Keep your objective in mind

When you’re pitching a client, make sure you’ve researched their business model thoroughly.

If you’re attending a budget meeting, have the latest figures on hand.

Acing a presentation or dazzling a client once won’t win you credibility points.

When people know they can count on you, that’s when they see you as credible.

Finally, own your mistakes. You can be knowledgeable, skilled, and a consistent high performer and still make...

Poor, or absent, workplace communication inevitably ends up eroding organizational trust, worker satisfaction, and productivity.

Confidence is key to navigating difficult workplace situations productively.

When you are able to inspire confidence in others, you instantly reframe your tricky requests into reasonable asks.

In short, confidence is the key to initiating conversations, allowing your best ins...

Make clarity a priority. 

Before you begin a conversation, work out what you want from it. Set a concrete goal, like “I’d like to work more closely with the design department,” rather than, “I want a more creative role.”

Decide ahead of time what you’re prepared to risk to achieve you...

Getting in touch with your inner child can pay dividends when it comes to workplace communication.

But we are suggesting you tap into a childlike sense of inquisitiveness next time you face a difficult conversation.

Questions like, Why do you think this happened? And, What do...

There’s no handbook for navigating difficult workplace conversations, no manual on how to ask your boss to stop micromanaging, and no step-by-step guide on how to tell Gary from accounts that he has onion breath.

The good news, however, is that if you understand the seven principles of effe...

As a rule, people want to work with, and for, compassionate people. No one wants a boss who doesn’t care that their Grandma just died or a colleague who only grumbles about the extra workload when someone on their team breaks a leg.

Demonstrating empathy and compassion for others helps esta...

Here’s how to have win-win discussions:

Keep things respectful. You might be making a straightforward request for time off, or you might be grappling with a big-picture issue on which you and your teammate can’t see eye to eye. 

No matter how simple or complex the conversation, you’ll...

If you know you’re about to initiate a tough conversation and you’re anticipating some pushback, put in some work prediscussion. 

Clarify why you’re talking and keep that at the top of your mind during the discussion.

Don’t just ask your boss for “more responsibility”

Fear of discomfort is often what holds us back from initiating difficult but necessary discussions. 

Someone takes credit for our work, but we decide not to call them out on it. Someone on our team isn’t pulling their weight, but we decide not to make waves by calling it to our boss’s atten...

70 percent of employees admit to avoiding challenging conversations with their colleagues.

A 2016 study that found that every failed conversation costs companies $7,500 and 7 days of work. Not only that, but a 2008 report revealed that the average employee spends 2.8 hours ever...