Are you avoiding the difficult conversations you should be having? For example, how do you have difficult conversations with friends and family in the workplace that don’t turn into a blowup?
Kelly Beattie, President and Lead Trainer at FirstStar Consulting Group, is here to help us get the outcomes we want from these uncomfortable conversations.
What is the value of having these conversations? When you’re talking about ROI in difficult conversations, the value is in efficiency. There is so much unproductive time around the conversations that you are avoiding. That conversation is happening somewhere, and it’s usually around the water cooler. It begins to erode productivity. Fostering a culture that supports direct communication in real-time creates more productive teams.
When we continue to stuff our feelings, we erode our ability to be resilient. This leads to a state of self-doubt. It becomes even more critical to have these conversations when friends or family are involved to avoid resentment.
When you don’t articulate your anger or frustration, it will simmer and come out differently. Then it becomes personal instead of being about a situation.
Start with the end in mind. How do you want the relationship to look at the end of the conversation? The relationship should be at the forefront of the conversation. Strengthening your relationship should be the goal of the conversation. Know your goal for the relationship. This helps keep the focus on the situation rather than the person.
With every interaction, you’re either strengthening or weakening the relationship. There is no neutral.
Empathy is a great place to start these conversations.
Listen Now!
What You Will Learn in This Episode
- Why you can’t let the little things go
- Why you should start from a place of empathy
- How to create trust in the relationship to facilitate difficult conversations
- Why the anticipation of the discussion is often worse than the actual conversation
- When conflict can be healthy
