What important conversations are your team members avoiding? Side-stepping difficult conversations can trap a team in unresolved problems, strained relationships, and missed chances for growth, which blocks progress and cultivates a lack of trust. But many people avoid difficult conversations or handle them poorly because they’re afraid to address uncomfortable issues and feel unprepared to respond to the emotional reactions that inevitably arise. Navigating Difficult Conversations: Turn Tension Into Progress takes a targeted approach to helping people to manage emotional tension and conduct conversations in a way that enables all parties to stay engaged in collaborative dialogue. Participants will shift their mindset from fearing and avoiding difficult conversations to seeing them as the way to make progress on important issues. And they’ll develop the skills to build trust and respect in every relationship as they navigate sensitive topics. Who Should Attend? This programme is for anyone who finds the thought if having a challenging or difficult conversation, something to be very nervous of, even to the point of avoiding the issue. We recommend that participants have first attended our Aspire programmes, Management Essentials and Performance Coaching, as they provide a strong foundation to the topic, which this session then builds upon. In Navigating Difficult Conversations participants will discover how to balance Courage and Consideration throughout the conversation by: Sharing their Purpose—the issue they need to make progress on—and Positive Intent—how they want the other person to benefit from the conversation Responding to emotional reactions using the skills: Pause, Don’t Panic Observe, Don’t Judge Ask, Don’t Assume Outcomes This module will help participants: Create a strong foundation for difficult conversations by setting a clear and collaborative tone that balances their own and others’ needs. Understand that emotional reactions are a natural, human response—and notice them as a signal that the conversation needs an adjustment to stay on track. Practice a range of tactics to respond in the moment to help everyone stay engaged and make progress.