Painless Performance Conversations: A Practical Approach to Critical Day-to-Day Workplace Discussions -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 Be a Catalyst: Fostering Painless Performance Conversations -- The Primary Tool of Catalyst Managers -- Employees Want Meaningful Conversations -- Painless Performance Conversations Defined -- Subjects of Painless Performance Conversations -- Avoiding Performance Conversations -- Painless Performance Conversations and Painless Performance Evaluations -- What's Ahead? -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 2 Have the Guts: Tackling Performance Conversations Head On -- You're an Avoider If . . . -- Embrace It -- The Potentially Long Road -- Deciding to Take the Road -- Pet Peeve Formula -- Creating a Clone or a Valued Contributor -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 3 Form Clear Expectations: Making Your List -- Clear Expectations -- Sources of Expectations -- Determining Your Personal Expectations -- Creating Your List -- Collaborating with Employees on Your List -- Setting Expectations When You Are in a Temporary Assignment -- When Expectations Change -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 4 Share Your Expectations: Conveying a Picture of Success -- Opportunities to Talk about Expectations -- Tips for Making the Most of Expectation-Setting Opportunities -- The Sound of an Informal Expectation-Setting Opportunity -- Leading a Formal Conversation about Performance Expectations -- The Sound of a Formal Expectation-Setting Conversation -- Keeping the Conversation Going -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 5 Lead with Behavior: Separating Actions from Attitudes -- Behavior versus Attitude -- Naming Attitudes and Behaviors -- Evidence of Behavior.

What You Observe versus What You Assume -- Focusing on Attitude Can Lead to Discrimination -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 6 Eliminate Judgment: Focusing on Performance Evidence -- It's Up to You -- Judgment versus Evidence -- Focus on the Gap -- What Creates Performance Gaps? -- Closing the Gaps -- Giving Better Feedback -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 7 Inquire with Purpose: Using Curiosity to Expand Possibilities -- Making Space in the Conversation -- Respond in Question Marks -- Ask, Ask, Ask -- What to Ask -- The Power of Questions -- Five Whys -- Tell Me about It -- Guidelines for Powerful Questions -- Putting It All Together -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 8 Be Clear: Creating a Culture of Ownership -- Moving Beyond Accountability -- An Alternative to Accountability -- An Alternative Approach: Ownership -- Establishing a Culture of Ownership -- Tips for Engaging Employees' Hearts and Minds -- Creating the Hook -- Delegating Back -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Chapter 9 Show Confidence: Conducting the Conversation -- Location, Location, Location -- A Development State of Mind -- Three Essential Elements of a Painless Performance Conversation -- The Painless Performance Conversation Model -- Painless Performance Conversation Planner -- Completing the Planner -- Painless Performance Conversation Example -- Conversation Checkpoints -- From the Field -- Next Up -- Chapter 10 What If?: Your Toughest Performance Conversations -- Case Study-The Late Employee -- Case Study-The Resistant Employee -- Case Study-The Gossip Who Stirs the Pot -- Case Study-Serious Policy Violations -- Case Study-The Struggling Employee -- Case Study-The Longterm Employee -- Next Up -- Conclusion -- Appendix.

About the Management Education Group, Inc. -- About the Author -- Index.