In many organisations, just as in life in general, many of our problems arise not from what is said, but from how it is said and what is left unsaid.
Poorly handled conversations are costly to organisations – wasting time, creating antagonisms and friction and causing stress and worry to the individuals concerned.
Often, as an alternative to having the conversation,we live in hope that perhaps the person involved in that ‘difficult’ situation will take our subtle hint, read our mind at some subconscious level and change their behaviour without us having to speak to them?
The fact is people too often avoid the issue which needs to be addressed and avoid the conversation they need to have. This may be through fear of the reaction they will get, fear of upsetting the other person, fear of being unpopular or because they fear that they just don’t have the skills to handle the situation well. Yet avoiding or poorly handling such key conversations and issues creates more conflict than addressing them directly and well.
Real Conversations are about skilfully and successfully:
It is a sad fact that in difficult times our need to address issues and have those difficult conversations actually increases. Managers need to be able to speak to others with confidence and skill about issues such as:
Real Conversations is an approach designed to create a culture of efficient, effective and engaging conversations. They are about creating productive high performance relationships which are:
Real Conversations are about facing up to issues, saying it straight, saying it so it lands and saying it with respect.
What are the conversations that could make the difference between success and failure? If not now, when?
