If your parents are still alive, imagine you were talking to them about the upcoming training course you are having at work. You casually mention that you are participating in a conversations training course. They would undoubtedly be amused; they may even laugh at the idea.

This is how removed we have become from conversing with each other. That now we must be trained to talk to each other. Wow! Things have changed, wouldn’t you say?

But it is true: We do need training to have performance management conversations. A properly constructed performance management conversations training course provides managers with the necessary skills and confidence to engage in some of the more challenging conversations they are expected to have with their charges.

These are often the conversations that are avoided at all costs. They require some careful thought. One foot wrong, and it can be catastrophic! Leaders in their conversations need to be assertive and diplomatic at the same time.

We don’t want to offend but need to get to the point. No pussy-footing around. These performance conversations do require some skills.

Organizations are conversations; they are a series of conversations that are taking place all the time. Hundreds, thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands, even millions of conversations go on each day in every organization around the world.

• Some conversations are long.
• Some are short.
• Some are structured.
• Many meander.
• Some are interesting.
• Many are boring.
• Some are work-related and some personal.
• Some are funny and others serious.

They are never ending and the essence of any organization of people.

We have these conversations everywhere. Some occur in the boardroom, others in the lunchroom, and they take place even in the toilet. Some happen in the car park and others in the car.

Some happy virtually via Skype and others personally in the same room. Conversations occur with the boss and others with friends and colleagues. Some even happen in a performance management conversation training course.

Yes, we need to have more face-to-face conversations. We are using email and other technology to have conversations we ought to be having in person. But the real issue is that we should be having more quality conversations, particularly when it comes to performance management.

Performance management conversations training course is important for managers to give them the confidence and skills to facilitate more effective performance conversations.

We don’t have time for conversations

I was speaking with a client the other day about the need for better quality conversations. He nodded dutifully and then said, “We don’t have time for conversations around here?” “What do you mean?” “Well, we have too much work, we are always flat out. We just don’t have the time for these conversations.”

I felt like asking him when he thought he might have more time for these performance conversations. But I didn’t. Many people don’t necessarily see conversations as being productive. They think they might descend into idle chit-chat. But quality conversations can be very productive.

They guide, inform, clarify, change people’s thinking, help people to understands, build trust, create interest, and stimulate thought. Performance management conversations training course are vital to the success of any organization. You can’t afford not to have the time for these types of conversations.

Kouzes and Posner in their thought-provoking book, Credibility, coined the phrase: “Leadership is a relationship.” I love that phrase. They didn’t mean a personal relationship, of course. They were referring to a professional, working relationship.

My question then is this: How does a leader have a professional working relationship with his or her team members? The answer is … one conversation at a time. There is no other way. Conversations build trust and influence. Our performance management conversations training course emphasizes this idea.

It is a leader’s job to build a professional working relationship with each of their team members. And this is done through regular, meaningful performance and development conversations. There is no other way.

So even if our parents would be amused, learning to have quality conversations in the workplace, or anywhere else for that matter, matters. Quality conversations are the essence of business. And performance management conversations training is critically important.