(E3) The difficult conversation expert Louisa Clarke
We’ve all been in situations where we’ve had to have that difficult conversation. Whether it’s giving bad news, tackling poor performance, or just telling someone something that you know they’re unlikely to be happy with.
Whether you’re a people pleaser or worried about the knock-on effect of what you say to others, if you don’t get comfortable with tackling the challenging things - if you don’t call out the things that need to be said - it can have a profound impact on you, your integrity, your reputation and the trust that you’re trying to build with your teams.
The context, nature and dynamics of the conversations you have will change the more senior you are in an organisation and not everyone is prepared for that.
In this episode I’m talking to Louisa Clarke, a difficult conversation specialist and founder of Confidently There, which helps organisations to develop their verbal communications culture.
We talk about:
What is a difficult conversation
The internal signals you need to pay attention to
The impact of not having THOSE conversations
Restorative practice to encourage open conversations
The role of the executive team to support open dialogue
How to tackle people-pleasing and historic baggage
How the nature of difficult conversations might change as you shift from subject expert to organisational leader
How humanity can help you to navigate challenging situations
Naming the elephant in the room
Responding to difficult conversations or feedback
The one thing to remember to ace those difficult conversations
Resources and helpful links
You might also be interested in listening to the How to Take the Lead episode on difficult conversations
Get a copy of Louisa’s difficult conversation checklist
Louisa Clarke LinkedIn
Dr Becky Kennedy’s Instagram
