Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

(ff) #1
I have known a thousand scampsi

but I never met one who considered himself so.

Self-knowledge isn't 50 common.

-OUiDA

learn to look


How to Notice When Safety


Is at Risk


Let's start this chapter by visiting a crucial conversation. You've
just ended a heated debate with a group of people you supervise.
What started out as a harmless discussion about your new shift
rotations ended up as a nasty argument. Mter an hour of carping
and complaining, you finally went to your separate comers.
You're now walking down the hall wondering what happened.
In a matter of minutes an innocent discussion had transformed
into a crucial conversation, and then into a fa iled conversation­
and you can't recall why. You do remember a tense moment
when you started pushing your point of view a bit too hard
(okay, maybe way too hard) and eight people stared at you as if
you had just bitten the head off a chicken. But then the meeting
ended.

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