216 - Mastering Difficult Conversations: The Art of Communication through Role-Play with Kate Crawshaw

A difficult conversation can take many forms — emotionally intense, sharing unexpected information, challenging someone, reasserting boundaries.

Whatever ‘difficult’ looks like to you, we all have something in common: we’re terribly under-practiced in having these conversations.

For Kate Crawshaw, role play can be the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to feeling confident about difficult conversations. Creating a container and taking the time to practice, rehash, and become familiar with our ‘difficult’ selves can make every conversation feel more manageable and ourselves more grounded.

Vital work for facilitators, you’ll no doubt agree.

Find out about:

• How role play can give us a second chance — or a practice run — with difficult conversations
• Why difficult conversations are made more difficult by their scarcity
• How to set the rules in role play and maintain a non-judgement practice
• Why it’s fruitless to role play as yourself
• Why judgement is a core part of facilitation and why it can feel so difficult to defer it
• How controlling the tempo of your conversations can settle your nerves
• How to stop focusing on your own ‘performance’ by refocusing on the learning outcome

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👉 What happens when being “professional” gets in the way of being human? My new podcast Unprofessionalism explores the rules we’re taught to follow at work, and what happens when we break them. Listen here: https://unprofessionalism.buzzsprout.com/  👈