Setting Social Boundaries at Work
My boss loves to talk and gets very personal when she does. I’m not comfortable hearing what she shares with me, nor do I have the time for it.
Posts by Emily Gregory
How to Practice Crucial Conversations on Your Own
I’m a great fan of your work, in particular Crucial Conversations. One thing I am struggling with, however, is how to practice these skills before applying them in a really Crucial Conversation. As all skills go, they need a certain level of mastery before you can rely on them when things get out of hand. What do you recommend?
How to Tell an Employee They Talk Too Much
How do you tell an employee they talk too much? My employee often talks to the point of having to tune them out. They give every little detail and then repeat themselves and I cannot get a word in edgewise and I have to wait until they take a breath to interrupt them. I end up focusing on them taking that breath instead of listening.
Three Ideas for Personalizing Practice Sessions
When we set out a year ago to rebuild Crucial Conversations, our most important objective was to make it relevant. We needed people to see themselves—and their conversations—in this course. More than ever before, we are being challenged to hold Crucial Conversations in a highly polarized, divisive environment. We’re challenging tough topics in the workplace, …
Behind the Scenes of the New Crucial Conversations Courses
We overhauled our two most popular courses—Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability—with one objective: to demonstrate how timeless skills can be applied to today’s challenges. We refreshed everything from the videos to the practice scenarios to the slides and images. We are so excited for you to see and experience our new courses—Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue and Crucial Conversations for Accountability.
Why the Term “Verbal Violence”?
For more than 30 years we have been teaching people that, when faced with Crucial Conversations, everyone falls along a communication continuum, where dialogue is in the middle, and silence and violence are at the polar, ineffective extremes.
When Someone Believes “Might is Right”
What approach can you take when someone believes that hurting others (insulting, accusing, and so on) is good and right and helps the other person become better?
Trainer Insights
Q&A
Three Tips for Navigating Awkward Classroom Comments
You’re standing there in front of a class full of fellow employees. For the last several hours, you’ve been doing a fantastic job facilitating Crucial Conversations. There is safety in the room. Learners are readily participating and sharing insights. And then one participant shares something offensive, weird, or just plain wrong, and you aren’t quite …
Leaders Want Input. Employees Won’t Share It. What Can We Do?
During our company meetings, leaders often try to get input on various questions but very rarely does anyone respond. It has become such an issue that the CEO recently offered $20 to anyone who contributes. That’s one issue. A second issue is that when nobody responds, leaders will often say something like, “Really?! Nobody has anything to say?!”