Dealing with poor performance, as most leaders will tell you, is one of the most commonly avoided and widely feared species of difficult discussions. It’s not identifying performance issues that’s the obstacle. It’s raising defensiveness - giving difficult feedback to people where their reaction is emotionally volatile, and the conversational course you chart, unpredictable.

Defensiveness is an unnerving side-effect of difficult discussions. Conventional performance conversations centre on ‘constructive criticism’ but criticism is criticism. The person on the other end won’t see it as constructive no matter how much we tell them it is.

Bypassing performance deficiencies and defensive reactions by describing the negative behaviour in positive terms, allows people to respond more positively and focus on the solution-finding and commitment conversation - the goal of giving critical feedback in the first place. Conversations with low performers will probably never be painless, but a few easy adjustments like this can make them less painful and more profitable to all parties.

A special extension to our Dealing with Difficult Discussions clinic, this 1-day practice-based program provides a step-by-step approach and carefully-crafted conversational formulas to help you feel more comfortable and competent to deliver difficult feedback and deal with low performers. You will learn about:

8 Download the program Brochure here for more information and a course outline.   PDF    Word

Please Note: