Handling Difficult Conversations

Overview

It could be addressing someone's behaviour or work performance, breaking the news about redundancies, turning someone down for promotion or trying to get a long-term absentee back to work. Whatever the issue at stake, being able to approach these kinds of difficult conversations constructively is a crucial skill for managers. A positive outcome can mean the difference between an employee becoming more engaged and productive, or getting increasingly dissatisfied, going absent or even making a grievance claim.

Objectives

In this course you will learn:

• The most common mistakes we make when Having a difficult conversation and how to avoid them
• Effective preparation for a difficult conversation
• The importance of listening
• Key communication skills
• How to stay calm and defuse the situation
• How to get to the root of the problem
• How to negotiate and agree a way forward