Conducting Difficult Conversations With Students: How Faculty And Staff Can Change A Negative Into A Positive

Instructors and student services professionals decided to work in higher education in order to make a positive contribution to the lives of learners. In most cases, students work hard and are productive in their efforts to achieve success.
In some cases, however, students have difficulty staying focused, get into trouble, fail to achieve success, skip class, become disruptive, and exhibit other distracting behaviors both in and out of the classroom. When students get off track, we may need to meet with them and talk with them about their issues. Because these conversations may be negative, they are called “difficult conversations”. In many situations, difficult conversations can take a negative turn and turn into a confrontational tone or cause the student to discount your feedback and make the situation much worse than it was at the start of the process. However, a difficult conversation that is effectively delivered can actually cause a positive reaction by the student and become a turning point in their educational career. What makes the difference? Do you know how to successfully deliver a difficult conversation?

In this seminar faculty and student services staff will learn the essential strategies and behaviors that will help them successfully conduct difficult conversations with college students and make a positive contribution to their lives.