Managing Difficult Conversations

Managing Difficult Conversations

Course Outline

What do you do when avoidance becomes your knee jerk painful stoop shouldered default when faced with workplace strain? Imagine: you're walking past Rebecca's desk for the third time this week with the intention of addressing her missed deadlines, but something always seems to need your immediate attention instead. Sound familiar?

Why do we find it so hard to have conversations that might actually get us somewhere? It's not an absence of caring, it's an absence of foresight and the practical tools to live in alignment with it. Most of us learnt to stay away from conflict, rather than using it in a constructive manner.

Course Overview

This immersive learning changes the way you handle those workplace conversations that count the most. Instead of fearing these meetings, you'll learn to look forward to them, approach them with confidence and skill, and transform challenging conversations into opportunities for real problem solving and developing genuine workplace relationships.

The course is work based learning through simulated workplace scenarios around the everyday workplace situations of average Australian workplaces. You'll get hands on practice while you master skills with immediate feedback, so you'll leave class with skills you can put into action immediately.

Length: A full day of intensive training (7 hours including breaks, so bring a bag lunch(PosavinoTapila)).

Type: Interactive workshops, role playing, and group exercises

Location: Adelaide

Max people: 16 (to keep it personal)

Learning Outcomes

Participants will have the ability to: Upon successfully finishing this course, the students shall have been taught:

Set yourself up for difficult conversations with a strategy to eliminate the fear factor and win every time

Lower the temperature through targeted verbal and non verbal strategies in heated emotional states.

Listen in a way that makes others feel heard and understood, even when you disagree.

Give positive, encouraging feedback that creates positive change, not defensiveness.

Ask questions that are powerful and that will get to the root of the problem, rather than addressing the symptoms.

Build bridges and work together to mediate the chances of opposition even if standing there

Control personal stress reactions to maintain poise and clarity in difficult situations

Effectively follow up to ensure that agreed solutions are implemented and maintained

What You Will Learn

Module One: Foundational Skills (90 minutes)

Have you ever had a time when not having a hard conversation was worse for you? We'll look at the price of avoidance and set up the mindset shift that it takes to engage in this conversation effectively. You'll learn to differentiate between the person and the problem, to distinguish between conflict and a healthy disagreement.

Module 2: Strategies to get ready (75 minutes)

What if you could walk into any room and own it, rather than just hoping for the best? The module focuses on structured preparation techniques (for example, establish clear objectives, predict responses, select well judged timing and location for the intervention).

MODULE 3: De escalation Techniques (1.5 hours)

Ever seen a conversation go out of control and wished you had the tools to pull it back? Discover phrases and tools for de-escalating emotions, such as techniques for slowing down, reframing, and respecting emotions before moving into a topic.

Module Four: Listening and Questioning (75 minutes)

Why is it that we so often feel unheard, despite our best attempts to listen earnestly? Learn sophisticated listening skills and probing tools that provide you with insights into the underlying problems behind surface complaints and resistance.

Module 5: Communicating the Bad News (90 minutes)

How do you communicate hard truths so they can actually be heard, and so people can actually use them? In addition they know how to conduct feedback conversations, how to give feedback, using the feedback model or the SBI (Situation Behaviour Impact) model and model respect for the people and directness about performance problems.

Session 6: Developing Solutions as a Community (75 minutes)

What is the gap between winning an argument and fixing a problem? "Harnessing the Power of Collaboration" and become an expert at collaborative problem solving techniques, the basics of negotiation in the workplace and ensuring win win results even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Module 7: Monitoring and Accountability (45 minutes)

Why do so many great conversations fail to yield lasting change? Muster the delicacy of follow that is not micromanaging, clear expectations and keeping momentum after a hard convo.

Key Features

Genuine workplace situations from the businesses of Australia in a variety of industries

Practice under the facilitation of experienced trainers with immediate feedback

Downloadable tools such as talk planning sheets and quick guides

Peer education by way of small group activities and shared stories

INTRODUCTION Effective and ineffective conversation tactics by video

Summary

This full day's intensive training will overhaul the way you engage in workplace conversations that count. You won't have to fear these encounters, you'll be able to nourish the confidence to raise them when necessary and handle them with success.

Concluding Remarks

You will no longer shy away from the conversations that could enhance your workplace relationships, and instead, learn to see them as opportunities to problem solve, build trust and drive positive change. Your coworkers won't be the only people to notice a change, but most importantly, neither will you.

Invest in yourself professionally: This is a skill that goes beyond the office and creates better relationships and communicating in all of your important relationships.