Fierce Conversations: One Type of Talk to Avoid at All Costs

In this series, we’ll offer important lessons from Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott. And, targeted advice for how to apply those lessons to the day-to-day operations of your eye care practice.

Last week, we covered the first of Scott’s seven core principles of fierce conversations: Interrogate Reality. If you missed it, you can read it here.

This week, we’re covering how to take surface-level, “unreal” conversations, and turn them into conversations that are worth having.

Principle 2: Make It Real

“While many fear ‘real,’ it is the unreal conversation that should concern us,” warns Scott.

“Unreal conversations are incredibly expensive, both for the individual and for the organization.”

They don’t address any challenge, and only delay achieving what you want and need. Choose to be authentic and real in every conversation. Revelation is always better than concealment.

Real Conversations at Your Eye Care Practice

Like most practices, you likely have several employees from the millennial generation. Their particular mindset may require you to have more real conversations with them than you had with employees from older generations. Millennials want to know exactly what you expect, with clear objectives and deadlines. They want recognition when they’ve done an especially good job, as well as prompt notice when they’re not living up to your standards.

To this end, both of you might benefit from what leadership coach Tracy Spears calls a “stay interview”—a check-in with a valued employee that lets you monitor any concerns they have with their job (it’s called a “stay interview” because it helps to prevent an “exit interview” down the line). It allows you to address and correct any issues before their frustration leads them to a new job elsewhere.

Next Up: Core Principle #3: Be Here