Fierce Conversations

I’ve just been doing some work with someone who finds it difficult to talk to people when they’ve let her down. It transpired that she becomes very confrontational or else avoids the whole subject for as long as possible. I introduced her to ‘Fierce Conversations’ – a lovely technique that gives structure to all those tricky conversations in ways that get people listening to one another. Through this, things start moving away from the sticking point, although sometimes in unexpected directions. She’s gone off to practice.

Susan Scott developed the concepts in her book ‘Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time’. This thought, amongst her many thoughts on conversations, caught my attention:
‘The conversation is a relationship – it is the tangible expression of the relationship. If we keep adding to the list of things we can’t talk about, possibilities in the relationship become smaller.’

Hmmmm……..food for thought.