Courses/training for managers concerning" the difficult conversation" with employees  

When an employee begins to perform below their usual standards in various ways and due to various reasons, most managers consider starting a dialogue with the employee a vital step. Still, in praxis, the dialogue with the employee/employees is rarely begun sufficiently early, and the difficult conversations are not discussed appropriately.  

There may be many good and some less good reasons underlying this. Frequently, a part of the reason that these difficult conversations are postponed or not prioritised is due to the manager's insecurity in how the conversation is to be handled, their inexperience in speaking about more personal aspects, or their discomfort in pointing out and discussing the things that are not working as they should be.  

 These conversations are crucial in the event of stress. The manager often does not interact closely enough with the employee on a daily basis to notice the stress symptoms early enough to act before it is too late. A manager may identify beginning stress through a dialogue about why the employee is no longer performing at their usual level.  

 In the course, the focus is placed on the dynamics in the conversations, ways to begin and conclude them, direct and indirect methods of communication, non-verbal communication, and reactions during conversations. The individual manager's challenges in these exchanges are identified and worked with by using exercises and practice conversations. These challenges may concern insecurity and lacking competencies but may also involve personal experiences and thought and reaction patterns that factor in. It may therefore be relevant to offer individual sparring and counselling. Various approaches and techniques are provided, and the training involves different conversations and conversation types.