Crucial Skills | Management & Accountability

What do you do when a difficult conversation catches you completely off guard? Emily Gregory responds to a reader who was unexpectedly pulled into a heated meeting with senior leaders and colleagues. Feeling cornered and overwhelmed, the reader agreed to a decision they didn't believe in. Although the others apologized afterward, the experience left them frustrated and unsure how to move forward....

Psychological safety has become a workplace buzzword. But when someone says, “I don't feel safe,” does that always mean there's a problem with psychological safety—or are we confusing safety with comfort? Emily Gregory explores what psychological safety really means, how the concept has evolved, and why its growing popularity has sometimes distorted its purpose. She explains three ways the idea ca...

Few situations test our communication skills like a teenager who stops listening and starts pulling away. Joseph Grenny responds to a concerned parent whose daughter has been breaking rules and shutting down attempts at conversation. The parent wants to guide her toward better choices while still being someone she feels safe talking to. Joseph explains why influence starts with letting go of contr...

What if having too much to do isn't actually the reason you feel overwhelmed? Justin Hale, author and consultant at Crucial Learning, sits down with productivity expert and Getting Things Done author David Allen to explore how to stay focused and productive without burning out. They explain what happens when we use our brains to hold and manage unfinished commitments, and why getting those commitm...

Have you ever had a boss who talks about psychological safety but still makes you feel tense when you’re around them? Justin Hale, co-author of Crucial Accountability and keynote speaker at Crucial Learning, explains what psychological safety really means, and what it doesn’t. Drawing on foundational research from Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, Justin explores why psychological s...

Avoiding a Crucial Conversation can come with both a price and a cost. But what’s the difference between the two? Scott Robley, VP of Learning Solutions at Crucial Learning, walks through research that shows forty-three percent of respondents estimate they waste two weeks or more ruminating about an unresolved problem at work. And an astounding one in three employees estimate their inability to sp...

Why do we put up with bullies at work? And how do we stop letting it happen? Brittney Maxfield, Sr. Director of Growth Marketing at Crucial Learning, breaks down a listener question about workplace bullying and why so many people choose to cope rather than confront. She explores the emotional and business costs of workplace bullying, why so many people choose to cope rather than confront, and how...

People may not resist change as much as they resist being changed—or failing at it. Scott Robley, speaker, coach, and master trainer at Crucial Learning, argues that people don't actually resist change. At least not the way we think. He claims that people resist being changed, and they resist failing at it. Scott walks through three main reasons why change efforts tend to stall, and explains why l...

Have you ever had someone stop by your desk just to vent about work, leaving you to deal with all their baggage? Justin Hale, co-author of Crucial Accountability , unpacks what he calls the "drive-by" conversation: a venting session that feels productive in the moment but leaves the real problem unsolved. The problem is that venting can reinforce one-sided stories, damage workplace relationships,...

Most of us are carrying a lot more tasks than we realize. And it's slowly ruining our focus.  Justin Hale, co-author of Crucial Accountability , is joined by David Allen, author of Getting Things Done and founder of the David Allen Company, to discuss the overcommitment problem we face today. Justin and David discuss why so many of us tend to take on more than we can handle, and what it takes to s...

You got the job offer! But the salary doesn't match the role, the cost of living in your city, or your expectations. What do you say? Joseph Grenny, a co-author of Crucial Conversations , reviews a real listener letter from someone caught in exactly this situation. He talks about the frustration and disappointment that come with this type of interaction, and exactly what you should do to figure it...

Imagine your manager sends a message that says, "We need to talk." What story does your brain instantly write?  Scott Robley dives into what may be one of the most personally transformational principles in Crucial Conversations : Master My Stories. Scott shares that most Crucial Conversations go sideways because of the stories we tell ourselves before we even speak with someone else. Drawing on re...

