Crucial Conversations

Description

The authors of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, provide the roadmap to talk your way through those tough conversations—conversations where people disagree, emotions run high, and stakes are high. The book gives real tools and strategies to communicate more effectively and constructively in tough situations.

Some of the concepts covered in this book are:

A crucial conversation was defined by the authors to be a situation of an argument, a debate and having a different opinion by both parties involved in discussion. That, therefore, will be the first step about mastering crucial conversations-know that one is in a crucial conversation.

Creating Safety: According to the book, creating safety in conversations will engender free speech. All people will be able to say what is in their minds without fear of dire repercussions. This is through mutual respect in creating an atmosphere wherein every person feels heard.

Outcomes Focus: The authors invite the readers to stipulate their goals before they converse and keep focusing on such outcomes rather than letting the emotions and personal attacks bring them astray.

This text, as it gives a guide in the importance of good communication and mastering one’s emotions for effective interaction, does offer techniques about dealing with the emotion of the speaker and appropriately reacting to his emotions.
This book follows a dialogue approach, proposing that an agreement can best be worked out through shared views of both parties without causing friction or conflict between them.

Equipped with real-life examples and practical strategies, Crucial Conversations teaches readers how to handle tough discussions with confidence and poise, thereby creating better relationships and more effective problem-solving.