In this presentation you will learn: > Foundational Components of Courageous Conversations > Business Costs of Avoidance > Diagnose Current Level of Comfort & Skill > Exercises to Use with Your Teams

1. Intro to Courageous Conversations
Creating Powerful Conversations
to Achieve Maximum Results
Diane Boivie, CPCC, ORSCC
President, Catalyst Coaching & Training
www.catalyst-gobal.com | 415-883-1399 | diane@catalyst-global.com

2. In This Presentation
 Foundational Components
 Business Costs of Avoidance
 Diagnose Current Level of Comfort &
Skill
 Exercises to Use with Your Teams
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 2

3. Increasing Organizational
Capabilities
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 3
High
Performance
Workplace
Engaged
Employees
Transforma-
tional
Leaders
High
Performing
Teams
Learning
Organization
Innovative
Solutions

4. What are Courageous
Conversations?
 A Courageous Conversation is a discussion
between two or more people where
 The stakes are high
 Opinions differ
 Strong emotions are present
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 4

5. Foundations of Successful
Courageous Conversations
 Team perspective: “We” not “Me vs.
You”
 Awareness of own & other’s default
approach to confrontation
 3 Requirements
 4 Cornerstones
 5 Skill Sets
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 5

6. What is Teamwork?
Teamwork is the ability of
interdependent individuals to
collaboratively work
as a system
toward a common purpose
to achieve results.
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 6

7. Success Factors:
How to Improve Teamwork
 7 Productivity Success Factors:
 Team Leadership
 Resources
 Decision Making
 Proactive
 Accountability
 Goals & Strategies
 Alignment
7Graphics and text description of the Team Diagnostic model and method © 2011 Team Coaching International used with permission.

8. Success Factors:
How to Really Improve Teamwork
 7 Positivity Success Factors:
 Trust
 Respect
 Camaraderie
 Communication
 Constructive Interaction
 Values Diversity
 Optimism
8Graphics and text description of the Team Diagnostic model and method © 2011 Team Coaching International used with permission.

9. 10 Reasons Why Teams Fail
1. Disempowering leadership
2. Inadequate resources
3. Fuzzy or constantly changing goals
4. Lack of accountability
5. Poor alignment
6. Eroded trust and respect
7. Inconsistent communication
8. Ineffective relationship skills
9. Destructive interactions
10. No resilience; unable to maintain optimism in the face
of all of the above
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 9

10. Communication Failure
Points
1. Disempowering leadership
2. Inadequate resources
3. Fuzzy or constantly changing goals
4. Lack of accountability
5. Poor alignment
6. Eroded trust and respect
7. Inconsistent communication
8. Ineffective relationship skills
9. Destructive interactions
10. No resilience; unable to maintain optimism in the face
of all of the above
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 10

11. Communication Failure
Points
1. Disempowering leadership
2. Inadequate resources
3. Fuzzy or constantly changing goals
4. Lack of accountability
5. Poor alignment
6. Eroded trust and respect
7. Inconsistent communication
8. Ineffective relationship skills
9. Destructive interactions
10. No resilience; unable to maintain optimism in the face
of all of the above
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 11
Courageous Conversations

12. Impact of
Destructive Interactions
 Destructive interactions result in:
 Fatigue and stress
 Misunderstanding
 Non-productive activity
 Apparent irrationality
 Criticism or blame
 Defensiveness
 Contempt or sarcasm
 Stonewalling or shutting down
 Incivility or rudeness
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 12

13. Impact of Rudeness
 A study on rudeness at work found that among those
on the receiving end:
 48% decreased their work effort
 47% decreased their time at work
 38% decreased their work quality
 66% said their performance declined
 80% lost work time worrying about the incident
 63% lost time avoiding the offender
 78% said their commitment to the organization declined
Source: Harvard Business Review, April 2009
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 13

14. Business Case for
Courageous Conversations
 99% prefer a workplace in which people identify and discuss
issues truthfully.
 44% believe their organization has a candid environment.
 70% believe a lack of candor within their organization
impacts the company’s ability to perform optimally.
 95% agree or strongly agree a successful company has a
culture of effective confrontation.
 37% feel their organization has an overall culture of “terminal
niceness” and avoiding confrontation.
Survey, Fierce, Inc. February 2011
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 14

