As a business owner, you must have tough conversations with your team, stakeholders, and others. As a leader, navigating tricky situations will be an essential skill; luckily, it’s one you can develop and refine with experience.

Having difficult conversations with your staff is a necessary part of running a successful business. These can arise when addressing performance concerns, managing training and expectations, or even letting go of a team member. In this type of dynamic and conversation, which can be emotionally charged, lean on some of these core tips to ensure your interactions are productive and delicate and maintain appropriate boundaries.

Plan ahead

Before you engage in a tough conversation with a member of your team, ensure you are adequately prepared. We all know the old saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” and this is never so true as when you’re dealing with a delicate situation with a staff member.

Speak to the relevant parties, including direct managers, and ensure you have your key facts near you to refer to as required. Consider how your conversation is likely to flow and know the ideal outcome you’d like – while nothing ever goes exactly to plan, mindful communication is key.

Set the scene

It’s important to get the time and place right for the backdrop for your tough conversations. Avoid times when your staff member might get pulled in different directions, or at the end of the day close to home time. Book in a private meeting room and ensure you have privacy away from the wider team (especially if you plan to offboard a team member).  It’s also recommended to avoid booking in this kind of meeting on a Friday or a weekend, give your team member adequate notice but not so long that they anxiously await the meeting arrival.

Clear communication

While it can be tempting to soften our language and ease into the main purpose of your meeting, be specific when it comes to why this tough conversation has come about. Address the key issue, ask relevant questions, and then your role is to actively listen to their responses (often the time you’ll learn the most about what action needs to be taken).

If you tiptoe around the issue, you’ll likely create more questions for your team member, or have them misunderstand the issue entirely.

Active listening

Give your team member your undivided attention and avoid assuming anything outside of the core facts. Let’s say this team member has been arriving late consistently and you need to address this with them. Your employee may acknowledge their poor time management skills and make a commitment to address them, or they may share some personal information that they have been reluctant to share yet – for example, they’ve taken on the care of a loved one and need to restructure their hours.

Keep an open mind and listen to their perspective – this will put you in good stead for creating solutions.

Proactive not reactive

Not all tough conversations can end with a positive outcome, but even if you have a foregone conclusion of what needs to happen, try to focus on solutions. Minimise a sense of blame and finger-pointing and look for opportunities to rectify and avoid this situation occurring again. Remember, you’re a team, so you may be able to collaboratively come up with a solution that works for both you and your team members.

Recordkeeping

Once your conversation has concluded, be sure to document this in a report (if you have an internal or external HR team, this is helpful to forward to them also). Summarise what was discussed, what conclusions were reached and any timelines for action items. This way, you can also track if the employee has taken necessary actions or if another conversation is required.

Business owners and leaders often need to do the ‘hard things’ and spearhead tough conversations with your team. By staying prepared, listening actively and developing communication and trust with every staff member, you’ll be on the front foot for tricky times.