#ThinkGlobalWomen
Resolving the most difficult workplace conversations
Sarah Rozenthuler’s interactive session ‘Supercharged You: Leaning into difficult conversations’ was designed to help leaders and managers to amplify their voice and make meaningful change happen. As she explained, Leadership is not just about decision making, it is also about communication and having your voice heard.
T
he workshop was led by Sarah Rozenthuler, an accomplished author and founder of Bridgework
Consulting, which empowers leaders, teams, and organisations to achieve greatness. Sarah is a member of the faculty at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where she teaches on the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme. Her latest book Now We’re
Talking: How to discuss what really matters, explores how approaching difficult conversations with planning and preparation can be an opportunity for growth and transformation. In her workshop she challenged attendees to think about:
• What are you not discussing that you need to talk about?
• What do you always discuss but never resolve?
• How do we cut through patterns in organisations of avoiding or attempting conversations?
“A conversation is a threshold you can cross,” she explained to the audience. “Conversations are apertures that open up things or shut them down if they are not successful.”
16 She explained how research
shows that leaders are often not trained in tackling difficult or emotive conversations and their lack of skill means that in many organisations the really big or difficult problems never get resolved. Indeed 82 per cent of managers are “accidental managers” and two thirds of meetings are unproductive, she said. “Difficult conversations are about
difficult emotions. What for you is a difficult conversation?” she asked delegates, explaining that when it comes to tricky conversations, we are often less aware of the payoffs and more aware of the risks of speaking out. She encouraged people instead to think about what the positive pay out might be if you were to broach a difficult topic and engage with it successfully. The good news is leaders who
combine rational with emotional approaches in making changes see their success rates rise significantly. In addition, teams with a high proportions of women are proven to perform better. “Social sensitivity is important to this and women bring it in spades,” says Rozenthuler. “We notice the quiet one in the room or if someone is tense or disappointed. Social sensitivity is so valuable but missing from so many organisations.”
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