Handle Difficult Conversations With Greater Impact And a Lot Less Stress!
On October 26, 2018 I was fortunate enough to attend a class on Constructive Conversations presented by Abbey Louie and Steve Robertson of Louie Robertson Consulting during the Idaho Partnerships Conference on Human Services. Ms. Louie and MR. Robertson demonstrated true synergy during the presentation. As attendees, we learned to identify our own challenges to having a difficult conversations and tools in the form of questions to improve upon our skills.
We were asked to assess ourselves to determine if our communication style was more direct or indirect and if we focused on the task (point of the conversation) or if we were more focused on the people (preventing getting to the point). Learning our strengths and weaknesses led to questions we could use to achieve a more balanced style of communication allowing easier conversations increasing the impact of these conversations while reducing the stress in the process.
Ms. Louie and Mr. Robertson provided us a Constructive Conversations Roadmap with a framework of how to use the skills and focus on the relationships involved so the conversations strengthened respect and dignity while meeting the needs of those involved.
The materials and concepts presented in this class provided information that was complete so that we as learners could walk away with actual skills to improve our conversations, as well as our work relationships and personal relationships. I strongly encourage this course topic and materials with Louie Robertson Consulting to anyone struggling with approaching conversations.