Difficult Conversations — Real Fluency Guide

Practice saying these sentences aloud, or whisper if you cannot say aloud. Make sure your tongue moves. Once you are done with one set, repeat it. Do this three times before moving to the next set. Go through the rest of the lessons, one each day. Slowly, these phrases will get imprinted into your tongue's muscle memory and your brain. You will start noticing that you can recall them easily whenever the situation arises.

Set 1

"I want to be honest with you"

I want to be honest with you — I think we're behind, and it's going to affect the deadline.

I want to be honest with you, this approach has some real risks we haven't addressed.

Before we go further, I want to be honest with you about what I'm seeing.

I want to be honest with you — the client is not as happy as the last update suggested.

I want to be honest with you, I'm not confident we can deliver this in the time given.

I want to be honest with you — I think there's a communication issue between the teams.

I want to be honest with you, even if it's not what you were hoping to hear.

I want to be honest with you about where I stand on this before we decide.

Set 2

"Can we talk about this openly?"

Can we talk about this openly? I think there's some tension that's affecting the work.

Before things escalate, can we talk about this openly?

Can we talk about this openly — I don't think we're aligned on the expectations.

I'd rather address this now — can we talk about this openly?

Can we talk about this openly without it turning into a blame conversation?

Can we talk about this openly? I feel like some things are going unsaid.

Can we talk about this openly — just the two of us, before involving others?

Can we talk about this openly? I want to understand your perspective better.

Set 3

"I think we need to reset"

The project has gone off track — I think we need to reset.

I think we need to reset on expectations before we continue.

The way this has been going, I think we need to reset the relationship with the client.

I think we need to reset — what were we originally trying to achieve here?

Rather than keep pushing forward, I think we need to reset and realign.

I think we need to reset the priorities — not everything can be urgent.

I think we need to reset and have a clear conversation about what's working and what isn't.

Before we start the next phase, I think we need to reset as a team.