Julia Menard

Many people have heard about “I statements.” As someone said to me recently: “It’s counseling 101.”     Yet, I do see many people struggle with expressing I statements, or even having a common understanding of what they are.     So, let’s start with the basics: what do we really mean by I statements?

Why Bother Opening a Can of Worms? As a mediator and conflict connoisseur, a question I get asked a lot, when I am encouraging people to talk with each other, sounds something like: “Why should I even bother having the conversation?” “What’d be the benefit in me even opening that can of worms!?” Exactly! That’s

Last month, I spoke about the importance of being able to see multiple perspectives. In an era of information and misinformation, it’s become futile to convince someone of your point of view. There’s just too much data and it can be massaged in various ways to make it support a particular perspective.     If

In this day and age, trying to discern what the truth is can seem impossible. Did someone really do that egregious behaviour or not? Sheryl Sandberg, for example has come out with a new documentary on the sexual violence perpetrated on men and women in the October 7 attacks.     We know many of

Over this last month, I’ve had the privilege of working with a few high-level leadership teams. Each of these teams are made up of leaders who are responsible for leading their own teams.     Together, we’ve been digging into the 8 step difficult conversations model for navigating important conversations.     Last week, we

In the last month, I’ve had the privilege of hosting conversations with two different teams in two very different organizations. They are both equally great.     Each team is made up of collaborative, creative, savvy leaders. Each leader heads up their own team. Each works in complex, dynamic environments that require strategic thinking and

When I was about 20 years old, I hand-crafted a business card and wrote the words “Creative Solutions” as a dream business I would own one day. I had no idea what that vision would look like. At the time, I was working for a theatre company that would go on to produce the first

My colleague Gordon White and I had a fascinating conversation recently with a leader we really admire. This leader has a collaborative style of communicating. There isn’t anything you can’t explore with this person: they are accepting, encouraging, listen well and assert cleanly. It’s a joy and an adventure to talk and discover together. So,

What’s become obvious to me as I coach many high-powered, heart-centered leaders and teams, is there are some fundamentals that, once mastered, take difficult conversations from stressful and destructive to flowing and constructive.     That is, there is an art to conversations. Mastering the fundamentals allows you to acknowledge there are differences to work