Interface Coaching & Development

The Conversations
No One Taught You
to Have

A manager's playbook for the 8 workplace conversations that stop even experienced leaders cold: the ones that touch who someone is, not just what they did.

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Why this exists

Some conversations have a framework. These don't.

Ask a group of experienced managers which workplace conversations they dread most, and you will not hear "performance reviews." You will not hear "telling someone they didn't get the promotion." Those conversations are uncomfortable, but managers know how to have them. There are templates, HR guides, and a general script to reach for.

The conversations that stop leaders cold are different. They are the ones that brush against a person's dignity, their self-image, or their identity. The conversation about how someone smells. How they dress. Whether they might be drinking on the job. The colleague undermining everyone behind their back. The employee whose mood is quietly running the whole team's behavior.

Most managers avoid these conversations for months, sometimes years, while the people around the problem absorb the cost. This playbook covers all eight of them: what is actually happening beneath the surface, why most managers handle it badly, the specific language to open the conversation, how to respond when it gets difficult, and what to do if nothing changes.

What's inside

8 Scenarios. Word for word.

Each one comes with the full framework: what's really happening, why managers botch it, how to open, how to handle pushback, and what to do if nothing changes.

01
"I Don't Want You to Do Anything."
When a coworker reports someone undermining a colleague, then ties your hands.
02
Dismissive Toward Customers and Toward You
When the attitude that drives away clients also shows up with their manager.
03
The Employee Everyone Walks on Eggshells Around
When one person's moods are quietly shaping the whole team's behavior.
04
You Suspect Someone Is Under the Influence at Work
When the signs are there, but nothing is confirmed.
05
Body Odor or Excessive Fragrance
When a hygiene issue has been raised by multiple coworkers and can't be ignored.
06
Attire That Is Too Revealing for the Environment
When professional dress standards intersect with gender, power, and dignity.
07
The Employee Who Takes Over
When someone's enthusiasm is shutting down everyone around them.
08
The Employee Who Has More to Offer Than You're Hearing
When real value is present but never making it into the room.

The core insight

"The anticipation is almost always worse than the conversation itself. Most people, when approached with respect and directness, respond better than their managers expected."
— From the playbook

Format and contents

What you're getting for $27

8 fully written scenarios
Every scenario follows the same five-part framework so you can find what you need and use it immediately.
Exact opening language for each scenario
Not vague advice about "being direct." Specific sentences you can adapt to your own voice before you walk into the room.
How to handle pushback
Every scenario includes the responses most managers get, and what to say when the conversation gets harder instead of easier.
What to do when nothing changes
Each scenario ends with a clear path forward if the first conversation doesn't shift the behavior — so you always know what comes next.
Clean, printable PDF
Interface Coaching branded, designed to be read and referenced. Yours to download, keep, and return to whenever you need it.

Get instant access

The Conversations No One Taught You to Have

A manager's playbook for the 8 most uncomfortable workplace conversations.

$27
One-time purchase. Instant PDF download.
Get the Playbook for $27

Secure checkout via Stripe  ·  Instant download after payment

CM

Christian Moller-Andersen

Founder, Interface Coaching & Development

Christian is a certified leadership coach (ICF-aligned, Insight Coaching Community), a Positive Intelligence practitioner, and the author of Three Chapters: How Leaders Grow, Get Stuck, and Grow Again. He has worked across private enterprise, nonprofit organizations, and Oregon state government, most recently leading ten managers as a Program Manager at ODHS.

The conversations in this playbook are the ones he has been asked about most consistently over the course of his career — by new managers who didn't know where to start, and by experienced leaders who still felt stuck.

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