Influencing Difficult Situations examines techniques for approaching and handling difficult business situations. The programme is based on the research and writings of Chris Argyris, Peter Senge, and other experts in the field of business communication. The programme explores how mental models influence our private thinking and, thus, our behaviour. It presents the "Left-Hand/Right-Hand Column Case Study" exercise as a technique for unveiling and examining our private thinking. Finally, the programme examines five unproductive thinking habits that many people fall into during difficult conversations, and five productive alternative ways of thinking. By examining their own thinking habits and actively seeking more productive mindsets, managers can learn to approach difficult situations with confidence, avoid blaming and defensiveness, and create higher quality relationships and business decisions.

What will I learn during ‘Managing difficult conversations’?

• Understand that avoiding difficult situations / confrontation often results in suppressing crucial information and bad business decisions.
• Understand that we develop and use "mental models" to make sense of the world around us. These mental models influence, often subconsciously, how we select and interpret information and reach conclusions-that is, how we climb our "Ladders of Inference."
• Learn how to become aware of and monitor our private thinking. Recognise how profoundly our private thinking can influence what we say, our decisions, and actions, and how we thereby, unwittingly, often contribute to the "difficulty" in business situations.
• Become aware that, in difficult situations, we often resort to a defensive mental model of "Be in Control."
• Learn how to identify the five non-productive thinking habits that arise from the "Be in Control" mental model. Learn to shift our mental model towards one of "Mutual Learning" and five alternative, productive thinking habits.