Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue

Whenever you’re not getting the results you want, it’s likely an important conversation either hasn’t happened or hasn’t been handled well. Both individual and organizational success is primarily determined by how quickly,  directly, and effectively we speak up when it matters most. At the heart of healthy and high-performance organizations are people willing and able to hold Crucial Conversations.

A Crucial Conversation is a discussion between two or more people where the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. When conversations turn crucial, people tend to follow one of two ineffective paths: they either speak directly and abrasively to get the results they want but harm relationships, or they remain silent with the hope of preserving relationships only to sacrifice results.

But there’s a better way. Crucial Conversations gives people the skills to step into a disagreement— rather than over or around it—and turn disagreement into dialogue for…