Alicia Davis
Difficult conversations continue to be the theme for this year, Stacie, don’t they?

Stacie Watson
Yeah, you know, we’ve talked about it, I think, maybe a couple of times…

Alicia Davis
A BUNCH!

Stacie Watson
… in the newsletters over these last few months, and it certainly is a topic that everyone seems to be interested in talking about, and as we’ve said before, it makes sense, right? We’re often in a position where we have to have a difficult conversation. Many of us really don’t enjoy those kinds of conversations, and so, you know, it can create a lot of tension, and it can kind of cause us to feel stuck. And you’ve actually been working with a couple of different organizations where the difficult conversation that needs to happen is actually within the team. So you know, I think in prior conversations about these conversations, we’ve talked about managers and supervisors, or we’ve talked about difficult conversations we might need to have with clients or with client families. This is still different, and it is basically a bunch of peers. They might be manager peers, they might be staff peers, and these are teams where things have kind of ground to a halt, or they’re a little stuck because folks are just not saying what needs to be said, perhaps I don’t know. What’s going on?

Alicia Davis
Well, I think that part of it is, you know, like you said, conflict, conflict, conflict. Like people think that when they’re going to have difficult conversations, it’s going to end in a conflict. And you know, a lot of times, what we’re finding as we’re coaching these teams is very much about like, how can we prepare ourselves to go into a conversation and get a little bit out of our own head and out of our own reactivity, and also out of our own like we got we’re going in with our own thoughts about what we’re gonna what we want right and if we could kind of slow down for a moment, and maybe get a little bit curious, and ah, and maybe even ask ourselves, what would be better than being stuck, right? Because when we’re in this difficult dynamic, we feel stuck, we don’t feel good, and the other person probably doesn’t feel good either. So first of all, what would feel better than feeling stuck? And then, and then, what would be an what would be an okay solution? So maybe, like, we know that going into these conversations, if we can go in with a little bit of openness, you don’t know what’s going to evolve, right? You can ask a question. You can be curious about the other person’s perspective, and when you do, what often comes out is a solution you didn’t necessarily think of, right?

Stacie Watson
Yeah, I think it’s it’s all the things that you’re saying. You know, we can get very attached to the outcome we want, and maybe that’s ultimately what we want. And still, you know, it’s no fun being stuck, as you as you sort of mentioned. So, you know, what can we do as a team to kind of move in some direction that feels like we’re making progress, that we’re sort of moving toward a better outcome or a better resolution? And I do think coming at it from a spirit of being open and curious-that’s always-I mean, that’s a very kind of coach-like approach, and it’s a very helpful way to just approach any kind of challenging conversation or communication moment. So, you know, if you’re watching today and you’re thinking about maybe some conversations that your team might benefit from having, we invite you just take one of these ideas, give it a try. We’d love to hear about it.

Alicia Davis
Absolutely. So you can always email us info@tlstransforms.com. And I’m Alicia Davis….

Stacie Watson
I’m Stacie Watson…

Alicia Davis
And thank you so much.

Stacie Watson
Thank you.