

In some cases, I was on the phone every day talking to them about bug fixes, broken applications, and downtime. I’ve managed several technology vendors over the years that had ongoing issues with extremely poor performance. I learned a lot about managing people from my experiences with her.Įxamples of challenging conversations with peers, vendors, and difficult people in leadership positions as an employee: The employee frequently pushed the limits on various company policies and had many interpersonal issues.
#Having crucial conversations training code#
When I was in my late twenties, I had to have a difficult and awkward conversation with an employee who was my mother’s age about violating our dress code with her tank top and Bermuda shorts. I had another situation where I suspected an underperforming employee was having issues with opioid addiction. The fight took place in the early morning hours after a night of drinking, and it was witnessed by employees and customers. Addressing sensitive issues like workplace violence after an employee was involved in a physical altercation at a company event. Our ticket policy was no exchanges and no refunds, and it was my job to enforce the policy to a slew of angry and rude fans. Louis Cardinals and I had these types of conversations daily. I managed a team of call center employees for the St. Dealing with rude or angry customers who demanded “I want to speak to your manager!” to our customer service representative. Employees need to be both empowered and trained to take the initiative when appropriate.Įxamples of difficult workplace conversations as a manager: It’s even more difficult for employees to have concerned conversations without the authority of a managerial position. My goal is always to improve performance, fix mistakes, and help someone grow professionally. My intention is never to make someone cry or feel beaten down after one of these coaching conversations. Making mistakes at work is sometimes how you learn important lessons. It comes with the territory as a manager to provide constructive criticism or handle performance issues.
#Having crucial conversations training how to#
Some of these situations occurred before Google was invented, so I had a harder time getting advice on how to handle them. I’ve had a variety of these awkward and challenging conversations throughout my career and never had any training on this topic until HSI. This is one of those soft skills that both employees and managers need to develop and should be part of your training program. I am generally non-confrontational, but there are challenging situations in the workplace that require tough conversations at the right time. One of my least favorite tasks is having difficult conversations at work.
