|
CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler Foreword by Stephen R. Covey Publisher: McGraw-Hill Publication date: August 2002 Price: $14.95/trade paperback // ISBN: 0-07-140194-6 -- Dain Hancock, President, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics "This is a breakthrough book," -- From the Foreword by Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People MASTERING CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS -- THE KEY TO BUSINESS AND CAREER SUCCESS Leadership Experts Show How to Strengthen Teams, Build Careers, and Boost the Bottom Line in Breakthrough Book What is a "Crucial Conversation" and why is it important to business and career success? According to leadership experts Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, "Crucial Conversations" are those tough, day-to-day interactions in which the stakes are high, people have conflicting views, and emotions run strong. The surprising thing about these conversations is that they often occur when least expected whether in the boardroom or by the water cooler. Mastering them can transform businesses and careers, strengthen teams, increase productivity, and boost the bottom line. In their new book CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High (McGraw-Hill, August 2002), Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler present a step-by-step process for navigating these important discussions. Partners in VitalSmarts, a renowned leadership and organizational effectiveness consulting firm with clients throughout the world, the four authors have studied more than 20,000 people in hundreds of organizations during the past twenty-five years to identify the skills and techniques that are used by people who are masters at influencing others. "People who routinely hold crucial conversations and hold them well are able to express controversial and even risky opinions in a way that gets heard. Their bosses, peers, and direct reports listen without becoming defensive or angry." Moreover, the authors have discovered that a company's quality, productivity, morale, and bottom line are directly affected by how well its employees handle crucial conversations. "Our research has shown that strong careers and organizations draw from the same source of power - the ability to talk openly about high-stakes, emotional, controversial topics... In the best companies, everyone holds everyone else accountable - regardless of level or position. The path to high productivity passes not through a static system, but through face-to-face conversations at all levels," they explain. Using the techniques described in CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS, a division of AT&T improved productivity by 50% in less than twelve months, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won the largest contract in its industry's history, a multi-billion dollar manufacturer achieved a 10% improvement in quality, a 2000-person software development group improved on-time delivery by 30%, and a major university realized unfulfilled promises of an important IT project. On an interpersonal level, CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS can help managers become better leaders, departments interact more effectively with each other, companies retain employees, and much more. The authors explain the dynamics of what goes on in people's minds when they're confronted by difficult conversations, and then present techniques for clarifying objectives, staying focused on goals, and helping other participants do the same. This process enables people to keep their emotions in check even when angry or threatened, find out what others are thinking, and resolve problems before they explode. To drive their points home, the authors present real-life scenarios that show how to apply these principles in even the most serious situations, whether it's workers who don't inform a supervisor of problems until it's too late, team members who never go beyond what they're asked to do, or cases of harassment or insubordination. When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions start to run strong, casual conversations become crucial. Ironically, the more crucial the conversation, the less likely people are to handle it well. "The good news is that the skills required to master high-stakes interactions are quite easy to spot and moderately easy to learn," write the authors of CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS. This breakthrough book contains proven principles that will transform the way people think, talk, and act in any business situation. ABOUT THE AUTHORS KERRY PATTERSON, JOSEPH GRENNY, RON MCMILLAN, and AL SWITZLER founded VitalSmarts in 1990. Their clients include Mitsubishi, Philips Electronics, Xerox, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Ford Motor Company, and Proctor & Gamble, and 300 of the Fortune 500 companies. Co-authors of The Balancing Act: Mastering the Competing Demands of Leadership, they have developed dozens of training programs and have helped tens of thousands of people become more effective at all levels of business. KERRY PATTERSON began his research into the challenges of developing and maintaining healthy organizations during his doctoral work at Stanford University. He has taught at the Graduate School of Management at Brigham Young University, and for over two decades has worked as a consultant on extensive culture change projects. JOSEPH GRENNY has taught and coached thousands of corporate and government leaders around the world. Co-founder of California Computer Corporation and Unitus, a nonprofit organization that helps the third-world poor achieve economic self-reliance, he has designed and implemented major change initiatives for numerous clients during the past seventeen years. RON MCMILLAN holds advanced degrees in sociology and organizational behavior. He co-founded Covey Leadership Center where he was vice president of research and development for seven years. For more than twenty-five years, he has worked with a variety of groups, ranging from unions and first-level managers to CEOs and corporate executives, on topics including team development, personal vitality, and leadership. AL SWITZLER is on the faculty at the Executive Development Center at the University of Michigan and has previously taught at Auburn University, the University of Kentucky, and the Graduate School of Management at Brigham Young University. He has served as president of two consulting firms, vice president of marketing for an information firm, and as director of training and management development for a health-care company. |
||
close window | ||