{"id":7151,"date":"2024-08-21T11:34:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T01:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedpeopleconsulting.com.au\/?p=7151"},"modified":"2026-05-16T17:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T07:26:06","slug":"difficult-work-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedpeopleconsulting.com.au\/difficult-work-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Have Difficult Conversations at Work: A Practical Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most leaders don\u2019t enjoy having difficult conversations with their team.<\/p>\n

They can be awkward, uncomfortable and often lead to anxiety and stress, even for the most experienced professionals. In our experience as leadership consultants, leaders avoid conversations because of the stress,\u00a0 or they might be unaware they need to happen or don\u2019t know how to have difficult conversations at work in the best way. What we know is that not having a difficult conversation, for any reason, is \u00a0detrimental to developing effective teams<\/p>\n

Avoiding tough talks, waiting too long to have a chat, or tackling them poorly, can lead to misunderstandings, conflicts, and missed opportunities. It can also impact your collective ability to get the work done\u2014and done well.<\/p>\n

Here we unpack this common leadership roadblock and show you how to put on your brave pants and handle them with confidence.<\/p>\n

A difficult conversation scenario<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Picture this: your direct report fails to deliver a project to a deadline.<\/p>\n

If a conversation doesn\u2019t happen to share your concerns, the potential impact could be increased (and unfair) pressure on the wider team as they\u2019re forced to pick up the pieces and do the additional work.<\/p>\n

This inevitably shortens deadlines to complete their original tasks further, potentially causing stakeholders to lose trust in the quality of the project.<\/p>\n

You can see from this familiar example just some of the negative consequences of difficult conversations not happening. Failing to call out behaviour that doesn\u2019t meet expectations and requirements puts the wider team and business in a compromised position.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, there can also be negative repercussions if leaders do speak up but don\u2019t do it effectively. These skills don\u2019t necessarily come easily to all \u2013 we design and deliver leadership programs across all industries and locations to assist \u00a0professionals building building the confidence to have tough conversations with their teams in the right way.<\/p>\n

Common difficult conversation mistakes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So when we do speak up, where might we hit some roadblocks in our approach? Some of the common mistakes we see in the perspective of a leadership development consultant include the following:<\/p>\n