15. Personal Business Costs
of Avoidance
Exercise:
 Identify an area or topic where a courageous
conversation is important to your success.
 Why is it important?
 What is the biggest obstacle in the way of you
having this conversation?
 What is it costing you?
 Examples: decreased productivity, increased conflict,
missed opportunities, failed projects, sleepless nights.
 What would you gain by having this conversation?
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 15

16. Nice – Courageous – Fierce
 We approach Courageous Conversations somewhere along the
continuum of Nice to Courageous to Fierce
 Typical Messages from Nice to Courageous to Fierce:
 What’s wrong here? Can’t we all just get along?
 It’s really not that big a deal. I should just let it go. There’s no need to make a
fuss.
 I was kinda hoping that it wouldn’t come to this, but I guess I should speak up before
it gets too late.
 May I be totally honest with you?
 Thanks for sharing your perspective. May I share mine with you now?
 Let me start by telling you where I’m coming from on this and then I want to hear
from you.
 I know it’s going to hurt, but I don’t know how else to tell you this and you really
ought to know.
 Okay, I’m going to have to be brutally honest here with you.
 Hey, I’m just saying what’s true. If you can’t handle it, that’s your problem!
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 16

17. Nice – Courageous – Fierce
Exercise
1. Remember the area or topic you identified earlier of a
courageous conversation which is important to your success.
2. Place yourself along the continuum -- your default approach.
Be honest.
 Nice – Protect People (from the Pain of Truth)
 Courageous – Balance of Compassion and Courage (People Needs
balanced with Truth)
 Fierce – Assert Truth (regardless of impact on People)
3. Now move yourself to where you like to be.
4. What’s your comfort level and skill in getting there, on a
scale of 0 to 10?
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 17

18. Nice – Courageous – Fierce
Exercise
 Debrief:
 What did you notice?
 Why is this important?
 How can you use this?
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 18

19. 3 Requirements
for Courageous Conversations
1. Care enough to put in the effort
2. Have faith enough that your efforts will pay off
3. Trust yourself and each other
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 19

20. 4 Cornerstones
of Courageous Conversations
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21. 5 Skills Sets
for Courageous Conversations
1. Come from a “We” perspective
2. Refocus the brain
3. Overcome barriers to listening under stress
 Emotional responses (Fear, anger, hurt, guilt, etc.)
 Mental responses (Assumptions, judgments, accusations,
criticism/blame, etc.)
4. Create win-win solutions
 Conversation startup approaches
 Find shared common ground
 Problem out front
5. Create shared forward action
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 21

22. Our Results
 Catalyst Coaching & Training’s
results:
 20% average increase in a
team’s ability to produce
 83% fewer errors
 20% increase in customer
satisfaction
 Increased sales
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 22

23. Summary
 Foundational Components
 3 Requirements
 4 Cornerstones
 5 Skill Sets
 Business Costs of Avoidance
 Diagnose Current Level of Comfort & Skill
 Exercises to Use with Your Teams
 Personal Business Costs of Avoidance
 Nice – Courageous - Fierce
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 23

24. About Catalyst
Coaching & Training
Catalyst Coaching & Training was founded specifically
to assist leaders in creating business cultures in which
people feel valued & empowered to accomplish the
goals of the organization -- resulting in a high
performance workplace.
Our mission is to partner with business leaders to
create business cultures which thrive; identifying &
removing barriers that exist between where they are
now & where they want to be.
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 24

25. About Diane Boivie
CPCC, ORSCC
Diane has over 30 years’ experience working in
corporations and has been a consultant, coach, trainer, and
facilitator for more than 10 years. A former corporate
transformation project and program manager, she
specializes in dynamic, practical, experiential team-based
training & coaching, leadership development training, and
communications training. Diane helps leverage the power
of shared leadership embedded in teams, increasing team
dynamics, so that they can become more empowered,
collaborative and inspired to deliver outstanding results.
Copyright, Diane Boivie, 2012 25
www.catalyst-global.com 415-883-1399 diane@catalyst-global.com