Once you’ve had a difficult conversation, it’s tempting to think your job is done, but the best communicators know the high-pressure conversation is not the end of the story.
If you want to maintain your relationship with a person, it’s important you continue to communicate with them regularly and follow up after a difficult conversation has been had.
Make an effort to check in with them in the days and weeks afterwards when the pressure drops off.
If your conversation was about a restructure or redundancy, check to see how they’re travelling and whether there’s any support you can give.
If the conversation was about poor performance or an expected change in behaviour, see how they’re going at putting changes in place.
It’s also important to seek out conversations with the person that aren’t fraught – ask them about their family, talk footy, or anything else that shows you care about them as a person.
This effort to maintain communication will allow you both to move on or ask further questions; demonstrates your warmth and maturity as a leader; and will make the next difficult conversation that much easier, because you’ve shown you can communicate effectively under pressure.
🤔 How do you maintain communication and a positive relationship after a difficult conversation?
Leah Mether is a communication and soft skills trainer obsessed with making the people part of leadership and work life easier.
With more than 15 years’ experience working with thousands of clients, and an acclaimed book to her name, Leah knows what it takes to communicate under pressure. Like you, she knows the challenge of conflict, personality clashes, and difficult conversations.
Leah is renowned for her practical, engaging, straight-shooting style. Utilising her Five Cs® model of communication, she helps leaders and teams shift from knowing to doing, and radically improve their effectiveness.
