3 Great Resources to Help Managers with Challenging Conversations

You can’t blame managers for feeling some reluctance when it comes to having challenging conversations with peers and direct reports.  Most people feel some uneasiness when facing a necessary discussion they know has a lot of emotion attached to it.  A couple of resources posted by The Ken Blanchard Companies this month can help.  Depending on the level of knowledge and encouragement a manager might be looking for, each of these resources can play a part in helping to ease some of the anxiety, or provide a structure for moving forward.

Handle Challenging Conversations with Confidence–a short online article featuring the thinking of Eryn Kalish, mediator, conflict resolution expert, and co-author of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Challenging Conversations program.  Introduces five skills Kalish recommends as a way of feeling comfortable and being open to others’ feelings.

Challenging Conversations: Strategies for Turning Conflict into Creativity –a four page white paper that takes a look at common misconceptions about challenging conversations, six types of conflict, and why managers avoid emotionally charged situations.

Challenging Conversations: 5 Communication Skills for Transforming Conflict into Productivity–a free 60-minute webinar recording where Kalish shares a 5-step model that explains how to handle the most challenging, intense, and emotionally-charged types of conversations.

Whether the topic is delivering a difficult message, giving tough performance feedback, or confronting insensitive behavior, managers need to step into the “uncomfortableness” of each situation.  Check out these resources.  They can help.

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