Having Difficult Conversations

Confidently having the difficult conversations that are
necessary for success and high performance

 

Imagine arriving for difficult conversations feeling calm, clear and kind by managing your state of mind and reducing your automatic emotional reactions. Difficult conversations are difficult, but we must face into the discomfort in order to grow our impact.

 
 

There are many reasons we don’t have the conversations we should be having with our clients, our colleagues, and even our families! Avoidance of difficult conversations is easy because it means we avoid hurting others, avoid saying things we regret, avoid creating damage to relationships and avoid taking responsibility for things.

BUT…! What if you knew how to have difficult conversations so that they actually build connections, create trust, develop growth, and serve you and others?

It is important that we get better and better at having conversations quickly and lightly in the moment, rather than storing them up and allowing the pressure to build. Difficult conversations require us all to get better at tolerating discomfort.

In this program, Amy will take you through the key elements of how to prepare for, deliver and support a difficult conversation with someone. The course can be internally focused (with colleagues) or external (with clients/customers) or both depending on your need.

Designed for teams and team leaders, you will learn how to:

  • Recognise yours and others' emotional responses

  • Use calming strategies to ground yourself

  • Ask good open questions without judgement or bias

  • Share your perspectives for the purpose of growth

  • Realign safety consistently into the conversation.

 
 
 

The more we avoid difficult conversations the wider the gap
is between our potential and our performance.

 

Program outcomes

Participants will learn:

  • Why difficult conversations matter and why we should be anti-avoidance

  • Why we must learn to tolerate the discomfort required for growth conversations

  • Why emotional management is key to having difficult conversations successfully

  • Self-management of emotions

  • Managing others' emotions

  • How to prepare for a difficult conversation

  • What to do during a difficult conversation

  • Elements that need to be in a conversation for it to go well

  • What to do after a difficult conversation

  • Practice and solution finding

  • Commitments moving forward.

 

Program Format


This program has a flexible format and includes useful resources to ensure the long-term impact of the sessions.

Foundation: 40-90 min talk/workshop

Maintain: As above + four weekly videos following talk + pdf power-pack of reusable templates for self-coaching + 'how to’ guides for the tools covered in the session + links to video extras

Master: As above plus 90-minute group coaching/supervision (This works well for those dealing with the emotions of others and therefore may need extra supervision or processing to ensure they are not retaining secondary distress and that they are resilient for their stakeholders e.g. agile coaches, people in service roles.)

 
 
 

What clients say about working with Amy

Testimonials
Darren | Director

Amy understands how to help people bring all they have to the table. She can quickly see how people limit themselves and, in a non-threatening way, pushes them to give more. We have seen revenue increase by 37% YTD. In addition to this staff engagement has dramatically increased and attendance has been the best it’s been since the business inception.

Rebecca | Brand Strategist

Amy's profile tells you everything you need to know about her skills, professionalism and expertise. I verify all of those things, but would like to add what she is like to work with - as often that is the thing that determines the success of a project. Amy is engaged, interested and inquisitive. She brings energy, enthusiasm and proactive drive, delivering work with clarity, intelligent analysis and a good dose of common sense. She is a joy to work with.

Mei Lim | Communications Director

We recently worked with Amy to help us determine our strategic direction. How glad we were to have Amy! She helped us design the discussion guide and moderated groups with professionalism so that we got what we needed. She was outstanding, focused, efficient and really took the time to understand what we were trying to achieve.

Thomasine | Senior Insights Consultant

Amy has a science based approach, yet also has a personable manner that achieves great outcomes for those she coaches or participants in facilitation sessions. Amy has an exceptional toolkit of techniques that she applies effectively across multiple types of topics and challenges, distilling complex issues into structured exercises.

Helen | Facilitator and Coach

Amy is an extraordinarily perceptive practitioner and facilitator, able to get to the nub of people's concerns, needs and wants both rapidly and elegantly. Quietly confident and assured, she is never overbearing, yet provides strong and certain guidance to help people navigate their way to a more fulfilling professional and personal life. Her light touch, yet robust psychological approach, is a delight to observe and experience.

William | Director

Amy is charismatic, conscientious, knowledgeable and a fun person to lead groups. If you have the opportunity to work with Amy as a facilitator for your groups, I would take it!

Steve | Partner

Without hesitation I recommend and endorse Amy Silver. She remains one of the most approachable and professional facilitators I have come across. She effortlessly puts participants and clients at ease with her application of psychology and gets the most out of everyone in the room. She commands respect and attention and I would welcome Amy to lead and achieve the greatest outcome possible for any projects.

Bruce | Executive Managing Partner

Amy's presentation style is relaxed and engaging, and she makes it easy to participate. Her depth of knowledge of psychology, human behaviour, emotional intelligence, business, and change is excellent. I recommend using Amy's services particularly where you are wanting to develop leadership and enhance culture.

Candice | Demand & Supply Planning Manager

Working with Amy was a fantastic experience. She challenged the thinking I had traditionally had about myself, enabling me to use a different approach to my work. She also helped me with tools that I'd not used before in managing my team which produced great results!

Peter | Chief Executive Officer

Amy Silver is a rare combination of heart and head. She is a world class thinker and author on the art and science of influence, and how that applies to leadership and communication. She walks her talk, and shows up everywhere in her world with authenticity and courage (and occasionally with a mischievous glint in her eye). If you get a chance to work with Amy, you’d be mad not to take it.

Paul | Director/Owner

We engaged Amy to help us understand the blockers and strengths of our growing business. Amy conducted in-depth interviews with key stakeholders across our business, and with each Partner. She created a comprehensive report which highlighted the critical issues so we could cut through to actionable items. Because of our work with Amy we are now in a position to move forward in our succession plan and achieve our goals.

Johann | Founder, Decision Design

Without question, Amy is one of the most psychologically present, calm, disarming and clear thinking people I have come across in business. I recommend Amy to any executive looking for a credentialed, scientific thinker to add value to talent and consumer insights functions.

 

To find out more about Having Difficult Conversations please
email or schedule a call with Amy and her team