Critical Conversations: How to Have Those Tough Conversations You'd Rather Avoid

The Los Angeles Rams have on the wall of their locker room a mantra. That mantra is, “The standard is the standard.”

It serves as a reminder to the team that the standard is non-negotiable. Excellence is self-evident, and it is always the goal. No if’s and’s or but’s.

Now, the actual results may miss the mark. Perfection is not possible, and human beings by nature are error prone and that’s okay. They as a team can accept losses, dropped passes or other missed assignments. They learn from them, get better, more resilient, and move on. But what is NOT up for debate and never will be is the standard.

Okay admittedly, I am a football nut, but lemme try and bring this back to our world.

Your Business is a game of human beings making commitments and then following through. But where the real work begins is in the managing of the follow-through. The people in your business are going to make mistakes, are going to screw up, are going to have lapses in judgement, are going to say and do things they regret. This much we know is inevitable. What matters, is your ability to effectively coach them back to the standard. And this the hard part.

Today’s episode is on what we call Critical Conversations. How to communicate when the stakes are high. These are those conversations you know you need to have, but would rather avoid. Your project manager blows up inappropriately at a customer. Your Journeyman shows up hungover and late for the 3rd time in a month. Your usually excellent sub-trade partner messes up their scheduling and pushes your entire project back two weeks.

You can’t build a performance culture, a strong brand, or leaders within without Critical Conversations and yet most people, even accomplished entrepreneurs, are terrified to have them.

In today’s episode Igor and I break down a 5 step process for how to have these that will reduce whatever anxiety you feel about these and facilitate a way more productive conversation for everyone involved.

we’ve also included a super easy to follow downloadable framework you can download and keep nearby.

I hope you enjoy this, and remember, the standard is the standard.

• Why you need to uphold your standards, especially when it’s uncomfortable
• How to decide if a Critical Conversation is worth engaging in so you don’t waste your emotional energy
• How to define the focus of the conversation you’re about to have
• Where you should have the conversation and how to set it up with the person you are talking to
• The way to have a critical conversation so that you’re able to explore both parties perspectives
• The simple action plan that creates a foundation for positive behaviour moving forward