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COMMUNICATION THAT LEADS TO ACTION™ (CTLA)
The Methodology, Framework, and Action/Response System
Silence is not neutral. It is expensive.
Most leaders treat communication failures as personality clashes, generational gaps, or unlucky misunderstandings. Communication That Leads to Action™ makes the case that communication isn’t a soft skill. It’s structural. When people don’t speak up, when leaders don’t respond, and when conversations don’t lead anywhere, the result isn’t a culture problem. It’s a system failure, and it’s costing you more than you think.
Drawing on more than two decades of experience leading people, operations, and organizational strategy, Sharon Johnson Coleman offers a practical methodology for building environments where people speak up, leaders respond, and conversations create real results.
Inside, you’ll learn:
- The OPEN Voice™ framework: How to build communication environments where expectations are clear and the conditions support people in speaking honestly.
- SAFE Conversations™: A repeatable framework for turning honest, difficult conversations into accountability and action instead of avoidance.
- The Five Action Paths™: Five clear, practical ways to determine what should happen next when an important conversation cannot simply disappear.
- The Minimum Viable System: A practical starting point for putting the essential communication practices into place when full implementation of Communication That Leads to Action™ is not yet possible.
Whether you’re navigating conflict, leading through change, re-engaging a disengaged team, or scaling a growing organization, this book moves beyond communication theory and into a repeatable operating system where trust, visibility, and leadership behavior work together instead of working against each other.
This book is for you if:
- You lead a team and are tired of watching good ideas die in silence.
- You’ve tried communication training before and it didn’t create lasting change.
- You suspect your organization’s biggest problems aren’t personality problems. They may be systems and environments you’ve built without meaning to.
- You want practical tools, not just theory, for leading through conflict, change, and growth.
Communication isn’t something that just happens in a meeting. It’s something you build, on purpose, every day. Communication That Leads to Action™ gives you the framework to build it intentionally and create a communication system designed to hold under pressure.
COMMUNICATION THAT LEADS TO ACTION™ (CTLA)
The Methodology, Framework, and Action/Response System
OPEN Voice™
OPEN creates the environment.
Open Expectations
Preserved Safety™
Expected Participation
Nothing Disappears™
SAFE Conversations™
SAFE guides the behavior.
Speak
Acknowledge
Follow Up
Evolve
Five Action Paths™
Every concern deserves a visible response.
Decide
Assign
Test
Escalate
Close with Reason
Communicating Beyond the Algorithm
Organizations are increasingly supported by automation, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Technology can process information.
Organizations still need people who can:
Challenge assumptions
Exercise judgment
Communicate concerns
Lead with courage and discernment
The future belongs to organizations that preserve and strengthen uniquely human communication capabilities.
Meet the Author
Sharon Johnson Coleman is an executive leader, strategist, author, and founder of Coleman Strategy & Experience Group, LLC. Over more than 25 years, she built her career from the ground up, beginning in a coordinator role and ultimately serving in senior executive leadership.
Along the way, Sharon led across human resources, operations, payroll, customer service, compliance, and large-scale convention management. Her experience has ranged from building people systems and leading organizational change to managing citywide conventions, coordinating thousands of volunteers, and working with unions, hotel partners, exhibition companies, and production teams.
That range of experience taught her an important lesson: many workplace problems blamed on people are actually rooted in the systems and environments surrounding them. Good intentions are not enough when concerns disappear, expectations are unclear, difficult conversations are avoided, or no one knows what happens next.
That insight became the foundation for Communication That Leads to Action™, including OPEN Voice™, SAFE Conversations™, and the Five Action Paths™. Sharon’s work helps leaders build communication environments where people can speak honestly, expectations are clear, accountability is consistent, and communication moves toward action.
Sharon holds master’s degrees in human resources and business management. Through Coleman Strategy & Experience Group, LLC, she brings together her experience in people, operations, and organizational strategy to help leaders build stronger systems for how work gets done.
At the heart of her work is a simple belief: people should not have to rely on courage alone to speak, and what happens after they speak should not depend on luck.