The Four Conversations: Daily Communication That Gets Results

by Ford, Jeffery; Ford, Laurie

• ISBN13: 9781576759202
• ISBN10: 1576759202
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-08-02
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

Talk is powerful. Engaging in the right conversation at the right time is key to both personal and organizational success. And it isn't just 'difficult' conversations that matter. The Four Conversations clearly demonstrates it is the everyday dialogue we have with one another that is critical. Armed with a solid body of research and their own first-hand observations, Jeffrey and Laurie Ford identify four types of conversations that every one of us must use to get things done: initiative conversations to introduce something new; understanding conversations to help people relate to new ideas or processes; performance conversations to request specific actions and results; and closure conversations to complete work and give people a sense of accomplishment . They identify the specific elements that make each of these conversations successful and show how they can be put together in different ways to achieve different objectives.

Author Biography

Jeffrey Ford is associate professor of management in the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Laurie Ford is a consultant to managers and executives in business, government agencies, and associations on organization redesign and change implementation.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Four Conversations in a Successful Workplace	p. 1
The Importance of Conversations	p. 3
Some Conversations Slow Things Down, Others Speed Things Up	p. 6
Six Limitations to a Successful Workplace	p. 22
Conversations: Your Personal Advantage	p. 29
Key Points	p. 29
Initiative Conversations: Create a Future	p. 31
Leaders Have Initiative Conversations	p. 32
Choose Your Initiative Statement: What-When-Why	p. 40
Prepare for Your Initiative Conversation: Who-Where-How	p. 46
Launch Your Initiative Conversation	p. 49
If You Are Missing Initiative Conversations	p. 53
Putting It into Practice	p. 56
Understanding Conversations: Include and Engage	p. 59
Help People Find a Positive Meaning in Your Message	p. 60
Expand and Deepen Participation	p. 68
The Limits of Understanding	p. 82
If You Are Missing Understanding Conversations	p. 90
Putting It into Practice	p. 94
Performance Conversations: Ask and Promise	p. 97
Commit to Performance: What-When-Why	p. 99
Ask Others to Commit	p. 105
Promises Create Agreements: Who-Where-How	p. 112
Manage the Agreement	p. 120
If You Are Missing Performance Conversations	p. 123
Putting It into Practice	p. 127
Closure Conversations: Create Endings	p. 131
An Incomplete Past Can Prevent a New Future	p. 132
The Four A's of Closure Conversations	p. 134
Build Accountability and Resolve "People Problems"	p. 150
If You Are Missing Closure Conversations	p. 160
Putting It into Practice	p. 163
Using the Four Conversations	p. 167
Conversational Tendencies	p. 167
How the Four Conversations Work Together	p. 169
Putting It into Practice	p. 197
Support the Conversational Workplace	p. 201
The Conversational Workplace	p. 201
Practices to Support the Conversational Workplace	p. 203
Implementing the Practices: Four Tips	p. 211
A Closing Note	p. 215
Resources	p. 217
Notes	p. 219
Acknowledgments	p. 223
Index	p. 225
About the Authors	p. 237
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