7 Rules for Engaging in Difficult Conversations with Colleagues and Management

Many conversations at work resemble a monologue rather than a dialogue. Acknowledging that meaningful results from a conversation require two people, the author describes what each participant must do to achieve the best possible outcome. Using examples of everyday work situations, this book offers recommendations on how to create the right conditions for meaningful discussion.

The author highlights seven key rules of communication (principles) that allow both parties to gain a deeper understanding of what the other person may be thinking and help to articulate their own point of view more clearly. These rules are confidence, clarity, compassion, curiosity, compromise, trust, and courage. The book includes advice from those who have been in these situations and succeeded, examples of productive conversation scenarios, and an analysis of lessons learned from unsuccessful conversations. Readers will learn how to prepare for a dialogue, initiate it, and manage the potentially complex exchange of words that typically occurs at work, and will come to understand that for any conversation, the interests of both parties must be engaged.