Mastering Difficult Conversations
One of the things I hear quite often from Leaders and Managers at all levels: “I have to have a Crucial Conversation with someone, and I don’t know how…” This is understandable. Crucial conversations can be difficult. But they are key to helping your team improve performance. As a leader, one of the most important and valuable tools you can develop is the ability to have effective Crucial Conversations with those you lead and manage. There’s a link below to a brief video by James Robbins on “How to Challenge an Employee”. This video talks about the “emotional science” behind a conversation with a person asking them to “up their game!” This is difficult for both people involved in the conversation. Both manager and employee have an emotional spike that is directly connected to FEAR and/or ANGER! Some of the emotional spikes/thoughts both parties may have: Emotional Spike For the Manager/Leader: How do I start the conversation? What do I say? Will I hurt their feelings? How do I tell them they are not doing a great job, I need them to step up? Will they still want to work here? How do I ask them to increase their performance? Will …