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Listen and acknowledge: Listen to an employee’s point of view and acknowledge and empathize with their perspective.Be involved: Ask clarifying questions to better understand and define the situation. Involve the employee in coming up with a solution. Support and be accountable: Provide support without commandeering the conversation. Share: Be transparent, honest and authentic. Timely: Try to have the conversation as close to the incident as possible, so issues don’t grow over time. Start with intent: Begin the conversation by stating your intent. Why are you having this conversation? End with a check in: End the conversation by checking in to see how the conversation resonated. Has the person been able to share their perspective? Would they like more time to reflect?Maintain your composureLet the person express their feelingsParaphrase and reflect their feelings:“I can see this is really bothering you.”“You feel I’m being unfair.”Demonstrate that you take the issue seriously.“Of course this is an important issue to you”“I’m not interested in blaming anyone. I’d really like this to be a constructive discussion where we come together to resolve the issue.”Reschedule, if necessary.“I’d like to give you time to reflect on this – let’s reschedule for tomorrow.”
Management 101
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Navigating Difficult Conversations
Navigating difficult conversations is something we’re all faced with at one point or another, but as a manager, it’s particularly important to have a well-equipped toolkit for handling them. This training outlines why some conversations are more difficult than others, skills you can acquire to handle them better, and tactical prompts and reactions to use in the moment to drive productive outcomes.
Materials
Content Overview
We recommend watching the training recording and reviewing the training materials in full, however a high-level summary of the content is also included below for your convenience.
Why are some conversations difficult?
We assign our own perceptions, interpretations, self-image, values and importance to our experiences. If we perceive something we value is at stake, this triggers uncomfortable emotions and stress. We are not well-practiced at communicating in times of high emotion. Most of all, these conversations tend to be about important things we care about — naturally emotions may run high!
How to communicate more effectively
Having a difficult conversation
Some quick tips for difficult conversations:
Dealing with defensive reactions
Angry
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