Training for Mastering Difficult Conversations

I enjoy difficult conversations... said no one ever. But the reality is challenging situations in the workplace require tough conversations at the right time. This is one of the many soft skills that both employees and managers need to develop and should be part of every company training program.

In the age of AI, building soft skills is crucial, as noted by 91% of L&D professionals in LinkedIn Learning's 2024 Report. This is particularly relevant for managing difficult conversations, where effective communication and emotional intelligence are key. Additionally, with 47% of L&D teams planning to deploy microlearning programs, there's a growing emphasis on delivering concise, targeted training to enhance these essential skills.

It comes with the territory as a manager to provide constructive criticism or handle performance issues. Making mistakes at work is how employees learn. The intention should never be to make someone upset or feel beaten down after coaching conversations. The goal is always to improve performance, fix mistakes, and help employees grow professionally.

It’s even more challenging for employees to have difficult conversations with team members without the authority of a managerial position. Employees need to be both empowered and trained to take the right approach when necessary.

Difficult conversations are not high on anyone’s list of fun things to do. They can be emotionally charged, awkward, and uncomfortable.

HSI and HSI Blue Ocean Brain Training Topics to Improve Difficult Conversations

“Don’t tap out of difficult conversations. Stay in them, lean into them, even when they are difficult, awkward, hard.” - Brené Brown, American professor, author, and podcast host

Avoiding a difficult situation in the workplace is not wise and often worsens the problem. That’s why different training courses and soft skills development are needed to enable a successful outcome for various types of conversations. HSI and HSI Blue Ocean Brain’s award-winning library includes these topics and more:

• Concerned Conversations. HSI’s training course allows learners to understand how to use concerned conversations to address employee performance problems in a positive way. Learn how to properly and gracefully handle crucial conversations about employee performance and behavior, focusing on learning, growing, and building trust. Be sure to check out HSI Blue Ocean Brain’s free lesson on Getting Better at Having Challenging Conversations.
• Psychological Safety. People need to feel comfortable enough to bring their true selves and their best ideas to the table, but they also need healthy challenges that lead to productive conflict. When team members truly feel psychologically safe, it means they aren’t tethered by a fear of messing up or looking foolish. It also means they feel comfortable challenging their peers’ ideas and having their own contributions challenged. Both HSI and HSI Blue Ocean Brain have training on building a psychologically safe culture.
• Active Listening. One aspect of effective communication regarding important conversations is active listening. This lesson series will help you see how to pay better attention and not just formulate a response. It will teach how to have effective open dialogue where both parties take turns speaking and listening.
• Giving Feedback. The goal of the feedback conversation is for the employee on the receiving end to walk away with an understanding of their performance and how to improve. Even though some difficult conversations may have a disciplinary undertone, it’s possible for the employee receiving feedback to feel motivated and empowered to improve the situation or fix the issue. This lesson will share how to help teams develop and become more successful.
• DISC Training. Understanding the four communication styles helps employees and managers approach each conversation differently. Each DISC style approaches difficult situations in their own unique way. Once management and the team members complete the self-assessment, the team will be enlightened by the results. HSI offers a series of courses on DISC training.
• Emotional Intelligence. If employees can better understand their emotions and those they work with, they’ll be much more productive. Employees can improve their interpersonal skills, effectively address workplace conflict, and have productive conversations. HSI’s emotional intelligence training series will help employees understand emotional intelligence, improve their self-awareness, and develop self-regulation.
• Empathy. Developing empathy is included in HSI’s training series on emotional intelligence, but it is worth noting here. It focuses on considering the conversation from the other person’s point of view. It teaches them to consider the other employee’s skillset, lived experience, workload, and specific needs. And how to understand their emotions in the conversation. It’s not about delivering bad news. The best result is to fix the problem or the cause of the difficult conversation.

“People almost never change without first feeling understood.” - Douglas Stone, lecturer, and author of “Difficult Conversations”

• Confidentiality. This lesson stresses that understanding professional boundaries, especially confidentiality, is important for employees and managers. Protecting confidentiality is necessary with day-to-day operations but it is critical when engaging in crucial conversations.
• Nonverbal Communication. It’s important to be aware of your body language, eye contact, and facial expressions during difficult conversations. All of these can have a dramatic impact on the tone of your message and how it’s received. HSI’s training series also explores aligning nonverbal communication with intentions. If the goal is conflict resolution or to have a successful conversation, body language should convey a positive intent. Crossing your arms, glaring your eyes, and having an aggressive posture may help you take control of a difficult conversation, but it may not achieve the best result.
• Managerial Courage. Managing people is not easy. Training in managerial courage is a good topic to include in a leadership development action plan. It will provide team leaders support when having difficult conversations, teach them how to build resilience, develop tact, and help them understand their own management style.
• Coaching Skills. As a manager, the act of having productive conversations with employees is part of the coaching process. HSI and HSI Blue Ocean Brain’s training teaches managers how to refine their soft skills to effectively lead teams.

HSI and HSI Blue Ocean Brain Can Help

“You’re not learning anything unless you’re having the difficult conversations.” - Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress and businesswoman

Clearly, having productive conversations in difficult situations requires training in a variety of soft skills topics. HSI and HSI Blue Ocean Brain offer ground-breaking microlearning solutions to companies of all sizes.

It’s simple to curate a curriculum for employees who are struggling with having hard conversations so they can take the right approach to each situation. Or, as many customers do, open the library for employees to access at any time. HSI Blue Ocean Brain has expert-developed Learning Pathways topics around difficult conversations such as Feedback & Performance Reviews, New Managers, and Conflict Management.

Please contact HSI to learn more about ensuring employees have access to microlearning soft skills training.

Additional Resources

• Building a Culture of Psychological Safety
• Communication Skills HSI Training Topics
• DISC Training: Getting the Most Out of DISC for Your Organization