Now You're Talking!

As a manager, leading performance conversations with your people can feel like entering a lion's den: you hope you'll be lucky enough to escape alive, but there's no guarantee. But why rely on luck? Build your skills and you'll handle performance conversations with confidence.

After more than 30 years in performance management, including time in the Royal Navy, Cathay Pacific, and KPMG, Anna Wildman has pulled together all the most challenging conversations you're likely to face in the workplace and shows you how to conduct them without dread or worry. Drawing on the experiences of thousands of managers, she expertly guides you through each conversation, step by step, offering practical examples of what to say and how to say it. Every conversation is grounded in real, everyday scenarios across all industries and sectors, and illuminated by insights from many of the world's leading business gurus and the latest findings in the field of neuroscience. The result is a refreshingly practical, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow book that will transform all conversations with your staff. 

The book contents cover how to lead the Big 5 conversations of goal-setting, development planning, feedback, performance reviews and compensation. But it also covers many more topics, including how to motivate your staff, how to lead coaching conversations, and how to lead those tough discussions that every manager dreads, including conversations about:

1. Disruptive behavior

2. Needing the same improvement conversation twice

3. Acting like a diva

4. Making a major mistake

5. Passing on second-hand feedback from a senior colleague

6. Two team members in conflict

7. A lower performance review than expected

8. A promised promotion not materializing

9. Low morale due to cutbacks or redundancies

10. A team member is seriously stressed

Extra conversation: A personal hygiene issue