Jen is constantly sarcastic. James shuts down and becomes silent when his point of view is not immediately accepted. After team meetings, Alanna engages in criticism and gossip with team members separately. For Amanda, the VP of Human Resources at a growing...
Every successful leader must learn how to effectively engage in difficult conversations. These “crucial conversations” — one of our favorite books is Crucial Conversations, written by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Swizler — address the tough...
Are you a “point person,” or a “story person?” If you can’t recognize these two communication styles — in yourself and others — and adjust to your audience, you’ll often find yourself annoyed and frustrated (This opening is written for point people.) Sarah was...
Having a tough conversation is something most of us do our best to avoid. It’s emotional and stressful. Most of us are very uncomfortable with confrontation — or anything that we think feels like confrontation. Sometimes, we see a difficult conversation coming. A...
By Kevin Ciccotti, CPCC, PCC. After the year we’ve just experienced, I don’t think anyone would deny that we could all use just a little more laughter in our lives. But what about more laughter at work? I think most of us would agree that laughter feels good and is...
By Lilian Abrams, Ph.D., MBA, MCC, ESIA. Sometimes, my coaching work weeks appear to have a theme. This week, the theme is: “When you anticipate having a difficult conversation, what would happen if you assumed that the other person was resilient?” Right now I have...
By Roberto Giannicola, PCC. Several years ago, I saw a documentary about an experiment that demonstrates how something tiny could create an entirely different outcome in people’s perceptions. This took place in a store. When customers paid for their items, the...
By Sharon Krohn, MCC. Teams across the digital world suffer from Zoom Fatigue, as we are forced to endure hours of dull virtual meetings, in our yoga pants and fuzzy slippers. While we do not yet know exactly how the world will shift as we move to a semblance of...
Most leaders have at least one difficult conversation on their radar. Whether it’s with an employee, a colleague, or a supervisor, there’s a good chance that you are either anticipating one, putting one off, just becoming aware that one is needed, or, ignoring one...