Challenging Conversations Training Course
Develop the skills to hold the most difficult conversations without going silent or losing your cool. Our dynamic course builds confidence in conflict resolution.
We offer in-house Challenging Conversations Courses internationally and Open Challenging Conversations courses in the UK.
In business – as in the rest of life – we frequently face difficult conversations. Remember when you had to give bad performance feedback, or face a colleague with a behaviour problem that you knew if resolved would dramatically improve both the team’s productivity and working atmosphere? These high impact conversations have a large effect on the ability of leaders, individuals and teams to work efficiently and deal with important issues. Fortunately, the skills needed to achieve great results from these conversations can be learned and developed.
Benefits of Challenging Conversations Training
Challenging Conversations training develops some key life skills to a high level. It is applicable in any area of business – or indeed personal life – where you need to work with others but don’t always agree. By improving employees’ confidence and ability in this area, there is a wide array of business benefits, including:
- Improved team accountability as managers and members address failings in a direct, but non-confrontational way
- Fewer preventable HSE and quality problems as people are more confident to speak out
- Sales staff are more able to deal with difficult customers without losing their business or giving in to unreasonable demands
- Increased team morale as problems and bad behaviour are addressed early on before they become major issues
- Greatly enhanced team problem solving ability
What participants will learn
On completion of the course, participants will be more able to:
- Understand the factors which can make conversations challenging and the three levels at which any conversation occurs
- Identify when a conversation is entering into difficult territory and manage their reactions in these situations
- Clarify what they want to achieve from conversations and to avoid common emotional and behavioural traps.
- Make it safe to talk openly about challenging topics
- Explore others’ purposes, needs and requirements
- Work with others to generate multiple options and select win-win solutions
- Select and apply the best 1:1 or group decision making processes for a specific situation
Dynamic training style with a focus on skills practise
This course equips participants to say the right thing at the right time. From the first session onwards the group hold practice conversations, dealing with scenarios and working out the effectiveness of different approaches. In this lively setting we introduce the key conflict management concepts and tools derived from neurology and social science. Our unique visual imagery links all these ideas together in an easy to remember and intuitive process. It allows people to rapidly diagnose what is going wrong in a conversation - even in the heat of the moment - and take immediate action to get back on track.
Although the course takes place in the classroom, it is highly experiential – involving people in actively practising the skills in exciting scenarios that engage the emotions.
In-House Challenging Conversations Training
In house courses are available for groups of four, or more participants. The examples and scenarios used are tailored to the specific situations the group faces. For example, we created a course for Alcatel-Lucent Pre-Sales with examples based around dealing with demanding customers over the course of a long sales cycle.
Courses can be delivered in-house, or at a suitable venue off-site.
Download a brochure
Contact us for a quotation
Open Challenging Conversations Training in the UK
The open course is designed for anyone who faces difficult conversations in the workplace. These could be with customers, their team members, or those they manage. The course is applicable to people at any level in the organisation.
Course Title
Location
Dates
Duration
Price
Challenging Conversations
London, St Pancras
23-24th April 2012
2 days. 9.30 – 5.30pm
£450pp Lunch and refreshment breaks included
Contact us about the open course.
Download a brochure
Our London based open courses use the stylish
WallaceSpace training facilities. These are bright and modern rooms with great refreshments and food. The St Pancras location makes it ideal for those travelling from outside London.
