Slides supporting Neil Denny's quick fire introduction to difficult conversations for business people, revealing the need to engage with conflict and develop conflict leadership skills.

1. Difficult Conversations
for Business People
With Neil Denny
mediator, speaker and trainer

2. “Businesses invest in and long to see failure”

3. The cost of avoiding difficult
conversations is counted in FIVE
currencies.
1. Money

4. The cost of avoiding difficult
conversations is counted in FIVE
currencies.
1. Money
2. Time

5. The cost of avoiding difficult
conversations is counted in FIVE
currencies.
1. Money
2. Time
3. Energy

6. The cost of avoiding difficult
conversations is counted in FIVE
currencies.
1. Money
2. Time
3. Energy
4. Reputation

7. The cost of avoiding difficult
conversations is counted in FIVE
currencies.
1. Money
2. Time
3. Energy
4. Reputation
5.Opportunity

8. The cost of replacing and
retraining staff lost through
unresolved conflict is estimated
to be 1.5 x annual salary
Duxbury and Higgins 2003

9. 50% of HR professionals
questioned by CIPD in 2008
reported staff had left as a result
of unresolved conflict
CIPD 2008 Leadership and the management of conflict
at work

10. 42% of managers’ time was
spent addressing conflict in the
workplace
Watson and Hoffman, Leadership Quarterly 7(1) 1996

11. 42% of managers’ time was
spent addressing conflict in the
workplace
Watson and Hoffman, Leadership Quarterly 7(1) 1996
Up from 30% in 1976!

12. 60% of HR practitioners, when
asked, had had to deal with
conflict in the last 7 days
CIPD, as above

13. 60% of HR practitioners, when
asked, had had to deal with
conflict in the last 7 days
CIPD, as above
And 50% remained unresolved!

14. Avoiding difficult conversations
1. Profound discomfort
2. Upbringing – Family and Culture
3. “We don’t do conflict here.” – Happy teams
4. Non-assertive nature
5. Fear
6. Desire to be liked
7. What being in conflict might say about us

15. Difficult conversations are like
fish sauce.
Sometimes you’ve got to face
the stink.

16. Avoiding difficult conversations
means sacrificing our long term
needs and goals in exchange for
the short term alleviation of
discomfort.

17. If only we had a system for
enabling difficult conversations.

18. When we eventually engage
with conflict we tend to do so in
ways that are unhelpful.
Attack. Defence. Counter-attack.

19. Less Status Quo,
more Eric Clapton.

20. Six riffs to transform conflict into
growth in your business.
1. Invitation
2. Encouragement
3. Acknowledgement
4. Agreement
5. Agreeing differences
6. Solutions

21. When we deal with difficult
conversations better then we
bear with and build one another
up and strengthen relationships
even as we resolve the things
that we do not agree upon.

22. Go to
www.neildenny.com/freebook
sign up for the conflict
leadership newsletter AND
receive your free e-book version
of Conversational Riffs

23. Take a copy of our September
white paper detailing how we
have worked with other small
businesses and organisations in
the UK, Europe and North
America.

24. Contact me to explore how we
can work together to develop
your conflict leadership skills and
start transforming conflict into
growth in your organisation.

25. www.neildenny.com
www.youtube.com/user/neilrdenny
neil@neildenny.com
07815 727693