Communication Preferences &
The Inflation Reduction Act
On Communication
When we look at the plethora of assessment tools for team-building, self-discovery, community development, we’re imagining that communication skills are at the top of the list. We would also guess that every assessment tool (e.g. Myers Briggs, Kolbe, Strengths Finder) reflects an aspect of communication capacity and ways of communicating. Communication is how humans relate to each other – through voice, body language, facial expression, written word, symbols and more. Communication allows our world to work, so to speak. Communication is at the heart of reconciliation, nourishment, intimacy. Communication can be the cause of break-ups, violence, loss. Communication is vast. Where do we start?
Colman Knight began using various assessments years ago and today chooses to engage these four regularly: the enneagram, Kolbe, Top 5 Strengths Finder and Communication Preferences. Our focus in this publication is our use of Communication Preferences and how we are integrating the results in our work together and building our relationship muscles. The most important aspect of this endeavor is that it is a journey of connection. We are not working hard toward a definite goal. We are opening our minds and hearts, learning and growing together, as we offer Colman Knight services to our clients.
Please join us in strengthening communication muscles with intentions for ease, confidence, clarity and connection. This is a tool we’re practicing within the Colman Knight team, and also with clients. Newer clients are most familiar with the conversation—if your relationship with us is more seasoned, we look forward to consciously refreshing our understanding of how our work together lands best for you. Please don’t hesitate to request this check-in.
Preferences relate to how we process information: auditory, verbal, visual? Highly analytical, sensitive to emotional nuance, and/or needing time to process? It is our intention to keep your inclinations in mind not just in our meetings, but also in our periodic reports. We welcome your input on what quantity of information leaves you most satisfied and settled.
Below please enjoy Colman Knight members’ sharing and reflections on our ongoing inter-office exploration. Following is a look at the bill signed into law yesterday, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Colman Knight Members
Share Their Experiences With:
Communication Preferences
I have led lots of clients through communication preferences so it was really fun to have the script turned on me. There were some things that
even came out as a surprise. The ability to ask clarifying questions was extremely important as grounding myself in clarity is something that really supports me.
I think the biggest thing that came out of the meeting was how a helpful one-minute pause could allow for the space to shift. One thing that I am used to is just plowing through a meeting even if it gets tough. A new move would be, when the meeting gets tough, to pause and see if a shift can arise and move forward, or no shift and decide if the meeting is still worthwhile.
~ Knight
My preferences:
Encourage my input.
Give direct answers and get to the point.
Expect me to ask you to provide facts.
I found it refreshing to be asked about my preferences – a unique and welcomed experience.
After identifying and elucidating on my answers, I felt heard. I understood myself better, with the help of my conversation partner’s effort to understand where I was coming from.
I have noticed a difference in Colman Knight meetings since this conversation – such as, a touch more pause before more talkative people jump in. This consideration has a powerful effect and allows for more engagement and participation from all members – a huge win for all of us.
~ Emily
My preferences:
Encourage my input.
Allow me time to process my response.
Slow down the pace of communication.
My thoughts, reflections are about the importance of communication, period. 😊 My mind goes wide to all of the assessments, tools, typography
support to assist us individually with self-awareness.
I am most excited and motivated to APPLY the communication preferences – as it is always in the application that we experience directly the purpose and benefit of taking the assessment. The potentials for application and understanding that we feel more connected and we enjoy life more assists me/us in creative and spontaneous application. I love weaving a “scientific” tool with “real” life.
As to my reflection on how it was to be heard, supported, and my answers received, it is like warm soothing balm to be able to share my responses and to be heard without interruption or dispute. It is joyful to imagine all of the ways we can be better connected in our work using conscious communication with each other so that all of us feel heard, seen, valued and appreciated.
~ Gayle
My preferences:
Give direct answers, get to the point.
Encourage my input.
Be an active generous listener.
It felt good to be listened to. Also I enjoyed knowing that when I have a meeting my preferences as to how I communicate would be followed and that CK cared.
~ Rich
My preferences:
Do not mistake my lack of response for inattention.
(For Rich this means, when someone is speaking he may not be immediately setting off to respond, because he’s thinking it through. A pause is sometimes needed.)
