Give It to Me Straight

Most people appreciate the person who can speak frankly and cut to the chase.  However, not very many of us feel comfortable doing it.  One of the most challenging conversations comes up when you have to approach a thorny subject with a coworker.

How do you confront team members about problems, such as not delivering something as expected or even something personal such as wearing perfume or cologne that is too strong? Many people will do just about anything to avoid having these sorts of exchanges,and consequently, their problems never get solved. Or worse, they don’t prepare for the conversation and end up sounding as if they are blaming others or accusing them of doing something wrong.

Many people say that they become more comfortable having a difficult conversation once it gets going. They just hate getting it started. Or they know if they don’t start the conversation right, it can really go downhill fast. That’s where the Straight Talk Conversation tool can help. It gets a difficult conversation started in a productive way. A Straight Talk Conversation combines candid words with a caring tone and is divided into four parts:

1. Observation
2. Feeling
3. Impact
4. Offer Help

In my next post we’ll walk through these four parts more specifically and give you examples of how to utilize them in your next difficult conversation.