What do you do when your boss is a bully? Emily Gregory, a co-author of Crucial Conversations and a Crucial Learning speaker and consultant, responds to a reader who has this very problem. Emily takes this scenario and uses it to highlight the reality of this situation in many workplaces, and what you can do to navigate workplace bullying. She breaks down the difference between observation and jud...

We've all experienced people crossing our boundaries, both in our professional and personal lives. How do we set and maintain those boundaries without settling? Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Conversations , makes the case that boundaries aren't just a nicety. They're actually one of the most overlooked drivers of engagement, trust, and performance in an organization. Joseph argues that the la...

Brittney Maxfield sits down with Justin Hale, co-author of the newly released third edition of Crucial Accountability , to discuss why so many new managers struggle in their leadership roles. Justin explains why more than a third of managers feel they were promoted for the wrong reasons, and dives into three skills new leaders need in order to succeed.  Justin walks through the tools at the heart...

Relationships are the currency of high-performing teams, families, and communities. But, today, we're struggling more than ever to build and sustain them.  Authors Justin Hale and Emily Gregory dig into why so many of our everyday interactions tend to create friction. They talk about what the research reveals about the motives driving how we connect, collide, and recover with the people we work an...

When a manager communicates vaguely and then gets upset when their expectations aren’t met, the workplace can quickly become a source of frustration. Crucial Conversations co-author Emily Gregory responds to a letter from a team dealing with exactly this problem. This situation has left the employees feeling criticized, confused, and stuck. Emily unpacks why situations like this feel so demoralizi...

What happens when organizations invest heavily in AI tools only to watch them underperform, or fail, altogether?  Joseph Grenny is joined by JaeLynn Williams, a leader with firsthand experience implementing AI across healthcare, aviation, and technology companies. They dive into a question that is haunting many executives: why aren’t AI initiatives delivering the results they promised? The answer...

What do you do with an employee who believes they're excelling, but the data tells a different story?  Justin Hale, coauthor of Crucial Accountability , tackles this problem head-on, showing how to initiate these uncomfortable conversations. While it is hard, putting them off rarely makes the gap close on its own. And mishandling them can damage trust and stall progress for good. Justin breaks dow...

Stepping into a management role for the first time is harder than most new bosses let on, and harder than most employees realize.  Joseph Grenny shares findings from a study conducted with new managers, revealing four surprising "confessions" about how new leaders see themselves and how their teams actually experience them. The data paints a picture of what organizations are getting wrong about pr...

Have you ever heard the phrase "constructive criticism" and immediately felt your guard go up? You're not alone. For many people, feedback feels personal, uncomfortable, or even discouraging, especially when it's delivered imperfectly. But what if the key to growth isn't changing how feedback is given, but changing how we receive it? Emily Gregory explores why so many people struggle with criticis...

Most of us have spent years learning how to give feedback well, but what about when you're on the receiving end of something unexpected or blunt?  Joseph Grenny looks back on 35 years of his own research to explore this exact problem: how we receive feedback, and why our emotional response may have less to do with the delivery than we think. Drawing on a study of 445 “feedsmack” episodes, Joseph s...

We've all had that person at work whose style rubs you the wrong way. It's easy to write them off as difficult. But what if the story you're telling yourself about them isn't the full picture? Brittney Maxfield introduces a powerful framework called the Strength Deployment Inventory® (SDI ®) that reframes the way we see frustrating behavior at work. The SDI shapes these behaviors not as character...

Accountability is one of the most talked-about topics in organizational culture, yet one of the least understood. We’re here to fix that. Justin Hale, coauthor of Crucial Accountability , makes the case that accountability isn't just a personality trait or a matter of willpower. It's a skill set that can be taught, practiced, and embedded into any team. Justin introduces the concept of 200% accoun...

Have you ever avoided giving feedback because you didn’t want to create tension, damage a relationship, or say the wrong thing? Justin Hale breaks down why feedback conversations often go wrong and shares a practical framework for making them more productive, respectful, and effective. Rather than focusing on scripted responses or perfect wording, Justin shares practical principles that help peopl...