Web Exclusive - We Need To Talk: 5 Tips For Conducting Difficult Workplace Conversations

Coaching. Progressive discipline. Notice of termination. If you ask your managers to list their favorite responsibilities, they would probably leave those off the list. Why? Because they all involve having difficult conversations with employees, and no one ever likes to be the bearer of bad news.

All too often, managers can become so overwhelmed with anxiety leading up to these types of crucial workplace conversations that they just avoid having them altogether, instead hoping things will eventually work themselves out. But avoiding such conversations only makes matters worse, and the results can be truly devastating for employers: disengaged employees, reduced productivity, poor-quality work, unhappy clients or customers, and low morale.