What's Your Choice?

You're an ambitious female leader who learned that a productive team leader reports to you, micromanages, and bullies her direct report employees through emails.

You know you have high staff turnover that is costing you $$$ and reputational damage.

It keeps you awake at night.

You oscillate between speaking up and not saying anything because she's a great employee, and you have work to do above managing these issues.

At first, you decide not to and hope the poor behaviour will stop.

Then, another employee leaves.

Then, you resolve that tomorrow; you will talk to the team leader once and for all.

Now, you lie awake that night for different reasons:

- the thought of upsetting the productive team leader and what if she leaves, that makes you nervous

- you don't know what to say, which stresses you out.

- you want the team leader to like you; maybe you're overreacting.

Then you decide to stay quiet.

Your anxiety calms.

The next day at work, you are informed that the team leader is asserting her authority and holding others to an impossible standard of perfection (above her authority level). There are many unhappy people in the team.

Your cycle of indecision starts again.

There doesn't seem to be any decision that allows you to be calm and sleep at night.

Why is this question/choice so difficult?

At some level, we know the truth;

💡 You avoid the problem and feel like you're losing your credibility while others are negatively affected. These feelings fester, and you wonder why you didn't stand up for yourself and others, robbing the team leader of the opportunity to improve things.

💡Confronting the problem can lead to you worrying about making things worse. You worry you might face rejection or attack, and you could unintentionally hurt the other person, damaging the relationship.

What's the solution?

Being told to "be diplomatic" or "try to stay positive" isn't going to cut it.

Keeping quiet is like hanging onto a hand grenade once you've pulled the pin.

The problems run deeper, and the answers/solutions must approach issues in a way that is helpful to your peace of mind and is much more productive and influential.

Navigating difficult conversations can be incredibly challenging, and it’s easy to feel like you’re throwing (or receiving) grenades.

You're not alone in this—many people struggle with it, and there are ways to communicate with influence and do it more effectively.

Discover proven strategies here: https://www.louisemathias.com.au/difficultconversations

Louise