Heen: Difficult conversations become contagious once unspoken disagreement is surfaced
Sheila Heen · #57 Sheila Heen: Decoding Difficult Conversations · May 15, 2019 · at 22:41
Harvard Law School negotiation lecturer Sheila Heen explains how asymmetrical tension in difficult conversations quickly spreads to affect both participants once hidden friction is revealed.
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“As soon as I put something on the table that you didn't foresee or expect, and you realize how much disagreement there is, or how frustrated I am with you that I haven't told you all these years or whatever, then it becomes a little more difficult for the other person in most cases also. Even if they feel misunderstood or whatever. That's not fun. So it's a little bit of a contagious dynamic in both directions.”
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