Within ‘difficult’ is our greatest opportunity for growth and understanding.
-Lara Currie

How do you handle conflict?
Conflict is a fact of life—when everyone is the same and no one is challenged, nothing changes and nobody learns or grows. It’s an easy concept to understand, but a more complicated one to put into practice.

Many of us see any sort of confrontation as being adversarial, and will do pretty much anything to avoid having those difficult conversations. That’s an unhealthy habit for anyone, but particularly for entrepreneurs and small business owners! When the buck stops with you, you need to develop those communication skills to help achieve satisfactory resolutions for all parties.

To help us identify and work past our triggers when it comes to conflict and difficult communication, we’re joined this week by Lara Currie: coach, speaker, and the author of Difficult Happens. With over 25 years of experience in high conflict positions, she has a unique and intuitive understanding of why people act—and react—the way they do. She is passionate about helping business owners make honest and meaningful connections, live with less stress and anxiety, and establish strong boundaries.
We are all very unique, but with a theme. We bring our own history to any conversation, any interaction, and along with that our expectations and our assumptions.
In this episode, we discuss:

* reactionary stances and the compulsion to defend ourselves
* common difficult conversations small business owners encounter
* different styles of handling conflicts
* the emotions we tend to bring to difficult conversations and how to keep them in check
* why we should seek out difficult situations
* how to prevent a difficult conversation from escalating
* tips on preventing (not avoiding!) conflict and stress
* Lara’s recommendations for those who struggle with boundaries in their business

Again, conflict is a fact of life. Hopefully this episode helps you to stop avoiding and start conquering it.

Resources:
Lara’s website: laracurrie.com
Virtual Lunch with Lara
Lara’s podcast, Difficult Happens ~ Effective Communication for Bosses
Lara on Facebook and Instagram
Difficult Happens: How Triggers Boundaries & Emotions Impact You Every Day on Amazon
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

How do you tend to act, and react, when faced with conflict? Let’s talk it out in Businessese HQ.
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