Workshops · 1 of 3
The art of crucial conversations
For the talks we usually avoid: feedback, conflict, boundaries, breaking news.
Level 2 focuses on the conversations most of us postpone: critical feedback, conflict, boundaries, salary, restructuring, breaking difficult news. The cost of avoidance is rarely visible in the moment — it shows up later as resentment, attrition and decisions nobody owns.
Participants learn to define the ideal outcome before they open their mouth, prepare and structure a tough conversation, and stay focused when it drifts. We work with a clear frame and a language toolkit for the moments where emotion takes over: how to de-escalate under stress, how to hold a boundary without hardening, how to handle your own nervousness.
The full-day format is built around live role-play with observed feedback. Participants bring a real conversation they are avoiding and leave having rehearsed it — including the version where it goes badly.
The goal is not a script. It is that the conversation actually happens, and that the working relationship survives it intact.
What we work on
- 01Defining ideal outcomes & likely scenarios
- 02Preparing and structuring a tough conversation
- 03A 5-step frame for the hardest talks
- 04Staying focused: de-escalation language under stress
- 05Managing nervousness, conflict & negotiation moments
- 06Live role-play with observed feedback
You'll take away
- A 5-step frame for the hardest talks
- De-escalation language under stress
- A prepared plan for one conversation you have been avoiding
- Live role-play with feedback
More in Culture & conversation
Unconscious bias
The invisible judgments that shape hiring, promotions and the small daily decisions that compound.
CultureWorkplace dynamics
Group dynamics, microaggressions and gender bias — made visible before they cost you a teammate.
Communication · Level 1The art of conversations
Conversations are the unit of every culture. We slow them down and rebuild attention.