It’s one or more of the following:

Personal

Provocative

Political

Polarizing

Painful

With the war in the Middle East being ALL of those things — we’ve received quite a few inquiries on how to structure conversations around polarizing current events and especially how to hold space for them in the workplace.

While you might be a leader or colleague who isn't personally impacted by the events, you know that others in your organization most certainly are. Or you might be directly impacted, and feel like others lack the sense of urgency that you do.

We have recently been working with global DEI teams responsible for initiating and facilitating this type of dialogue. You may be faced with a similar thing at work. Information on the full webinar is below but in order to frame a few “quick scripts on how to start the conversation,” here are three thoughtful and effective ways to begin:

“ I want to talk to you about something feels a little awkward…but I am going to embrace the awkward and go for it.”

“One commitment I’ve made is to talk to everyone on the team about how they’re feeling and coping with the news these days. When would be a good time for us to talk”?

“Would you like to chat about what’s going on? And you can absolutely say no.”

Awkward conversations are important conversations. They solidify a team and create a sense of belongingness that lends itself both to corporate culture as well as bottom-line health.

If you’re interested in a more hands-on hour-long interactive webinar with your team, get in touch.

This is a customized corporate program delivered by webinar — it’s one hour in length. If you’d like me to virtually open your next team meeting, get in touch: I've just created a new program to support you and your colleagues in successfully navigating emotionally (and practically) challenging current events by:

➤ Helping you understand your own opinions and biases (and yes - we all have bias)
➤ Starting and facilitating open and empathetic conversations with colleagues
➤ Setting boundaries to protect yourself and others from emotional escalation
➤ Supporting psychological safety at work
➤ Taking care of your own mental wellbeing and resilience.