Shirley Poertner, President
Poertner Consulting Group, LLC
2800 University Avenue, #150
West Des Moines, IA 50266

515-224-6494
shirley@poertner.com

Poertner Consulting Group LLC is an authorized and licensed associate of VitalSmarts, L.C.
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Crucial Skills™

Crucial Conversations® and Crucial Confrontations™

Not getting the results you're looking for? Odds are you are stuck because there's a crucial conversation to be had. If you can't talk honestly, you can't expect good results.

After more than 25 years of research, the experts at VitalSmarts have discovered that top-rated leaders regularly use skills that allow them to address controversial and emotionally charged issues, make it safe for everyone to have a voice and create an environment that welcomes and encourages best ideas and thinking.

Attend our award-winning program, Crucial Conversations® to be introduced to and develop the skills for conducting Crucial Conversations. Or, go a step further and be certified by a VitalSmarts Master Trainer to deliver the program in-house at your organization.

What is Plaguing Your Organization?

The problems that plague organizations are nearly always rooted in the same cause: perplexed employees who aren't quite sure how to bring up touchy, controversial and complex issues and resolve them. These problems are especially pronounced when emotions are involved, opinions vary and the stakes are high. For example, when was the last time you were faced with a Crucial Conversation such as this:

  • A colleague has just missed a critical deadline. What do you say?

  • Your boss has a leadership style that is smothering you. You hesitate to speak up.

  • Important issues are not brought up in a timely manner to those who can do something about them. Only those near the water cooler hear the issues.

  • Top performers are leaving, and poor performers are not challenged. Top performers are disgusted that others get away with as much as they do.


    • If employees don't know how to talk to a colleague who is violating a safety policy or confront a coworker who is failing to deliver on a promise or step up to a person who is possibly harassing them, then what? Emotions escalate, complaining and back-biting spin out of control, and it's not long until small problems grow into big ones.

    Then "the organization" steps in. A simple interpersonal challenge that should have been resolved face-to-face on-the-spot is now handled at a distance by people who weren't even involved in the first place. Healthy conversations are replaced by needless policy changes. Problem-solving discussions are supplanted by speeches or even expensive programs. Meaningful conversations are now distanced from the sources and turned over to HR professionals or even the legal staff. And all of these highly escalated responses stem from the same root cause -- people are either unwilling or unable to talk about high stakes issues.

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    What Makes a Conversation Crucial?

    When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, top performers turn disagreements and differences into dialogue. That's where Crucial Conversations skills are critical. They turn diversity into synergy and synergy into results.

    Attend a Crucial Conversations Workshop

    The skills taught in the Crucial Conversations Mastery Course address multiple problems and help individuals, teams and organizations recognize the need to have these crucial conversations and do them well.

    Join us for two days of insight and action on mastering your crucial conversations, a course based on The New York Times bestseller, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High.

    We offer the Mastery Course in multiple formats -- open-enrollment public seminars or in-house sessions. Learn in a two-day workshop or let us provide the training in four half-days.

    Learn More about Crucial Conversations

    Don't let your organization's inability to hold constructive, safe and honest conversations keep you stuck.

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    When Would I Need Crucial Confrontation Skills?

    Once people use their crucial conversations skills to surface ideas, make decisions and set plans, it's now time to turn to execution, accountability, and performance. That's where Crucial Confrontations skills come into play. Top performers improve results and relationships by effectively confronting broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior.

    Attend a Crucial Confrontation Workshop

    The skills taught in the Crucial Confrontation Mastery Course build on the core skills of Crucial Conversations but go one step further. Knowing how to hold a crucial conversation is one thing, but how do you handle it when a co-worker, employee or boss has violated an agreement and has broken a promise or let down the team?

    Join us for two days of insight and action on mastering your crucial conversations, a course based on The New York Times bestseller, Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated expectations, and Bad Behavior.

    We offer the Mastery Course in multiple formats -- open-enrollment public seminars or in-house sessions. Learn in a two-day workshop or let us provide the training in four half-days.

    Learn More about Crucial Confrontations

    Every person, work team or organization must deal with disappointment. Someone misses a deadline, a manager fails to live up to her promises or someone just behaves in an unprofessional or irresponsible manner. Learn how to hold yourself and your team accountable by developing the skill set taught in Crucial Confrontations.

    PCG Can Bring Crucial Skills to Your Organization

    Poertner Consulting Group is an authorized and licensed associate of VitalSmarts, L.C.

    Shirley Poertner, President of PCG, is one of 20 leadership development trainers who has been awarded the status of Master Trainer by the authors and founders of VitalSmarts.