People Skills for Candor and Accountability
Candor and accountability are the foundations of productive working relationships. Many managers mistake performance expectations for performance agreements, and shy away from confronting people to hold them accountable for results. In this practical seminar managers develop skills for planning, leading, and following up on candid conversations about expectations and agreements. They practice both the smoother, preventive discussions around clear up-front agreements, as well as the most stressful of work discussions — constructive confrontations. Managers learn strategies for working with people who repeatedly break agreements, so they'll be able to address issues directly instead of either blowing up or burying the issue.
LEARNING GOALS
In this course participants will learn how to
- understand the business and personal rationale for achieving greater candor with colleagues, employees, managers, and customers
- apply effective listening and objective speaking skills to make conversations more mutual and less one-sided
- establish clear agreements with others about tasks and expected behaviors that impact results
- follow up on agreements in ways that increase commitment and results
- fairly but firmly confront broken agreements to achieve greater accountability
- skillfully handle the defensiveness and strong emotions common to challenging discussions about performance
- model candor and accountability to drive results throughout the organization.