When and How to Have “Awkward” Conversations with Your Team with Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As leaders, alignment, clarity, and trust among your team are great, but sometimes the bridge to get there is the dreaded awkward conversation.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every leader can relate to the sense of dread that comes with knowing you need to have a difficult conversation you’ve been avoiding. How do we lead into this? How do we request an awkward conversation and then how do we handle it? In today’s episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask share some practical advice for dealing with awkward conversations and then hopefully eliminating the need for them.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Turn Awkward Conversations Into Fierce Conversations</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jeff says the most important thing you can do is practice a conversation before you have it—especially that opening sentence. The first five seconds are always the most difficult—it’s awkward, then onward. He starts conversations with “I</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">want</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">to talk</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">with</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">you about…” not “I</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">need</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">to talk</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">to</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">you about…” Replace</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">need</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">to</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">with</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">want</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">with</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. Then fill in the space after</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">about</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">with a clear statement of the issue.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 4