Coaching for Challenging Conversations
Eliminate conflict rather than delaying or avoiding challenging conversations.
2-Day ProgramOrganizational benefits
- Productive engaged employees. There is a high correlation between one's ability to handle conflict and productivity.
- Increased energy and morale, enabling strong relationships and employee satisfaction.
- A healthier, more positive work environment
Personal benefits
- Improve your decision-making processes, leading to increased effectiveness and reduced risk.
- Become a more courageous manager, willing to challenge others to excel and make tough decisions.
Program content
The Program covers the following curriculum:
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- Review of the coaching model and how confrontation fits within this style of managing
- Self-assessment (Thomas-Kilman Conflict Management Instrument) to determine personal tendencies in conflict situations
- Preparing oneself to be self-assured
- Managing yourself "in the moment" during a challenging conversation
- Preparing an opening for a challenging conversation that reduces negative reaction
- Common roadblocks to successful outcomes and how to avoid them
- Four key communication skills that create an honest, safe environment
- Structuring and directing the conversation to a successful outcome
- "Putting it together" - Prepare, deliver and receive coaching on an impending difficult conversation
Session Leaders
Session leaders include senior professors from Queen's School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.

Karyn Garossino - Consultant, Performance Coaching Inc.
An exceptional workshop facilitator and trainer, Karyn Garossino has considerable experience in coaching for challenging situations. Her resilience, poise and skill under pressure were built from the ground up. Karyn first learned these skills as an athlete, then deepened her theoretical understanding of them through academic study in Psychology and Education. Karyn excelled in the intense world of high performance sport as a competitive figure skater. Her career spanned ten years of international competition, including five world championships and culminated as a 1988 Olympian and Canadian champion in 1989. Her experience as a national level coach, executive coach and now trainer, focuses on application – helping others deal with challenges that require skill and poise under pressure while still getting results.

Mr. Garry Watanabe - Consultant, Performance Coaching Inc.
Garry Watanabe started out his career as a lawyer and spent five years developing his corporate experience in the competitive world of law. During this time, Garry came to realize that his passion for coaching and developing others was overtaking his desire to be a lawyer. This passion drove Garry to obtain his Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology and seek out coaching opportunities. Garry spent the next ten years as a national level coach, first directing programs at Carleton University, and then heading to Southern California to coach in the most competitive swimming environment in North America. He now focuses on applying the principles of coaching, mental fitness, and challenging conversations to a wider range of performers in his work with Performance Coaching.
