High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Making Joy a Priority at Work

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Making Joy a Priority at Work: "By providing people with more of the experiences that engender joy in any team setting, leaders can tap more of the practical power of joy in their companies."

• 9 Tips for Avoiding Loneliness When You Work at Home: "Below, you’ll find a guide for avoiding loneliness when you work from home, including tips from writers like myself and other professionals who’ve learned the best ways to be social without an office."

• What Women Want at Work: "When working women have coworkers and an employer who has their backs plus the opportunity to grow and climb, both hierarchically and financially, their overall job satisfaction gets high marks."

• 10 Companies to Work For if You Want to Like Your Job: "Indeed says these companies got high marks from employees because they each provide an enjoyable work environment."
• How to Have a Difficult Workplace Conversation:"Your conversation is not only about the immediate message itself, but more importantly about the outcome and behavior you want to see afterward."

How to Have a Difficult Conversation with Your Boss

Throughout your career there are times when you need to have a frank conversation with your supervisor. Perhaps you feel you’ve been disrespected in front of your peers, or you’ve been overlooked for a promotion or for an important assignment.

However, confronting your manager about this can be intimidating and so you might put the matter off, increasing your frustration and making it less likely you’ll find resolution on the issue.

Here are several tips for having a difficult, but productive, discussion with your supervisor.

Schedule a meeting. Do not just pop in on your manager and attempt to have a serious conversation unannounced, even if he or she has an open-door policy. You want a good result from the meeting and you’re more likely to get that if you’ve both been able to prepare for the discussion. Therefore, you want to set up a meeting time with your boss, providing a brief purpose for it.

Prepare for the meeting. Be clear about what you want to say and what your desired outcome is for the meeting. If you want a raise you need to be able to succinctly state your case for it, ask for a specific dollar amount or percentage increase, and request a deadline for hearing back about your request. These three steps can serve as a simple outline, regardless of your question or concern.

Be specific. When meeting with your boss, state clearly what the issue or concern is without judging or criticizing your supervisor. Take ownership of the issue and seek to bring about a win-win. For example, if you felt disrespected in front of your co-workers, assume the best of your boss and let him or her know that you experienced the situation as disrespectful rather than stating that your supervisor disrespected you. You are more likely to have a good outcome when you avoid attributing negative intentions and assume the best in your supervisor.

Follow up. Be sure to again thank your manager for taking the time to address a difficult subject and for their willingness to hear your point of view. Also remind your boss of any follow-up necessary and then be sure to follow-through on getting back to him or her at the appointed time.

Learning to address conflicts and concerns with your manager will improve your work experience, make you more effective at your job, and help you develop leadership skills necessary to advance in your career.

How to Fire Someone or Have a Difficult Conversation with an Employee

There has been a lot of news recently about some high-profile firings in government, along with some discussion about how best to let an employee go so this seems like a good time to cover some of the basics.

In addition to following your company protocol, when having a tough conversation with an employee or colleague, or when firing someone on your team consider the following basics.

Meet in person. Difficult conversations are best held face to face. This allows you to convey some degree of warmth and compassion for the other person through your body language, in addition to your words. It also provides a sense of dignity and brings professionalism to the situation. Just as you should never break up with a romantic partner by text or email, do not have tough work conversations through these methods of communication.

Stick to the facts. You'll want to focus on the specific details related to the firing or the need for the meeting and keep it simple and short. There is no need to do a lot of unnecessary small talk because the other person will likely need time away to process the information and their changed situation.

Read the situation. Upon providing the news or feedback be silent. Let the other person decide if they want to ask questions or ask for clarification. As noted above, some people will simply want to leave, others might get upset and emotional. Be prepared for a variety of responses and respond calmly and kindly.

Don't make it about the other person. As noted above, you'll want to focus on the specific facts or behaviors that have led to the firing or the need for the discussion. Do not comment on the other person's personality, psychological, or emotional qualities. You are not there to attack their character or personality but to provide a reasoned critique of their work performance.

Follow these basic principles to make a difficult conversation proceed more smoothly.

4 Steps to Prepare for a Difficult Conversation with Your Boss

To be successful in your life and career requires vulnerability and courage. Sometimes you'll put yourself out there and be rejected for a promotion or be looked over for that new project.

There are times in our careers when we need to have a difficult conversation with our supervisor and unless we're able to muster up the courage to confront the situation head-on we'll be unable to move forward.



Here, then, are four steps to prepare for a difficult conversation with your boss.

1. Understand exactly what you want and and what you hope to accomplish. Are you looking for a raise? Perhaps you think you were wrongly denied a promotion or an opportunity on a new project. Or maybe you feel stuck with little opportunity to move up or learn new skills. Whatever the situation is, be sure you're clear about what it is you want and what outcome you are looking for.

2. Acknowledge your feelings about the situation. It is okay to be angry, sad, disappointed, frustrated, discouraged, or any number of other feelings you might experience but in order to have an effective conversation with your manager you need to fully own and understand how you're feeling about the circumstances.

3. Write out your ideas and imagine the response of your boss. By writing down what you want to say it will help you better formulate your thoughts, and help you anticipate and prepare for your supervisor's reaction. Be sure to focus on your feelings and thoughts about the situation without blaming your boss and people him or her on the defensive, making it less likely they'll be receptive to you comments.

4. Practice the conversation with a friend or family member. Role-playing the discussion will provide you with confidence before you meet with your boss, along with an opportunity to gain valuable feedback from your role-playing partner.

Now you're ready to schedule that difficult conversation.