Workplace conversations happen all the time of course, but “good” conversation – talking that makes change happen or calms conflict – is a real skill that often needs to be learned. As one NHS trust found, equipping managers with better conversation skills has also helped to cut absence and sickness levels, explains Rebecca Foreman.
Workplace conversations aren’t in a healthy state. As the basis of our day-to-day experience and workplace relationships, conversations are fundamental to wellbeing, how we cope with stress and the rollercoaster of organisational life. While work technologies and management have evolved over the past hundred years or so of working together in formal environments like offices, our ability to have “good” conversations hasn’t moved on.
