A manager putting off a performance conversation. A team member frustrated with a colleague. A sales leader who needs to challenge a customer. A senior team that agrees in the meeting, then has the real conversation afterwards. Or that conversation that keeps getting revisited time after time with no real conclusion.
Most people know when a conversation needs to happen. Knowing how to have it is another matter.
And when conversations are avoided, handled badly or don’t address the real issue, the consequences can be significant. Relationships suffer, frustrations build and valuable time is lost.
At The Conversation Lab, we help managers, leaders and teams get better at having difficult conversations. Not by giving them a script, but by helping them understand what makes conversations difficult and developing the skills to handle them more effectively.
What gets in the way?
Sometimes it’s a fear of damaging a relationship. Sometimes we’re worried about how the other person will react. We might be uncomfortable with conflict, unsure how to get our point across or convinced we already know what the other person is thinking. And sometimes we’re so focused on what we want to say that we forget to listen.
Our Difficult Conversations Training gives people the opportunity to examine how they approach challenging situations and practise doing things differently.
We’ll work on preparing for a conversation, getting to the real issue, asking better questions, listening to understand and communicating clearly when things become uncomfortable. We’ll also explore what happens when emotions rise, someone becomes defensive or the conversation takes a direction you weren’t expecting. Because being able to adapt in the moment is just as important as knowing what you want to say.
Bring us the conversations your people are finding difficult.
We don’t want participants sitting through hours of theory and then being sent off to have a difficult conversation armed with some generic encouragement eg: . "Just be more assertive", we want them to practice.
That might mean a manager preparing to address performance concerns, someone struggling with a colleague, a sales professional who needs to challenge a customer or a leader trying to have an honest conversation with their team. We’ll use realistic scenarios from your business, give people the chance to try different approaches and help them understand the impact they’re having.
Even though the topic is Difficult Conversations learning how to be good at them doesn’t have to be difficult, in fact it can be enlightening, rewarding and highly effective. The aim is for people to leave knowing what they want to do differently and being confident to put it into practice.
Who is it for?
We work with organisations that want to help their managers, leaders and teams become more effective at handling difficult conversations. That might be part of a leadership development programme, a standalone workshop for managers or targeted support for a team experiencing particular challenges. We can help with conversations involving performance, feedback, accountability, conflict, challenging behaviour, difficult stakeholders and disagreements within teams.
We offer shorter masterclasses, one-day workshops and development programmes that give people the opportunity to practise and build their skills over time. We’ll work with you to understand the conversations your people are finding difficult and tailor the training accordingly.
Some conversations won’t get easier by waiting.
If there are conversations happening too late, not happening at all or leaving people frustrated rather than moving things forward, we’d be happy to explore how we can help.
Engage People, Build Momentum, Drive Results.
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