Have you ever had something on your mind, that you wanted to discuss with someone but kept putting it off? Maybe it was a colleague who always misses a deadline, or a person who doesn’t follow the policy, or even that person who you have been growing away from.

As a coach and trainer, I often meet people who want to be able to share their thoughts but fear hurting someone’s feelings. They find themselves wanting to avoid conflict but then worry and fret over the issues that aren’t being resolved.

In today’s world, we are faced with many people who may have different beliefs, or different ways of doing things, or behaviors that can cause frustration on the team. And often people “ignore the behavior” because the idea of having a tough conversation with someone scares them to death. Remember, whatever we ignore, we allow.

How do we have those tough conversations? First, I would encourage you to read the book Crucial Conversations to help you explore the steps that help you address challenging situations.