Book review Difficult conversations - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review Difficult conversations - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog 90% of all problems and conflicts in organizations stem from what has NOT been said. NOT been talked through. From issues that should have been raised, but werent. This makes the skills that allow us to adress difficult issues in constructive ways crucial job skills. And Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone Bruce Patton and Sheila Sheen is the best book Ive seen on this subject. It is, quite simply, excellent! The books main idea is this: In every conversation there are three simultaneous conversations going on: * The What Happened? conversation about the factual matters at hand * The feelings conversation concerning how we feel about this * The identity conversation where we assert and redefine our identity Ignoring any of these means that youre not adressing whats really going on in the conversation, because all of these WILL be going on. And if youre one of those people who believe that feelings have no place in business and that professional conversations should stick purely to factual matters, let this book be your wake-up call. Humans have feelings and there is no way for us to leave them at home when we go to work. One chapter is called Have your feelings or they will have you. Reading this book is a joy. It is well planned, well written and contains many good anecdotes that underscore the books messages. The questions it examines are critical in any organizations: * How to raise difficult matters * When to raise them and when not to * How to deal with past conversations that went wrong * How to better express your point of view * How to better understand others The advice given is specific and simple to follow and has already helped me on more than one occasion. Read it! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related