1Can This Conversation Be Saved?

Communication breakdowns are bad news for our lives and work. At best, they’re a source of irritation and frustration. At worst, they can threaten our jobs, families, and friendships—and in some cases, even our health. Research suggests that failed communication is one of the leading causes of preventable medical errors.1

The Surprising Common Factor in All Communication Breakdowns

How can we go about improving our conversations? First we need to get clear about exactly what’s going wrong. We can’t solve a problem if we don’t know what’s causing it. However, when it comes to communication problems, the cause is often tricky to spot. Consider the following conversation between a physician (Dr. M) and his patient’s ...

Get Conversation Transformation: Recognize and Overcome the 6 Most Destructive Communication Patterns now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.