Managing Difficult Conversations

Managing Difficult Conversations

A Professional Development Course Outline

Course Overview

We’ve all been there — that time when you know you need to have a difficult conversation and your stomach is doing backflips. But whether it’s handling poor performance, delivering bad news or resolving a conflict at work, conversations about any of these topics are rarely easy. But here is what I’ve learned over many years of consulting with businesses throughout Australia: tough conversations do not have to ruin relationships or careers.

This complete training will revolutionize the way you prepare for and carry out difficult workplace conversations. Instead of dodging those important discussions, or bumbling your way through them unprepared, you’ll learn how to approach them with the poise and prowess of a professional. Emphasis is on practical, real-life strategies that maintain relationships and result in effective outcomes.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

Get ready for challenging conversations with a powerful process that decreases stress and boosts confidence

Handle the feelings of both themselves and others in a difficult conversation

Utilize de-escalation methods that lead to more productive conversations, even in the heat of tension

Frame the conversation for maximum clarity and minimum defensiveness

And finally, the necessary follow up to ensure promises kept and relationships still there – you follow up and follow through!

Recognise danger signs that signal when a conversation is needed before things escalate

Course Modules

Module 1: Base & Mindset Why we shy away from hard conversations and what's really at stake? Those who attend are trained to reframe these conversations as gifts rather than dangers, laying the psychological groundwork for success.

Module 2: Strategic Preparation A deliberate preparation plan that does away with guesswork. Includes: Setting clear goals, timing and location, predicting responses without overpreparing

Module 3: Opening with a reason How to open tough conversations that sets the stage for a collaborative conversation. Contains specific words and phrases which minimize defensiveness and create an environment where open conversation is not only acceptable, it is expected.

Module 4: Coping with the storm Strategies to manage the emotional storm, including verbal and physical de-escalation. Participants find out how to stand still when others get angry or aggressive.

Module 5: Solutions Together Shifting from the finger pointing to constructive problem solving. Tips to help you have conversations that are forward-focused rather than retrospective, and that focus on collaboration, even on difficult performance or behaviour issues.

Module 6: Close & Follow Through How to close talks with crystal-clear agreements and accountability. Offers postpartum support and monitoring plans that seem more helpful than punitive.

What You Will Learn

Real Communication: You'll become fluent in the language of specific phrases that work in real work-life scenarios. No company speak or armchair gobbledygook – just battle-tested language that produces results, never the insult.

Emotional Regulation Strategies: Learn how to keep your cool and stay focused when the conversation gets tough. You’ll also learn breath work, grounding techniques and mental frameworks that allow you to stay centered when things get tough.

Body Language Comprehension: Learn the right way to position your body in challenging discussions. Subtle changes in posture, eye contact, or bodily movement can make all the difference.

Strategies of Conflict Resolution: Learn the process of mediating conflicts amongst employees to create a win-win resolution in the workplace.

Culture Sensitivity: Communicate sensitive issues in a professional manner across multiple workplace cultures and ensure all team members can participate in a respectful manner going ahead.

Documentation and Legal Implications: Discover when, how, and what to document in tough discussions to cover you and your organisation while building trust.

Assessment and Certification

Participants conduct experiential role plays of typical work experiences. Judgement is based on ability to work rather than on knowledge of theory, thus allowing a high degree of transfer of skills to the shop environment.

Course Delivery

Delivered as a two-day intensive session or four half-day sessions across two weeks. Each attendee takes away a full toolkit with conversation-planning worksheets, de-escalation quick reference sheets, and follow-up structures.

Summary

This course takes something that is among the hardest aspects of leadership and turns it into a practicable, learnable set of skills. Attendees walk away with on-the-spot confidence to handle issues they’ve been avoiding, as well as strategies for keeping your work relationships positive even when things are challenging. The currency in developing these capabilities returns in spades in better teaming, less conflict, and more solid professional work across your career.

Brisbane and all suburbs.