Having Tough Conversations
Difficult conversations, done right, build stronger relationships.
At a glance
Why This Matters
Most leaders and team members tend to avoid difficult conversations, conflicts, and disagreements, not because they don’t care, but because they don’t feel equipped to handle the emotions and reactions that come with them. Those that don’t avoid may struggle to balance their directness with care.
This workshop helps participants approach these moments with empathy, structure, and confidence. Through practical frameworks, reflections, and role-plays for practice, learners discover how to stay composed, practice empathy, listen deeply, and hold candid conversations that are both honest and respectful. Such artful conversations deepen trust instead of breaking it.
Research from Harvard Business Review found that managers who communicate directly yet empathetically during tough conversations see significant improvement in team trust and performance.
40%
Improvement
27%
Lower turnover
12%
Boost in productivity
Business Impact You’ll See
Greater emotional intelligence and self-awareness in leaders
— George Bernard Shaw
Designed for
First-Time Managers
Mid-Level Managers
Senior Managers
People Leaders
Client-Facing Professionals
Designed the FocusU Way
Behind every FocusU experience lies a design philosophy we call FACETS:
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F
Feedback
Learners get actionable insight into where they stand
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A
Application
Whatever is learnt is applied within the session itself
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C
Contextual
Examples are drawn from the client industry and organization
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E
Experiential
Learning by doing, not by listening
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T
Tailored
Personalised to the lived experiences of the individual learner
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S
Stimulating
Inspiring new thinking and imagination in the learner
Hover over the card
Walk-Through of Learner Experience
At FocusU, every learning experience follows a deliberate arc — moving participants
from awareness to application, and from insight to action.
| STAGE | WHAT HAPPENS |
|---|---|
| Discover | Participants experience engaging activities, challenges and scenarios that surface real attitudes, assumptions, and patterns of behaviour. |
| Reflect | Guided debriefs and discussions help them make sense of what they experienced - connecting it to their personal and workplace realities. |
| Reframe | Learners explore new mindsets, tools, and frameworks that offer fresh ways to approach everyday challenges. |
| Apply | Through practice, planning, and peer feedback, participants translate insights into actionable commitments they can take back to work. |
Every FocusU intervention is designed to move learners from knowing to doing — ensuring
learning doesn’t end in the workshop, but continues in how people think, collaborate, and lead.
Trusted by businesses big and small
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FocusU was able to successfully generate high levels of enthusiasm & energy during the training program on Innovative Thinking & Collaboration. This demonstrates their professional approach, ability to correlate industry best practices and expertize in experiential learning programs. The participants could relate the learnings to their functions and take away practically executable action plans.
Ajay Munjal
Tata Communications Ltd. Vice President – Business Operations | Global Enterprise Solutions -
We were all super impressed by the team, they were very well prepared and absolutely took charge of everything they did. What a fun bunch, I'm glad we partnered on this and can safely say it all went very well. Huge THANK YOU to you and the team on the ground!
Farheen Mehdi
Uber Global Learning & Development Lead -
What started as a search for a training vendor on Google has come a long way with several identified FocusU interventions over the years. In each intervention, we have achieved our stated objectives of Learning & Development - like Team building, Collaboration, Decision making in uncertainty, Drive for results, Shared vision etc. among a very diverse group of people.
Rakesh Kher
Minda Distribution & Services Ltd President -
FocusU has always delivered to the objective set out with perfection. They always bring new ideas and exercises to help deliver the message and achieve the objective. Lego Serious Play is an extremely powerful tool which we have used for team visioning sessions. The entire exercise is engaging and helps bring out various aspects of discussion on the table in a non-threatening way.
Sachin Jain
PepsiCo India Region Manager Leadership Capability -
When I first saw your huge clientele that included companies like Adobe, Deustche Bank and E&Y, I wondered - do large companies keep coming back since you're the best at what you do, or have you turned out to be the best at what you do because large companies keep coming back? That list will grow bigger as FocusU has certainly exceeded all expectation at our recent team building event.
Amit Madan
Collage Group HR Manager -
I appreciate the time management, level of expertise & knowledge of FocusU's facilitators. Most importantly, which I found was definitely your differentiator - the course design and debriefing. All the identified training needs were met. All three trainers were very professional; the use of technology was also very good. In a batch of 96, they kept everyone together and focused as well.
Neelam Dhaka
JCB India Limited Senior Manager – Training -
I cannot praise the FocusU team highly enough. Laser precision in everything they did. Please pass on our appreciation to the team.
Ritesh Ranjan
CGI Director, Learning & Development
Frequently asked questions
Don’t see an answer to your question?
Drop us an email and we will get back
For each workshop, we can help you with three different teasers you can customize and share periodically with participants to build excitement and get traction.
You can download a program overview from each of the topic pages. Do note that while this will give you a broad structure of the workshop, our learning designers will still need to talk with you to customize the workshop to your context.
Ready to Turn Tough Conversations
into Trust-Building Moments?
Let’s co-create an experience that helps your people speak
the truth with clarity, care, and courage.