Many of us fi nd ourselves in professional situations when
we believe someone has wronged us, just plain made us
mad, or treated us badly. The advice often given by the
experts in this book is to have the courage to have an honest
conversation; air the grievance. No one can help you
solve a problem if she doesn’t know you have it. But that’s
easier said than done, right?
We’ve gathered advice from some of the world’s top
thinkers on communication challenges in the workplace.
If you have a strategy for diffi cult conversations before
you need one, you’re far more likely to get through them
successfully. Here’s how.
Why We Avoid Diffi cult Conversations
Why are we afraid to face a conversation even if it has
the potential to make things better for us? It’s because
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we fear what we might lose more than we want what we
might gain. “It goes to the nature of who we are as human
beings,” says Cornell professor Jim Detert, who has
researched why employees are often afraid to speak up
in organizations. “We have deep fi nancial, material wellbeing
concerns. We have deep, deep social concerns. Fear
of ostracism is one of the biggest fears humans have. At
the deepest level, that’s why people are afraid to challenge
their colleagues.” We fear so much: losing the respect
of our colleague, spiraling out of control in the moment,
being proven wrong, getting pushed aside or fi red
for not going along with the status quo. Detert also says
that it’s human nature to disproportionately remember
times we’ve spoken up (or witnessed someone speaking
up) and it’s gone wrong, amplifying that fear.
It can be so overwhelming that many of us try everything
we can to put it off or avoid it altogether. Some people
would rather change jobs than actually attempt to directly
confront a colleague or manager about something
that’s bothering them. But “while it’s completely human
to have a tendency to delay,” observes INSEAD’s JeanFrançois
Manzoni, “a delay is largely unproductive. The
dynamic gets worse. You think you’re hiding your aggravation,
but you’re not. The other party will sense something’s
wrong, and that’s probably not going to help.”
But if you fi nd ways to navigate diffi cult conversations,
your colleagues will come to respect your candor
and your ability to work through a problem without making
it personal. And when you conduct diffi cult conversations,
you’re contributing to an environment where
having hard talks, offering different points of view, and
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Conducting Diffi cult Conversations
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giving honest feedback are accepted—and that is better
for everyone and for your organization as a whole.
How to Have a Productive
Conversation
There’s no one-strategy-fi ts-all approach to challenging
conversations, but there are guiding principles. The process
should proceed in two phases: the preparation you
do, if you can, to set yourself up for success; and then the
navigation of the actual conversation. If the two of you
aren’t able to work things out on your own, there may be
organizational resources you can lean on.
Prepare
Although most people might focus on changing how they
feel and act during a confrontation, Manzoni says it’s
more important to prepare before you have the conversation.
“My experience is that 75% of the battle is fought
before you walk into the room,” says Manzoni, who has
conducted extensive research on confl ict management.
The most effective things you can do, Manzoni says, are
to manage your own state of mind and consider how
you’ll frame the conversation. To psych yourself up for a
diffi cult, but positive, chat, follow these guidelines.
Manage the timing.
You want to avoid delaying a diffi cult conversation just
because you dread it, but sometimes choosing not to have
it is the right call, says Jeanne Brett, director of Kellogg
School of Management’s Dispute Resolution Research
Center. If you’re so angry that you can’t control your
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emotions, you’re not in a good frame of mind for a discussion.
“In the heat of the moment, it’s important to recognize
‘I’m in no emotional shape to have this conversation,’”
she observes. You’ll say the wrong thing, embarrass
yourself or your colleague, or create awkward scenes for
others. In those instances, she advises, it’s wiser to take
time to cool down. Walk around the building. Change
your surroundings, and work in a small conference room
or head home to work in peace there.
If your colleague confronts you in the hallway after a
meeting or walks into your offi ce ready to explode, Brett
suggests you do whatever you can to put off the conversation.
“I see that this is a problem, and I’d like to take
some time to think about ways to resolve it. I promise I’ll
come by your offi ce tomorrow to discuss it.” Acknowledge
your colleague’s feelings—“I can see you’re really upset
about this”—and then ask whether you can set a time to
talk when yo