Why Tough Conversations Drive Your Business Towards Success
The reality of tough conversations is that they can be the driving force for growing your business in the direction that you are hoping for!
Alright friends, let’s talk about the harsh reality of being a boss lady: Tough conversations.
First of all, a tough conversation is actually a REALLY good thing! If you’re not having these difficult talks, you're not growing. As a business owner, you are guarenteed to have tough conversations ALL of the time! A vendor showing up late to an event, an employee not turning in work on time, a client misunderstanding, the list goes on. If you don’t confront these situations head on like a boss lady they’ll only get messier the longer you put them off.
Something that has made these tough conversations even tougher for me, is becoming friends with a lot of the people I work with. It’s inevitable. I purposefully surround myself with likeminded, strong women in my business! And then I become really good friends with them and it makes a tricky business conversation even trickier. You owe it to these friends to be honest about something that's not going well. They need to be able to grow also! Don't just brush it under the rug because you want to avoid hurting feelings; no one will change if they don't know what they're doing wrong!! I always try to give people the opportunity to be better, but at the end of the day, I have to do what’s best for my business even if it means stepping away from a relationship.
My biggest piece of advice for a tough conversation is to get it on paper!! This is really just life advice in general, but I strongly encourage it for anything business related as well. Having an uncomfortable discussion, ESPECIALLY if it is emotion driven, needs to be in writing. Draft your email in a Word document so you can clearly articulate what it is you’re trying to say and still have the option to edit it. So many times I’ve wanted to just pick up the phone and call someone to get this kind of talk out of the way, but that’s not always effective. I need the opportunity to write it all out, read it aloud, and revise. Plus, having it in writing leaves a lot less room for ambiguity and any twisting of words later.
I always go into these situations asking myself “what’s my end result” or “what am I trying to accomplish by having this talk”. Make sure you are having conversations and making decisions that are following the direction of the vision you have for your business. I’ve definitely reached out to other business owners who I am close with and talked through some of these tough conversations -not out of gossip- but out of accountability. I want someone else who understands business to look at the situation from a neutral view and make sure I’m getting my point across while staying true to the vision of my company. I also don’t want any emotions to cloud my judgment when it comes to a tough business conversation, and having someone else’s opinion can be really helpful.
If you are not having tough conversations, your business may not be growing in the direction you want it to.
Don’t be afraid to have a tough conversation. Own it! Make sure you are always staying true to the vision of your business and learning from these hard moments. Keep being an amazing boss lady and don’t be scared to step out of your comfort zone in order to grow!
<<Photo via Pinterest.>>
