The course has been funded by the HSCP Office, HSE. As such, places are available to social workers in the publicly funded healthcare service only.

This is an interdisciplinary event between Social Care Ireland and the Irish Association of Social Work. We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. Difficult conversations are anything that someone does not want to talk about, such as asking for a raise or complaining to a neighbour about his barking dog.  People are usually reluctant to open a difficult conversation out of fear of the consequences. Typically, when the conversation does occur the parties think and feel a lot more than they actually say.

Underlying every difficult conversation are actually three deeper conversations. The “What happened?” conversation usually involves disagreement over what happened, what should happen, and who is to blame. The feelings conversation is about the parties’ emotions, and their validity. The identity conversation is an internal conversation that each party has with themselves, over what the situation tells them about who they are.

This one day workshop will address the issue that make conversations difficult and develop strategies as well as present tools that can be used to have real meaningful conversations where both parties are happy with the outcomes.

Facilitator: Dr Gearoid Hardy, leadership development consultant with over 35 years’ experience of implementing change in both public and private sectors. He has gained extensive experience and knowledge working in higher education, healthcare, financial services, technology, manufacturing and policing. His career has both an Irish and an international dimension, having worked extensively across Europe, Middle East, Asia and the US. Gearóid has been an adjunct lecturer for 25 years, lecturing on leadership and management on MBA and Masters programmes in a number of Universities across the world. He coaches CEO’s and senior executives from a diverse range of backgrounds including senior UCD staff. He is accustomed to asking the challenging and often
unpopular questions that draw people out of their comfort zones. He continually prompts leaders to reassess the situation, leading them to new found clarity from within.