Yesterday, I heard that my daughter and her friends were a part of a conversation that wasn’t very nice and one of her friends was hurt in the process. This was a situation that had come up in the past before with my daughter and her friends. So I was intent on letting her know how disappointed I was and what I thought were the solutions to the situation. So I gave my daughter a couple of little speeches.

And I got my point across, but I also missed out. I missed out on hearing my daughter’s perspective on the situation. I missed out on letting my daughter know how much I appreciate and respect her opinion. I missed out on getting her valuable input on solutions. And I missed out on getting more buy in from her to make the needed changes.

That is because I talked at her instead of listening to her and talking with her about the situation. Above I shared some important keys to having a difficult conversation with someone whether a spouse, child, or friend.