Difficult Conversations Don't Have to Be Difficult A Simple, Smart Way to Make Your Relationships and Team Better
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
JON GORDON is a 15-time bestselling author, thought leader, and one of the most sought after leadership speakers and consultants who has worked with many of the best leaders and organizations on the planet. He believes that positivity is a competitive advantage and is the author of 30 books, including The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, The Power of Positive Leadership and The Power of a Positive Team.
Visit him at JonGordon.com
AMY P. KELLY is the Vice President of Consulting for The Jon Gordon Companies and a Global Facilitator for The Association for Talent Development in the areas of Change Management, Improving Human Performance, and Consulting Skills. She is co-author of The Energy Bus Field Guide and the author of G.L.U.E.: A Leadership Development Strategy to Bond and Unite. In her career as a human resources executive, Amy built award-winning employment brands and corporate university programs. She is dedicated to helping executives and their teams grow.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Help your team maximize their full potential by mastering tough conversations
In Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult: A Simple, Smart Way to Make Your Relationships and Team Better, bestselling author Jon Gordon and veteran human resources professional and executive coach Amy P. Kelly deliver an engaging and inspiring new take on how to make tough workplace conversations an asset in building a stronger team and organization.
The book, written as a business fable, follows Ruth, the CEO of a successful multinational company who has been instructed by her board to prepare her company for sale. Along the way, she must lead an underperforming and dysfunctional team to set aside their differences and work together toward a common goal. This includes growing herself while elevating her team’s performance. As Ruth discovers the secret to unlocking extraordinary growth and productivity, you’ll learn about:
- The critically important conversations you need to have with your team to realize outstanding results
- Structuring, planning, and having the tough conversations your team members really need
- Ensuring your team walks away from difficult conversations more united, motivated, inspired, and positioned for optimal growth and performance
Perfect for managers, executives, directors, and business leaders and their teams, Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult is also a must-read for coaches, trainers, teachers, consultants, and other professionals doing their best to help others realize their full potential. Teams who read the book together will be equipped with a proven strategy and process to enhance communication performance and unity.
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 Turmoil 1
2 Transparency 11
3 Truth 17
4 Tiles of Talent: Embracing Hybrid Team Trust 31
5 Trust 47
6 Time to Transform 69
7 Team 73
8 Application of the STAR 3 Model 81
Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult Resources 87
About the Authors 89
Other Books by Jon Gordon 91
Praise for Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult
“In Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult, Jon and Amy share a great story of leadership to create a connected and collaborative people working together culture of love by design to create value and growth for the greater good. A key element is a psychologically safe culture where everyone expects the unexpected and expects to deal with it positively. Difficult issues are ‘gems’ to respect and solve by working together.”
—ALAN MULALLY, Former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Ford Motor Company
“Having difficult, messy conversations lies at the heart of teamwork. Jon and Amy have written an immensely readable book to help take the sting out of those conversations, transforming workplace tension into understanding and reconciliation.”
—PATRICK LENCIONI, bestselling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Six Types of Working Genius
“We all know that some conversations are more challenging than others. Communication is a key skill for everyone in the workplace and life, especially executives. This story brings practical structure to assist in having the important conversations that make us all better individually and collectively.”
—MARIA MOORE, Chief Marketing Officer, Veritone
“Excellent communication is critical for bringing values to life in our workplaces and communities. Oftentimes, people shy away from having constructive conversations when situations are challenging, or topics are sensitive. Interpersonal relationships and teams can be strengthened when people choose to artfully navigate around and through these roadblocks by exercising transparency, trust, and vulnerability to reach higher ground. With application of the principles shared, the story of Ruth and her team in this book will help other leaders and teams improve this important skill set and achieve success.”
—CHERI D. BENEDETTI, SHRM-SCP, Senior Vice President, Human Resources Officer, The Villages Health
“In Difficult Conversations Don't Have to Be Difficult, Jon and Amy share a great story of leadership to create a connected and collaborative people working together culture of love by design to create value and growth for the greater good. A key element is a psychologically safe culture where everyone expects the unexpected and expects to deal with it positively. Difficult issues are ‘gems’ to respect and solve by working together.” —Alan Mulally, Former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Ford Motor Company
“Having difficult, messy conversations lies at the heart of teamwork. Jon and Amy have written an immensely readable book to help take the sting out of those conversations, transforming workplace tension into understanding and reconciliation.” —Patrick Lencioni, best-selling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Six Types of Working Genius
“We all know that some conversations are more challenging than others. Communication is a key skill for everyone in the workplace and life, especially executives. This story brings practical structure to assist in having the important conversations that make us all better individually and collectively. -- Maria Moore, Chief Marketing Officer, Veritone
“Excellent communication is critical for bringing values to life in our workplaces and communities. Oftentimes, people shy away from having constructive conversations when situations are challenging, or topics are sensitive. Interpersonal relationships and teams can be strengthened when people choose to artfully navigate around and through these roadblocks by exercising transparency, trust, and vulnerability to reach higher ground. With application of the principles shared, the story of Ruth and her team in this book will help other leaders and teams improve this important skill set and achieve success.” -- Cheri D. Benedetti, SHRM-SCP, Senior Vice President, Human Resources Officer, The Villages Health
“The way we approach the more challenging and sensitive conversations can truly make or break teams and organizations. This story about Ruth and her executive team really hits the mark with relatable scenarios that challenge all of us. I’m adding the model provided by Amy and Jon to my set of resources to continue elevating my own communication.” -- Donya Jenkins, President, Fredericksburg SHRM
As the CEO of a successful multinational company she built from the ground up, Ruth has been given aggressive and ambitious goals by her board to prepare the company for sale. However, her team cannot seem to rise to the challenge. They continue to underperform at every step, making the board’s ambitious targets feel more and more like a pipe dream. As she stares at her packed calendar, she wonders how she’s going to get everyone to pull together and deliver the results she’s promised.
In Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult: A Simple, Smart Way to Make Your Relationships and Team Better, 15-time bestselling author Jon Gordon and renowned executive coach and human resources executive Amy P. Kelly deliver a fresh and innovative new approach to individual and team development. In the book, you’ll learn how you can plan, structure, and have the tough conversations that every leader needs to have with their team members to achieve extraordinary results.
Written as a business fable, this book is an engaging story about one person’s quest to unlock high levels of productivity from a dysfunctional team. It explains why the difficult conversations that your team has been avoiding are also the critically important ones that need to occur before real growth can be achieved.
Perfect for managers, executives, directors, and other business leaders, Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to be Difficult is also a must-read story for coaches, consultants, trainers, human resource professionals, and anyone who aims to unlock the potential of the people they work with.
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
JON GORDON is a 15-time bestselling author, thought leader, and one of the most sought after leadership speakers and consultants who has worked with many of the best leaders and organizations on the planet. He believes that positivity is a competitive advantage and is the author of 30 books, including The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, The Power of Positive Leadership and The Power of a Positive Team.
Visit him at JonGordon.com
AMY P. KELLY is the Vice President of Consulting for The Jon Gordon Companies and a Global Facilitator for The Association for Talent Development in the areas of Change Management, Improving Human Performance, and Consulting Skills. She is co-author of The Energy Bus Field Guide and the author of G.L.U.E.: A Leadership Development Strategy to Bond and Unite. In her career as a human resources executive, Amy built award-winning employment brands and corporate university programs. She is dedicated to helping executives and their teams grow.