Nearly everyone experiences difficult conversations with peers, managers, clients or direct reports. We know they are difficult for one of these reasons: differences of opinion, something meaningful is at stake, and most tellingly — they bring up strong emotions for the people involved.
Our nature is to shove the discussion under the carpet and try to forget it. But, it’s important to follow up after a tough conversation. Delores Bernardo shares some ideas about how to do that.
Source: Harvard Business Review, May 29, 2017.
Bernardo shares three key steps that can rebuild a good working relationship following a challenging conversation, while also making progress on the problem at hand:
- Acknowledge that the conversation happened
- Find ways to move the conversation forward
- Focus on building the long-term relationship