Crucial Conversations: Essential Leadership Skills to Drive Performance and Trust

I'm still working through Crucial Conversations, but the evidence it presents about the importance of cultivating supposedly “soft” skills necessary for tricky conversations is compelling.

The book defines “crucial conversations” as ones where 1) the stakes run high, 2) emotions run strong, and 3) opinions differ. Research cited in the book shows that nearly 80% of projects requiring cross-functional cooperation run over budget and underperform.

Their research shows that the single most powerful predictor of success in these kinds of projects is whether people are willing and able to hold honest, timely crucial conversations.

Organizations where employees openly raise concerns see project failure rates drop by more than 50%, dramatically reducing costly overruns, missed deadlines, and disengagement. For leaders serious about driving performance, ensuring that you – and ideally your teams – learn and master the skills to have these conversations is non-negotiable.