Difficult Conversation

A Difficult Conversation is a discussion that involve negative emotion.

• Context:
  • It can (typically) call up Embarrassment, Confusion, Anxiety, Anger, Pain, or Fear.
  • It can (typically) be a Verbal Discussion.
  • It can range from being a 1-Sided Difficult Conversation to being a 2-Sided Difficult Conversation.
  • It can range from being a Difficult Conversation with a Less-Powerful Person to being a Difficult Conversation with an Equally-Powerful Person to being a Difficult Conversation with a More-Powerful Person.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • a conversation between a Perinatal Pathologist seeking consent for a perinatal postmortem after a stillbirth, from a bereaved parent.
  • a conversation between a People Manager and a Low-Performing Worker addressing performance improvement plan.
  • …

bereaved parent

• Counter-Example(s):
  • an Easy Conversation/Pleasant Conversation.
• See: Hurt Feelings.

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References

• https://hbr.org/topic/difficult-conversations

2013

• (Polito, 2013) ⇒ Jacquelyn M. Polito. (2013). “Effective Communication During Difficult Conversations.” The Neurodiagnostic Journal, 53(2).
  • QUOTE: ... This brief paper will offer some suggestions for strategies to manage difficult conversations with employees. Mastering the skills of conducting difficult conversations is clearly important to keeping lines of communication open and productive. …

2012

• (Heazell et al., 2012) ⇒ A. E. P . Heazell, M‐J. McLaughlin, E. B. Schmidt, P. Cox, V. Flenady, T. Y . Khong, and Soo Downe. (2012). “A Difficult Conversation? The Views and Experiences of Parents and Professionals on the Consent Process for Perinatal Postmortem After Stillbirth. “ BJOG: an international journal of obstetrics & gynaecology, 119(8).
  • QUOTE: ... Emotional, practical and psychosocial issues can act as real or perceived barriers for staff and bereaved parents. Education is required for midwives and obstetricians, to increase their knowledge to ensure accurate counselling, with due regard for the highly individual responses of bereaved parents. The contribution of perinatal pathologists to staff education and parental decision-making would be invaluable. …

2001

• (Weeks, 2001) ⇒ Holly Weeks. (2001). “Taking the Stress Out of Stressful Conversations." In: HBR, July–August 2001.
  • QUOTE: ... Stressful conversations are unavoidable in life, and in business they can run the gamut from firing a subordinate to, curiously enough, receiving praise. But whatever the context, stressful conversations differ from other conversations because of the emotional loads they carry. These conversations call up embarrassment, confusion, anxiety, anger, pain, or fear — if not in us, then in our counterparts. Indeed, stressful conversations cause such anxiety that most people simply avoid them. ...

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