Business Skills

Management

Summary: Managing difficult situations effectively

Management incorporates many types of communication. This page shows one example, but the same framework can be applied to wide range of other management issues. We will consider a case where a manager has to choose to one staff member over another. This might involve choosing one person to promote or one project proposal to accept. These situations are challenging and can create tension and resentment if poorly handled.

Before meeting:

Businesswoman and businessman discuss exchange documents
  • Set goal: There are two major goals in this situation: to make the best choice and to maintain good relations with the employees.
  • Manage yourself: It is important to manage both internal emotions and emotions of the employees. Any internal or external conflicts must be identified and addressed.
  • Create proposal: Whatever your choice, the manager should understand the interests of the employees and look for a mutually beneficial solution.
  • Develop persuasion strategy: Managers can use effective communication to gain respect of employees, which makes persuasion easier. In addition, they can use keys to influence and framing to build a convincing case.

During meeting:

  • Establish rapport: Meeting with an employee who was rejected can be emotionally tricky. Skillful managers will establish rapport by sharing the experience of the employee to some degree. Once rapport is established, his emotional state can be improved so that he leaves the meeting in a positive mood.
  • Use language effectively: There are typically three stages to this type of meeting and each requires a different type of language. Initially, the most important goal is to establish rapport and the language needs to reflect that. It should match the language and emotional state of the employee. Once rapport is established, the decision and resons for the decision can be communicated clearly using emotionally-neutral language. Finally, when managing the emotions of the employee the manager may need to use more positive and inspirational language.