"Why is she crying at work?"
Karl has been receiving complaints about his new employee Sandra. She transferred from Germany about 6 months ago. In some cases, she seems to be unfriendly, even rude and offending sometimes. One colleague came to Karl in tears. Karl has experienced situations himself where Sandra showed a lack in diplomacy and acted close to being “offensive”. (16:45)
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Lessons Learned:
- Acknowledge the cultural differences - Raise this as a possibility early on, e.g., “there may be a cultural difference here.”
- Raise the issue sooner - The first step of the Relate Model is to build Rapport. But, raise the topic of this converation earlier in the conversation.
- Include the employee in the solution - Ask the employee for solutions, ideas, insights into what she could, or would be willing to, do differently.
- Reaffirm the relationship - A universal aspect of an effective Courageous Conversation is to reaffirm the employee, her contribution, and her value to the organization.
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