Difficult Conversations

The performance of one of your top employees has recently begun to slip. You had a conversation with the employee to address it, and there was some improvement for a while, but performance slipped again. You do not want to terminate this employee because you know the value of their work, and you trust and respect them. However, other team members are starting to notice and are expressing their frustrations.

You schedule a follow-up meeting with the employee.

Part One: Leveraging what you have learned from the course materials for this week, briefly outline your goals for the meeting and explain your strategy for achieving these goals. In your response, address the following questions:

• What will you do to make your objectives clear and candid during the conversation?
• How will you manage your emotion during the conversation while still maintaining empathy and trust with the employee?
• What techniques will you employ to strengthen your working relationship with this employee, and why would you choose these techniques?
• How will you work with the employee to develop an agreed-upon performance improvement plan?

Part Two: Write a dialogue illustrating the conversation between you and this employee that demonstrates your use of the strategies you have chosen. Ensure your dialog aligns with your strategies and objectives for the meeting.

For your discussion posts, please review, integrate, and cite course materials to illustrate your application of sound business communication practices, support for your position(s), and demonstration of thought leadership.