communication technique. Certain body language will have a negative effect on encouraging communication just like the tone of our voice and the expressions on our faces. Awareness of communication techniques will create a more collaborative team.

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Empathy - Have you ever wondered why someone said something or why someone was silent when you told them they an seek up? Well, it could be your conscious or unconscious lack of empathy. Empathy is a critical component for effective communication. Empathy is understanding the "why" behind a statement in order to understand "how" to respond to someone's words in a way that new levels of communication emerge. Empathy does not mean that you always agree with the other person; it means you are willing to understand.

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Passion - We rarely hear or read about people having a passion to speak to others in the workplace. Well, let's first clarify that we are not referring to the passion in a romance model or soap opera. In sharing about passion, we are addressing the enthusiastic verbal expression of your thoughts and feelings in the workplace. When thinking of "passion" when someone speaks we should think of enthusiastic and energetic workplace communication. Business leaders who lack passion in their communication create an atmosphere for an apathetic workforce. Powerful communication can be passional and yet not over the top. When people witness the passion in your communication they draw on your energy and gain the confidence to speak up more.

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Understanding - Have you ever found yourself listening to someone to respond instead of listening to seek understanding? If we are honest, most of us have participated in a conversation that triggered our desire to respond base on the mention of one word or phrase. If an auto-response is triggered during our times of communications with others we often time focus on what we want to say instead of trying to understand the true intent of the discussion. Communication is a two-way process that requires an understanding of the part of the speaker and the listener.

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Practice - I know some of us may not like this but, sometimes you simply need to practice what you plan to do before you actually say it. We should all consider practicing what we will say in certain situations prior to initiating a conversation. We should also practice our body language and facial expression so that they encourage conversations. I recall when I was part of a speaking group someone consistently encourage me to capture a video while a practiced a presentation or a speech. At first, I thought this person was being over the top. However, I eventually recorded myself speaking and I was able to identify gestures, body language, facial expressions, and even filler words that I did not recognize in the past. Practice helps you communicate in a manner that considers yourself and your audience in advance.

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Key Consideration:

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The S.T.E.P. U.P. Method™ of communication creates a mindset to shift a change in corporate culture to foster a transformation in the workplace. This method of communication increases productivity, collaboration, and happiness in the workplace. People spend most of their hours awake in the workplace so creating a worry-free communication environment enhances the team energy and causes great bottom-line results.

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