Which do you find more challenging: speaking in front of a large group or having a difficult one-on-one conversation?

Our reader poll today asks: Which do you find more challenging: speaking in front of a large group or having a difficult one-on-one conversation?

• Speaking in front of a large group 40.00%
• Having a difficult one-on-one conversation 60.00%

Having uncomfortable conversations. A significant percentage of you report that the challenging one-on-one conversation is more difficult than speaking in front of a large group. This is most likely because there’s less of an emotional connection with the large group and in the one-on-one discussion, it may feel like you’re hurting someone you care about. To make those one-on-one conversations easier, focus on the facts. Make it about the behaviors, not about the person. Be clear on observable behaviors that are undesirable. Imagine you had a recording of the behavior and you were explaining the video recap of it. Once you’ve established those facts, offer your suggestions on how you want the behavior to change. Emphasize that this isn’t about them as a person. Instead it’s about changing actions to get a better result. Hopefully that approach will make those challenging conversations easier to have.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.