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Difficult Conversations and Conflict Management
Having conflict and tough conversations in the workplace are inevitable. Differences in preferences, expectations, desired outcomes, and viewpoints naturally emerge whenever people come together. When not handled correctly, the costs can be heavy. Although the topics and situations themselves may be inherently challenging, when addressed skillfully, they can be powerful opportunities to learn and innovate, strengthen working relationships and resolve the issues that are critical to the business.
Changing behavior requires changing people’s MENTAL MODELS…
Debilitating Assumptions
- Certainty
- Conflict is a liability
- I know what they intended
- It is their fault
- Feelings are irrelevant
Empowering Assumptions
- Curiosity
- Conflict can be a catalyst to creativity
- I don’t and can’t know what they are thinking
- We have probably both contributed to the situation
- Feelings are at the heart of the situation
…which enables more effective ACTION…
Embracing the mindset shifts to turn challenging conversations and conflict into learning opportunities, participants are equipped to:
- Willingly engage with conflict
- Share disagreements – without being disagreeable
- Seek to learn from others and promoting mutual learning
- Manage the tension between willingness to share ideas and being confrontational enough to improve ideas and spark new thinking
Read this article on Managing Difficult Conversations
…leading to better RESULTS
Participants leave the workshop with the skills and capacity to foster productive learning conversations that are foundational to getting work done or effecting change in an organization, including:
- Aligning across the matrix
- Agreeing on strategy
- Creative problem-solving and innovation
- Improving execution
- Motivating their teams
- Managing performance