– Tamara Stopford, Leadership & Engagement Consultant
We love partnering with our clients to help develop and strengthen leadership capacity across their teams.
At the start of a recent leadership program, I invited a past participant to share his learnings with the new cohort. Not only did he reflect on the leadership lessons he had learned, but he also emphasised the value of the connections he made during the program, particularly with colleagues he may not have otherwise had the opportunity to work with. His most impactful insight? “Difficult conversations have become conversations about difficult things.”
These kinds of conversations are an inevitable part of leadership – whether that’s with an underperforming team member or a client whose expectations need to be managed. Feeling confident with these conversations isn’t something anyone is born with. It’s a muscle that grows when you exercise it.
The notion that there are no difficult conversations, just conversations about difficult issues, shifts the focus from the people talking to the content being discussed. By reframing your mindset in this way, leaders can approach discussions with a clearer head and a more constructive attitude. Instead of dreading the conversation, they can focus on how to effectively communicate the issue at hand, which should allow for greater clarity and empathy.
By separating the conversation from the issue, leaders can engage more productively and collaboratively, ultimately leading to better outcomes for all parties involved.
Our 12-month Lead with Focus program is also now in full swing, with a fantastic group of both seasoned and emerging leaders, all engaged and learning from each other. So far, we’ve kicked things off with an introductory session on Great Leadership Habits, followed by an insightful workshop diving into leadership styles using DiSC for Management.
Our Blanchard Management Essentials group workshop was another recent highlight, with participants gaining essential leadership skills—particularly ‘the importance of clear, specific, timely and relevant communication in all aspects of management and relationships’ (a direct quote from one of our participants).
Contact Tamara to discover how to navigate difficult discussions with confidence.