Crucial Conversations

Tools for achieving personal and professional success

Al Switzler, David Maxfield, Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan

6 Ways to (Tactfully) Bring Up Personal Hygiene Issues

Here's how to set the tone to help an awkward discussion go quickly and smoothly.

One Skill to Curb Unconscious Gender Bias

What if your colleagues discriminated against you just for being assertive? Unfortunately for many women, gender bias is a reality in today’s workplace.

Why Smart People Do Dumb Things

The quiet, polite expression of doubt can turn the rest of the group from zombies into thinkers.

The Human Side of Change

When leaders continue to pay attention to how they handle both crucial conversations and crucial accountability discussions, they enjoy significant and lasting change.

How to Deal with a Toxic Work Environment

I'm an HR manager in a nonprofit mental-health organization -- experiencing many complaints from managers about dealing with poor workplace behaviors. Although not illegal, these behaviors are unhealthy and unproductive. Employees do not seem capable of getting along with each other, and it's harming our ability to work efficiently. What can I do to address it?

How to Stop Others from Lying

The most powerful way to improve the moral character of our world is not policing, but connecting. We can help one another stay morally engaged by simply connecting people with their own values and with the consequences of their choices.

How to Deal With Angry Employees

Today’s version of workplace anger often comes in the form of repressed rage masked as raging sarcasm, a hostile glance, or maybe the ever-favorite thinly veiled threat.

Tips for Sharing Bad News

Giving bad news to others can be troublesome—particularly when the person you’re giving the bad news to holds you responsible—and you’re not. Here's how to share bad news the right way.

The Greatest Challenge a Couple Faces, and 5 Ways to Beat It

According to a study, couples who argue effectively are 10 times more likely to have a happy relationship than those who struggle to discuss disagreements.

Use questions to help people change who don't want to change

How to Change People Who Don't Want to Change

When you’re trying to influence people who need motivation, but not information, don’t offer more information. That’s nagging. Instead, use questions to create a safe environment where they can explore motivations they already have

How Much Is Your Failed Resolution Costing You?

Why do so many of us fail at our resolutions? Three challenges and strategies to overcome them.

5 Tips for Talking About Holiday Spending with Your Spouse

More than 60 percent of people either overspend during the holidays or have a spouse or partner who overspends. How do you talk about it?

The Science of Career Success

87 percent of the employees we surveyed said they have bosses who have prevented them from getting the pay, promotions or other opportunities they wanted because of a concern they’ve had about their performance. Utilize the six sources of influence to make positive performance habits inevitable -- allowing you to get unstuck at work.

A Manager’s Guide to Retaining Disengaged Employees

When your employees begin demonstrating signs of career suicide, open your door, and allow them to approach you with crucial conversations. If you demonstrate a commitment to being approachable, your employees will find more satisfaction with their current jobs, and you will experience improvements in your working relationships.

Speak Up or Burn Out

If teachers would take the initiative to have skillful discussions with unsupportive principals, assistant principals, fellow teachers, and parents, they would improve students’ learning, create a better work environment, and reduce stress.

Aligning Different Parenting Styles

Children need both affirmation and influence. Unfortunately, many relationships break down because we keep trying to make our spouse be good at what we value without properly recognizing our need for what they bring to the party. So the question is how do you turn conflicting values into complementary ones?

How to Speak Up Without Causing a Blow-up

When we employ effective skills for holding crucial conversations we can elevate our capacity to influence decisions, improve relationships, and speak our minds in a way that gets heard.

Handling Public Displays of Rudeness

What do you do when someone is rude or publicly cuts down another person in the middle of a meeting? Is there a way to handle group conflict in the moment and create a safe environment without publicly chastising someone?

Stuck with a Slacking Co-worker? Why You’re to Blame

Slacking co-workers cause a quarter of their hard-working colleagues to put in four to six more hours of work each week, yet only 10 percent speak up and hold underperforming colleagues accountable. How can you speak up honestly, directly and professionally to resolve the issue once and for all?

Accountability—What Dysfunctional Teams Are Missing

Team failures, wherein team members are unwilling and unable to support each other, stem from a variety of problems, but they all have one solution: accountability.

Weighty Conversations With Your Child

When an overweight teenage or adult child’s health is at risk, how do you speak up in a way that helps your child without undermining your relationship?

Coping with the Loss of a Loved One

When a friend’s loved one passes away, what is the best way to console him or her without saying something that further compounds the pain?

Confronting Destructive and Manipulative Behavior

It’s impossible to imagine how hard it would be to think clearly when a loved one is threatening suicide. Here are some important principles for having those crucial conversations.

The Six-Source Solution to Keep Your Weight Loss Resolution

When we fail to meet New Year’s resolutions, we assume it’s because we’re weak willed. However, willpower combined with silver-bullet solutions is insufficient to create lasting change. Our research identifies six sources of influence that shape behavior. Those who recruit all of these sources to support new habits are 10 times more successful in reaching their goals.

Exercise Your Free 'Won't'

We have much less control over our behavior than we think. However, we can put the control back in our hands by reshaping the sources of influence that shape us.

Contemplating whether to speak up

When in Doubt, Open Your Mouth

Reverse the consequences of silence by taking moral action even in an incredibly hot state.

The Media Is an Accomplice in School Shootings

The attention given to and glorification of school shooters amplifies the violence. We must balance the right to speak freely with the responsibility to influence ethically.

Surprising Lessons From 525 Life-Changing Crucial Conversations

New research from the New York Times best-selling authors of "Crucial Conversations" reveals surprising lessons from 525 life-changing conversations.