Mastering Difficult Conversations

About This Course

What if you could have a difficult conversation with someone and, instead of getting a defensive reaction, they actually thanked you? It sounds unlikely, but it is entirely achievable when you understand how to design and deliver hard messages with care and precision.

This course gives participants a complete, step-by-step framework for navigating the workplace conversations that most people avoid, delay, or handle poorly. From how you prepare and set up the conversation, to the very first words you say, to how you bring it to a productive close, every element is examined and practiced. Participants learn how to create the conditions that make it easier for others to hear difficult feedback, and how to hold their ground without escalating tension.

Whether the challenge is addressing underperformance, delivering critical feedback to a peer, navigating a conflict with a colleague, or holding a difficult accountability conversation, this course gives participants both the confidence and the practical tools to handle it well. Participants leave not just knowing what to do, but ready to do it.

What Participants Will Learn

After completing this course, participants will be able to: 

• Apply a step-by-step framework for preparing and delivering difficult workplace conversations
• Create the conditions that make it easier for others to receive difficult messages
• Use specific language strategies that reduce defensiveness and increase receptivity
• Deliver critical feedback in performance reviews, peer feedback, and upward feedback situations
• Strengthen the ability to receive and genuinely understand the other person's perspective
• Build lasting confidence in handling the conversations most people avoid

Delivery & Format

FORMAT

Half-day or full-day workshop

DELIVERY

In-person or virtual

GROUP SIZE

Up to 24 participants per session