Groysberg, Boris, and Ann Leamon. "Difficult Conversations and Dealing with Challenging Situations at Work: Managing Communication." Harvard Business School Case 416-034, December 2015.

Today’s very best leaders stand out in great part because they have developed and honed the ability to skillfully handle difficult conversations. It’s this ability to talk with employees about ...

For present-day leaders, those issues include an influx of younger, Gen Z workers as well as changes in work-life priorities for employees ... she has for having difficult conversations ...

Many managers will treat difficult employees with kid gloves, while the work they don’t (or can’t) complete is offloaded onto others, often because we feel their issues are too difficult to ...

Many of these difficult co-workers can be categorized into a certain type. Tips for dealing with these co-workers include getting noise-canceling headphones and deflecting certain conversations.