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Difficult conversations training managers can practice

Most difficult conversations training is a framework and a workshop. Ebbing is the practice. A manager says the hard thing out loud to a persona who gets defensive, goes quiet or pushes back, then sees exactly where it went well and where it slipped.

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Telling a team member their work is not meeting expectations, rep 3

Listening to you

Jordan Ellis

Senior Marketing Specialist

0:04 so farUp to 10:00

What has been said

    You are scored on

    Backs it with specifics. Listens and stays steady under pushback. Agrees what changes next.

    End and get my score

    Why the workshop does not stick

    • The framework is not the skill

      Anyone can recite a feedback model. Saying it to someone who is hurt or angry is a different skill, and it only comes from doing it.

    • The real ones are rare

      A manager might give seriously difficult feedback a few times a year. That is not enough repetition to get good at anything.

    • Colleagues go easy

      Roleplay in a workshop is two people being kind to each other. Nobody plays the senior colleague who thinks the rules are for other people.

    New manager training with the conversation in it

    Your rubrics, your personas and your real calls, so the practice matches the job.

    • Feedback that names the moment

      How the conversation ended, a level for each skill, and the one thing to do differently next time.

      How it ended

      Goal reached

      Dana agreed to a second call with her director in the room.

      How skillfully you ran it

      68, solid

      Strong discovery. The close came before she had said what a good outcome looks like.

      0:00One good moment, two to work on8:30

      Do this on the next rep

      Before you propose a next step, ask what would have to be true for her to bring this to her director.

    • The situations your managers really face

      Write the roleplay from a real situation, with names changed: what happened, what the person believes, what they will not say unless asked.

      Glenn Abbott

      Drafted from Tuesday’s call

      Glenn Abbott

      President, sixty-person metal fabrication shop

      Talks in short sentences and asks what things cost early. Warms up when you ask about the shop floor. Goes quiet when he hears marketing terms.

      Keeps to themselves unless asked well: two customers make up half his revenue, and his one salesperson retires in two years.

    • Run a cohort and see who is improving

      Assign a roleplay to a group of new managers with a date, and follow each person rep by rep.

      Assigned: Telling a team member their work is not meeting expectations2 of 4 done
      • Priya N.Done, 70
      • Marcus R.Due Friday
      • Jasmine C.Done, 59
      • David C.Not started

    More ways teams use Ebbing

    Give your managers the reps before the real conversation

    Tell us who you are and which conversations matter most. We will set up your first roleplays with you.

    Request early access

    Access is by invitation while we bring on our first teams.