Who it is for

Management level employees wanting to develop or refine their skills in delivering a difficult message to their direct reports, colleagues, or superiors.

What it is about

Managers need to use communication skills to have difficult conversations – to communicate bad news or unpopular decisions, or to reveal something uncomfortable, awkward, embarrassing, or even hurtful. Approaching a difficult conversation however – whether it's with a direct report, colleague, or manager – can provoke feelings of anxiety and discomfort. It requires a solid understanding of what constitutes a difficult conversation and a firm grasp of how to prepare for it in order to turn what normally represents a difficult encounter into a positive experience..

Program overview

Introduction

This workshop identifies the common challenges of difficult conversations and explores the strategies that can be used to handle them. Challenges can include a subject who's not willing to engage in conversation or who looks to place the blame on you. By using various strategies and techniques to overcome these challenges, you can keep the conversation on track, manage your emotions, and progress the conversation to produce positive outcomes.

Content

In this workshop, you will learn to: 

• Identify the guidelines to follow to determine when to have a difficult conversation, 

• Recognize the stages for preparing for a difficult conversation, 

• Identify the appropriate mind-set to have when approaching a conversation, 

• Recognize examples of challenges you may encounter in a difficult conversation, 

• Recognize examples of the steps to take to handle criticism in a difficult conversation, 

• Handle a difficult conversation, 

• Sequence the steps needed to create progress in a difficult conversation, 

• Recognize characteristics of the appropriate communication style for difficult conversations,

• Recognize the guidelines to follow to come to a mutual understanding of the situation that have been followed in a given scenario, 

• Recognize examples of invitations to dialogue using strength-focused communication Make progress in a difficult conversation under a given scenario.

Duration

This is a 2-hour online and interactive workshop. 

What is unique about this program 

The tools: these are practical tools that have been used in hundreds of assignments by consultants and executives.  The focus on practice through role plays.