Managing for Performance: Delivering Results Through Others

Chapter 5. Productive Conversations

The skills tool kit is almost complete. The final challenge is to fit the skills and techniques into a framework for some of the conversations you may get involved in. The first priority with any conversation is planning and preparation. Like many managers, you may be guilty of rushing into a meeting or picking up the phone without thinking about the people involved. Beware; it is in these situations that conversations can go disastrously wrong and misunderstandings occur. Just planning for the logistics of the meeting is not enough. Your success will rest on being clear about the outcome you want in terms of both the task (what needs to happen), the process (how it will happen), and the relationship with the ...