All of us encounter difficult people and have difficult conversations as part of our working lives. This is the case regardless of what we do, who we meet and our level of seniority.

These difficulties can leave people feeling powerless to effect outcomes in a positive way, can result in a negative effect on working relationships and also can make it impossible to bring about change.

Open Conversation is an approach that allows people to hear what they need to hear and say what they have to say without affecting good working relationships, enabling stress levels to be reduced and change to be effected.

This approach may be suitable for senior members of staff, or for groups of staff who may encounter difficult situations in their every day work, such as those in student services.

Although it will be tailored to meet your specific needs, the programme will normally cover:

• The link between the culture of the organisation, the conversational process and difficult conversations
• Recognising our own difficult conversations
• Escaping from the trap of closed thinking
• The Open Conversation Model
• Implementing an Open Conversation approach – in the college or within a department or section of the college