I had the opportunity to sit down with Hilary Blair, MFA Co-Founder of ARTiculate. We had the opportunity to discuss why and how event leaders see many difficult conversations in the planning process and discuss some tips in how to work through them. Almost every event professional has shared that the reason for much of the high levels of stress resides in the outcome of difficult conversations with clients and leaders.

What I enjoyed about the episode with Hilary, is how she shared some simple frameworks like “sci-fi” to help us all understand how we can be more self-aware, curious, and intentional for impact. Such an easy thing to learn, but you can keep her framework as a tool in almost every situation.

Key Takeaways

• When in a conversation that is a bit awkward, there are some key questions that you can ask yourself to be more aware of the situation which are: What is going on? What I’m I feeling? How am I connecting? What did I miss?
• We should eliminate the word “because” from our communication when interacting with others as it may throw the ownership of the situation back at the person you’re in conflict with. Own where you are.
• Hilary always says the “own the awkward”. This means that we have to be able to step into those awkward situations and discuss them no matter how it may feel.
• Instead of aiming to be nice and polite, aim for being kind and honoring. This encourages transparency, honesty, and steers clear of avoidance.
• Finally, keep the main thing, the main thing. Always address first what a person wants to hear. Then provide detail and embellishments. This helps the person feel comfortable and allows their mind to settle and able to focus on what else you want to tell them.

We discussed much more, but will leave it to your listening ears to hear the rest of the nuggets in this episode. Enjoy!

Links and Resources

Connect with ARTiculate
Connect with Hillary Blair via LinkedIn
Book: Communication in the Workplace  – by Hillary Blair and Robin A. Miller
Book: Powerful Phrases with Dealing with Workplace Conflict – by David Dye and Karen Hurt

Want to check out another podcast on how to manage difficult conversations as a leader? You’re in luck, check this one out!

Thank you for listening, until next time stay on purpose!

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