Tag: self improvement

A framework for handling difficult conversations

Communication is one of the few skills for which the return of investment is immediate, applies to all areas of life and compounds over time.

personal insight

For a couple of months, difficult conversations have been a topic of great interest to me. The way I used to handle them is to go into conflict avoidance or go into people-pleasing. Ugh, both of these strategies left me unsatisfied with the outcomes. But I’ve found a framework for handling these tough moments.

The framework is coming from a book called “Crucial conversations”. This is the best book that I’ve read on this subject (you might not know it, but this has always been on my radar). The material that I’ve seen so far is either dead obvious, vague/impractical, or “just a bunch of techniques”. In contrast, this book is coherent from beginning to end, with clear action points and world-view changing ideas. In my view, it’s a fully-fledged framework that gives anyone the support needed to start improving their difficult conversations.

I’m excited about this topic, so I’ve been giving a presentation covering some of the essential topics in the book.

If you have a problem with the slides not loading, go here

I could use some help to spread the knowledge even further. If you have ideas or situations you can create (with your friends, family, colleagues, etc.) where I can share this and more, would you be willing to let me know?

Simple (and fun) 360 feedback process

In the last year, I’ve been testing a new feedback meeting style that is surprisingly valuable. The meeting is intense, but it energizes me and gives me a team-feeling that will last for days. Additionally, I get an idea of what I need to tackle at work in the next months. I’m happy with these outcomes so I’ve written down the guidelines that I use during the meetings. Maybe you can use them at work too.

This style of 360 feedback is the simplest, most fun and most revealing version of feedback that I know of. The credit of coming up with it goes to one of my previous scrum masters: Caroline Fidelaire.

I’m sharing this post and these slides because I wasn’t able to find them anywhere online while I was preparing for a recent 360 feedback session. I found plenty of articles about it, but nothing straight to the point.

The intention of the session is to gather as much feedback from your colleagues as possible in the easiest way possible. It’s like going out for beers with your team, but different ;).

I hope that the slides are self-explanatory and that they will serve as a good baseline when you do your own 360 feedback sessions. Good luck and have fun!