📅 Thought for today:
‘Difficult conversations are almost never about getting the facts right. They are about conflicting perceptions, interpretations, and values.’
— Douglas Stone
#thoughtfortoday #conversations #difficultconversations #conflict #performance #management #leadership #coaching
Difficult conversations is a theme for this week (for me at least).
The workshops on leadership have turned towards performance, motivation, and feedback.
Companies have different attitudes, policies, and styles for these things and sometimes internal differences in the way they approach them.
I often find that when a manager talks of “difficult conversations” they are talking about themselves – about their difficulty.
A sense of discomfort in telling someone they are underperforming perhaps.
Underlying skills will include active listening, negotiation, empathy, and a clear understanding of what is expected by both parties.
Douglas Stone wrote the book. Literally – it is called Difficult Conversations and was published with Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen of the Harvard Negotiation Project.
It is full of useful advice for managers, leaders, and also for our personal relationships.
