21 Jan A Story About a Conversation Worth Having

Not long ago, I was working with a leader who came to me frustrated and discouraged. His team was stuck. Performance was lagging & tension was high. I’m sure we’ve all been in these situations where the impulse is to push harder, faster, and to focus on what the issues are—what isn’t working.

Instead, we paused.

He chose to start a different conversation — one rooted in curiosity rather than correction.

Instead of asking, “What’s going wrong?” he asked, “When have we been at our best — and what made that possible?”

Shifting from what wasn’t working to what IS working was powerful. The energy changed and stories emerged. They essentially focused on “the positive opposite,” a technique we teach in Conversations Worth Having. People began to see themselves differently…
…not as the problem, but as part of the solution.

That is the essence of Conversations Worth Having.

When we change the questions, we change what becomes possible.

If you’d like to learn how to intentionally shift the tone and direction of everyday conversations — whether you’re leading a team, facilitating strategy, or navigating challenge — I invite you to join me in my upcoming course:

👉 Conversations That Transform Culture: Appreciative Inquiry (the other “AI”) at Work