Move quickly to the bottom line.
(Wants to know what we should be focused on. Present the point first, then go into the backstory. State the tension first.)
Use logic, summaries and key points, and expect me to ask you to provide facts.
In this conversation, Marc considered two contexts: primarily, picturing himself as a patient with a doctor. He also imagined these preferences in
the context of CK Team meetings.
He would like to be asked what he thinks and have a dialogue. With a doctor, he wants to know a range of actions, not just one. He needs the authority to choose and be the final decision maker. For a medical decision, he needs time to do research and determine if it makes sense or doesn’t make sense for him. Things might change after the conversation.
Marc would like an analytic presentation, not a lot of opinion. He wants data. Let him review side effects and benefits. Present information up front and have enough data to support the recommendation.
Marc has a need for good listening, proper pace, and mutual inputs. Take enough time to mutually hear each other and reach a good consensus. Avoid I’m right, you’re wrong. Wants to explore, and not be too hurried to get the conversation over with.
Marc’s preferences:
Encourage my input.
Offer options so I can decide.
Allow me time to process my response.
Use logic, summaries and key points, remember my need to analyze, and expect me to ask you to provide facts.
The Inflation Reduction Act
The Big New Bill
Just when you thought Congress couldn’t get anything done, Congress passed an enormous piece of legislation that touches just about every aspect of American lives. The full extent of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is too large to completely cover here, but the highlights are interesting.
The most visible elements of the bill are likely to be the 15% minimum tax on corporations with over $1 billion in revenues (generating an estimated $222.2 billion in additional tax revenues) and a 1% excise tax on companies that engage in buying back their own stock (another $73.7 billion). For older Americans, the new law gives Medicare the green light to negotiate collectively on drug prices, plus a $35 cap on Medicare Part D co-payments for insulin treatments.
However, the negotiation is on ten of the top fifty Part-D drugs, and starting only in 2026. There is no relief for 2022, 2023, 2024 or 2025. In 2027 through 2028 the number of drugs added to the list increases by fifteen per year. Those Americans who are not yet age 65 and do not have private insurance, will see $64.1 billion in subsidies to expand the Affordable Care Act and counteract rising health insurance premiums. Per 2021 that number of people was 11.4 million.
The bill also includes tax credits for wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear electricity facilities, and clean-energy rebates for residential buildings and electric cars—basically providing tax subsidies for installing heat pumps and solar panels and purchasing cars that don’t run on gasoline. The number of cars eligible for the subsidy has been reduced to reflect the need for buy and build American. Given the new restrictions, the vast majority of electric vehicles won’t qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit. Only around 15 EV models currently sold in the U.S. are expected to meet the price requirements.
Additionally, under the new law, electric vehicle buyers cannot receive the credit if they have taxable income above $150,000, or $300,000 for joint filers. The legislation also includes vehicle price restrictions to qualify for the credit, penalizing more expensive EV makers like Lucid and Rivian, with a cap of $55,000 for sedans, hatchbacks, and wagons, and $80,000 for trucks, SUVs, and vans. The U.S. Postal Service will get zero-emissions trucks, and companies will be able to qualify for tax incentives if they find ways to manufacture using fewer emissions and less electricity.
What’s missing? Any additional taxes on American citizens. Also: the child tax credit and paid family leave provisions that were in the original bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. A provision for universal pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds was cut from the bill, as were affordable housing and immigration reform provisions. You may have also heard about a proposed surtax on all income above $10 million; that, too, was eliminated from the final bill.
In all, when all the revenue raising and spending estimates are tallied up, the Inflation Reduction Act is projected to reduce U.S. federal deficits by roughly $275 billion over the next ten years. Whether it will live up to its name and reduce inflation remains to be seen.
Sources:
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/13/upshot/whats-in-the-democrats-climate-health-bill.html
• https://www.npr.org/2022/08/11/1116229743/inflation-reduction-act-questions-answered
• https://taxfoundation.org/inflation-reduction-act/
• https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/06/05/new-hhs-data-show-more-americans-than-ever-have-health-coverage-through-affordable-care-act.html
• https://time.com/6206639/electric-vehicle-tax-credits-inflation-reduction-act/
