10/08/2024

When to Delay a Conversation

Delay a difficult conversation so you're in the right mindset

Nearly every big problem in an organization can be traced back to a conversation that should have happened but did not. If you listed all the avoided conversations in the scope of a year, you would likely see a correlation between avoidance and escalation.

While initiating conversations sounds simple, starting conversations at the wrong time can escalate problems. While important conversations should never be avoided altogether, this article highlights three situations when it is more strategic to delay a conversation.

1. When you're angry

If anger is anything, it is misunderstood and misused. I don't know about you, but when I'm angry is when I'm most motivated to "tell it like it is." Even though anger creates a sense of urgency, it is usually the worst time to act. When you are angry, the executive function of your brain (pre-frontal cortex) shuts down and decision-making suffers. When angry, the primal brain takes center stage and is mostly concerned with survival, winning and being right, not about collaboration or course correction.

Please select this link to read the complete article from SmartBrief.