Mastering Difficult Conversations: 3.5 Insights from Bestselling Author Amy P. Kelly

Author Amy P. Kelly — “Difficult Conversations”

“Clarity is Kind.” — Amy P. Kelly

Amy P. Kelly is the Vice President of Consulting for The Jon Gordon Companies and co-author with Jon Gordon of the USA Today Best Seller “Difficult Conversations Don’t Have to Be Difficult” & “The Energy Bus Field Guide” a roadmap to fueling your life, work, and team with positive energy.

Amy and I discuss her USA Today Best Selling Book “Difficult Conversations”.

3.5 Ideas from Amy P. Kelly:

1) What is the Cost of Negativity in the Workplace?

• “If someone is constantly being negative, people can feel that. It impacts their mindset. It impacts their outlook. It impacts their team, organization, and family.”
• “We don’t want people to feel bad if you have a bad day. That’s normal. We’re not trying to chastise people. The HeartMath.Org did research on this and proved the fact that when we feel an emotion it goes to every cell in our body. People can feel that up to 10 feet away. We’re contagious in so many different ways.”
• “If you’ve ever walked into a meeting or a room where something was going down or there was something happening, you can feel it. The same is true when we enter a room in our home where things are positive and comfortable, you can feel it. It grows. And it’s contagious.”

2) How Can we Not Hurt Someone’s Ego when Having a “Difficult Conversation”?

• “One of the big things that helps about telling your truth is remembering they have a truth too. As we’re telling our truth, we’ve got to spend as much if not more time listening to the other person’s truth.”
• “They might have something that’s different. And we must be willing and receptive to hearing that and being ready to be a listener.”
• “People tend to have their own feelings, they’ll have a different perspective. So, as we’re telling the truth, be open to receiving the other person’s truth.”

3) Why are “Difficult Conversations” so important in Building a Team’s Culture?

• “A study done by a workplace resource company called Bravely found that 70% of employees are avoiding difficult conversations at work and 53% of employees are handling any type of difficult situations by ignoring them.”
• “This results in declining engagement and organizational trust. A simple saying from Jon Gordon is, “Where there’s a void in communication, negativity will fill it.”
• “When we avoid something that needs to be addressed, we make up stories about it and turn it into something that is so much more powerful than it ever was if we had just addressed it.”

3.5) If you Could Have Everyone take ONE LESSON Away, What Would it Be?

• “Pause before you communicate. Not every conversation has to be had.”
• “Every team that I’ve worked with said,. “We communicate less, but more clearly.’”
• “So pausing before you communicate. I think that alone will transform your relationships and teams.”

Connect with Amy P. Kelly:

• Website: Amy P. Kelly
• LinkedIn: Amy P. Kelly
• IG: Amy P. Kelly
• Book: Difficult Conversations

“Life is Built, Not Born.”

Joe Ciccarone

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