Retail Price: $19.95 LS Price: $19.95 You Save: $0.00 (0%) Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours Format: Paperback, 200pp. ISBN: 9781576759202 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Pub. Date: August 1, 2009 Average Customer Review:

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Making Everyday Talk Work

Talk is powerful. And it isn't just `difficult' conversations that matter--the everyday dialogue we have with one another is critical to both personal and organizational success. Packed with sample dialogues and dozens of personal stories, and backed by solid research and the authors' firsthand observations, The Four Conversations describes how to get maximum results from conversations that every one of us must use to get things done: initiative conversations introducing something new, understanding conversations to help people relate to ideas or processes, performance conversations requesting specific actions, and closure conversations that recognize achievements and signal completion of the work. As Jeffrey and Laurie Ford clearly demonstrate, engage in the right conversation at the right time--plan and start each one well, finish every one effectively--and extraordinary things can happen.

"Conversation is the simplest, oldest, and most effective way for people to communicate. Yet too many people find conversations intimidating. Here are well-tested conversational practices that offer real support for leaders to discover the extraordinary benefits of communicating well."

—Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science and Turning to One Another

"A seminal work that shows leaders how to move from unproductive chatter to conversations that make things happen."

—Dave Logan, Professor at Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, cofounder and senior partner of CultureSync, and author of Tribal Leadership and The Three Laws of Performance

"The Four Conversations takes the old ideas of workplace communication to an entirely new level of effectiveness and ease."

—Jack Stack, President and CEO, SRC Holdings Corporation, and author of The Great Game of Business

Jeffrey Ford is associate professor of management in the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Laurie Ford is a consultant to managers and executives in business, government agencies, and associations on organization redesign and change implementation.

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently