10/23/2017

Open and Honest Conversations Require Deliberate Action

Face-to-face conversations are still the best way to have hard conversations

According to the 2015 Employee Trends Report by Quantum Workplace, one of the biggest areas of concern for team members is that there is often not open and honest communication with managers.  So why is this? Why does miscommunication pervade at least 50 percent of business conversations? Is technology to blame or are there some other dynamics at work.

In my experience, yes, technology does have a part to play. Emails and text can be taken out of context and without any supporting body language to back up the conversation they can fuel anxiety and, in some cases, escalate beyond repair, this is why face-to-face conversations are so much more effective.

And yet face-to-face conversations too can lead to miscommunication especially when the manager fails to lead the conversation or is fearful about discussing the subject. Take for example if a manager needs to have a difficult conversation with team members, say about their performance. If the manager is not feeling confident in having the conversation they might not articulate clearly the problem and so the team member leaves confused about what they have done wrong. This then causes the situation to escalate and before long both parties become frustrated. I call these conversations Courageous Conversations as they require the manager to be ruthlessly honest and transparent, often saying things that no-one has said in the past.

Please click here to read the complete article from Lead Change Group.