part of the employee and whether he or she responds appropriately. In addition, it can
be quite useful to determine the order of arguments in advance, taking care that not all
of the most powerful points come at the beginning. Such considerations, however, are
not about programming the flow of conversation. Flexibility is always necessary: a
conversation can always take unexpected turns, and the manager has to respond
spontaneously.
Organizational preparation. This aspect concerns the answers to six questions:
Who participates in the conversation? Where am I leading the conversation? When
am I leading the conversation? How much time will the conversation take? Which
documents and tools (e.g. soft drinks) are needed? Which seating arrangement
makes sense?
Unprepared or poorly prepared talks disrupt communication on the rational and
factual level, as well as on the emotional relationship level. You may experience the
following problems:
There will be misunderstandings, for example due to bad acoustics, distractions or
poor timing.
The message is not taken seriously because the conversation is held “on the fly.”
Talks can be provided additional “weight” by including written documents.
The conversational atmosphere is too “cold” due to an overly sober environment.
The employee feels devalued: The boss is sitting in a comfortable executive’s chair,
while the employee has to sit on a hard visitor’s chair.
For a productive discussion, it is particularly bad if it is conducted under time
pressure. Psychology plays an important part. For example if we speak quickly, we
can easily give the impression that we want to get the conversation over with
quickly. Thus we put – quite unintentionally – our partner under pressure. As a
result, he or she withdraws and refrains from expressing thoughts that may be very
informative.
Also, the time of the interview must be chosen carefully by the manager. Longer
meetings just before lunch or just before closing time are not in the interests of
employees, whose attention capacity is not ideal at these times.
Methodical preparation. It is useful to reflect on the probable progression of the
conversation. For this reason, we should first clarity what type of conversation
partner we have to deal with. We may already know them from other encounters
and know what reactions they tend to have. How can we get them in a positive
mood? What interests and preferences do they have? The methodical preparation
also includes everything I mentioned before about the questions the employee
might ask. The important thing is to be in a position to anticipate these questions.
Psychological and mental preparation. At least for important discussions, we
should pay attention to our own mental state. Positive thinking leads to success. It’s
hard to heed this principle if you are a negative mood with regard to the occasion or
the other person – or if you are overworked. Self-motivation is appropriate in such
situations. This also includes reconsidering your negative attitude towards your
conversation partner. If you fail to make this mental turnaround, it is advisable to
transfer the meeting to another person or to cancel or postpone it.
4.2 Tools as Means to an End 207