navigate tough conversations at work
Are you psychologically safe? As in be authentic and truthful.
Creativity requires that we have a safe space for communicating dissent and conflicts. People also need to be taught tools for said communication.
Individual differences at work will create tension. Workplaces lose productivity from interpersonal conflicts. Feedbacks, confrontations, and disagreements are tough because people can be avoidant, appeasing, and untactful.
A tough conversation gone wrong leaves the other party disengaged, upset, and frustrated. Yet, not discussing it can lead to passive aggressiveness.
Elephants in the room will decrease employee retention and performance. To stay competitive, then organizations need to create psychologically safe structures for interpersonal conflicts.
Psychological safety is created by:
- Organizational openness to feedback, lack of repercussions for giving feedback
- Organizational integration of feedback
- Organizational space(place and time) for individuals/groups to discuss tough conversations
Feedback per Non-Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg:
- Focus on facts of what concretely was observed, not the person. Labeling the person places them in a bubble of present day judgment, not fair as people are always changing.
- Focus on internal feelings, then isolate needs not met in you. Do not play victim; feeling attacked is not a feeling, it’s your perception and story of what was occurring.
- Focus on the needs of the other person. This brings a sense of compassion and empathy.
- Invite curiosity. Ask questions about the person’s behavior and intentions rather than make assumptions and indictments.
- When disagreeing, try to understand the rationale of the person offering it and offer alternative perspectives to consider.
- Make actionable requests for desired changes and outcome.
To make your workplace safe psychologically, learn how to speak your truth and engage your leadership. Bottoms-up grassroots changes have more impact than you’d expect.
