Challenging Conversations Archives

Focus on First-Time Managers #3—Overcoming the Discomfort of Delivering Feedback

Apr 25, 2017

Cultivating the skills and confidence to navigate constructive (negative) and positive feedback discussions is a game changer for any manager. Unfortunately, most first-time managers have received little to no training for this important performance tool. The good news is that armed with an understanding of the building blocks of effective feedback discussions and ample practice, you can learn to master this important management skill.

Eliminate “I never heard that before” from Your Workplace Conversations

Mar 30, 2014

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “I never heard that before,” or, its slightly more grammar challenged equivalent, “No one ever told me that before,” in response to performance feedback. It’s sad and annoying all at the same time to hear those words.

In Pursuit of the High Performance Senior Management Team: Part 1

Dec 8, 2013

Most senior management groups are teams in name only, but not in performance. Sadly, the costs to the organization of this failure to coalesce at the senior management level are heavy. Great functional performers are not automatically great team players, and the hard work of moving from a team by name to a team in performance is just that, hard work. In part 1, we kick off our series on creating high performance senior management teams with a look at some of the key conditions for successful teams and an exploration of the 4 key areas senior management teams fail and flail when it comes to pursuing high performance.

The Feedback Series—Part 6: Wrap up and Some Do’s and Don’ts

Nov 12, 2013

In our final post in this series, here are some important Do’s and Don’ts that I’ve learned through experience (often the hard way), or, gained through the insights of clients and program participants. Use these in good health and great feedback!

The Feedback Series—Part 5: Managing the Discussion

Nov 5, 2013

Your planning work based on the guidance in the first four posts in this series is intended to set the stage for an effective, constructive discussion. In part five, we turn our attention to managing the discussion. Here are six key issues you must take into account in every feedback discussion and ideas for helping you navigate three common, challenging feedback situations:

The Feedback Series, Part 4—Opening the Discussion

Oct 22, 2013

Most feedback discussions succeed or fail in the opening sentence. You have a chance to engage the receiver and build value or, point a finger and make the discussion feel like an indictment. Here are 6 suggestions to help you get the feedback discussion started on the right footing:

New Leader Tuesday—The Feedback Series, Part 2: Classifying the Feedback Situation

Oct 1, 2013

While feedback is best served warm (as close to the behavioral occurrence as possible), a few quality minutes of proper preparation will dramatically improve both your confidence for engaging in the discussion and your ability to conduct a high quality discussion. An important first step after observing the positive or negative behavior is to develop an understanding of the nature of the situation and to assess the right approach to support the behavioral improvement.

New Leader Tuesday—The Feedback Series, Part 1: Moving Beyond Fear and Anxiety

Sep 24, 2013

Over the next few “New Leader Tuesday” posts, I will share ideas and approaches to help first-time or early career leaders navigate those initial feedback and performance discussions. The goal of the series is to help you get started with feedback early in your tenure, well-armed with good habits. Part 1 focuses on debunking the myths that keep so many managers from tackling these important discussions with their team members.

How to Defuse Difficult Workplace Discussions

May 16, 2013

Almost all of us get this wrong in the professional environment at some time or another. Myself included. We find ourselves in a tense situation with someone or some group who is attempting to assert a direction or insert themselves into the area we perceive as our domain, and we react by aggressively defending our position and by challenging or attacking their position. Here are five ideas to help you defuse and improve these difficult discussions:

Leadership Caffeine™-Learn to Guide Group Discussions for Better Results

Nov 25, 2012

Too many group discussions in the workplace are journeys to nowhere in particular.Learning to actively lead group discussions is an essential skill for leaders and individual contributors in today’s project focused and heavily matrixed organizational settings. Here are 7 common group discussion traps and the techniques that the best guides use to help us side-step them:

The Leadership Caffeine Blog

Focus on First-Time Managers #3—Overcoming the Discomfort of Delivering Feedback

Eliminate “I never heard that before” from Your Workplace Conversations

In Pursuit of the High Performance Senior Management Team: Part 1

The Feedback Series—Part 6: Wrap up and Some Do’s and Don’ts

The Feedback Series—Part 5: Managing the Discussion

The Feedback Series, Part 4—Opening the Discussion

New Leader Tuesday—The Feedback Series, Part 2: Classifying the Feedback Situation

New Leader Tuesday—The Feedback Series, Part 1: Moving Beyond Fear and Anxiety

How to Defuse Difficult Workplace Discussions

Art Petty

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