IN-PERSON | Being Clear is Kind: Overcoming Anxiety Over Difficult Conversations with Liesl Hays and Melissa O’Daniel

Uncomfortable conversations can be anxiety producing. They are difficult for the person leading the conversation and equally challenging for the one receiving it. Whether it’s delivering hard feedback to an employee who reports to you or telling a demanding client the timeline has changed due to their scope creep, difficult conversations are hard.

We typically know when a crucial conversation needs to take place, but calling deep on our courage to make it happen is well…really hard.

Have you found yourself saying:

• How do I find the right words during this conversation?
• I’ll put off the conversation until tomorrow, then the next day, then the next day…until it’s been a month of procrastinating.
• How do I prepare myself for this conversation?
• Is there anyway I can make it less awkward, but still get the point across?
• Will this conversation even make a difference?

During this session, we’ll explore the challenges we all face when delivering a hard message.

After participating in this session, you will be equipped to:

• Recognize when a hard conversation needs to happen.
• Implement tips to help you prepare and deliver a hard conversation.
• Build openness, trust and psychological safety in your difficult conversations.

Liesl Hays is an author, entrepreneur and human resources strategist. For over fifteen years, Liesl has provided strategic direction to small, medium and large businesses regarding their human capital needs. Most recently, Liesl was a Human Resources Strategist at one of the largest global Healthcare IT companies in the world. After leaving her corporate job in 2016, she opened her own Human Resources Consulting business called Aligned Talent Consulting. In 2021, Liesl released her first book through Morgan James Publishing: Broken, Changed & Rearranged. This self-development book shares her journey of chasing the traditional paths towards success to discover she was woefully unhappy locked inside her 60-hour a week grind. Her inspiring story empowers others to step outside the traditional definitions of success in order to chase what provides them meaning.

Liesl runs on coffee, “to do lists,” and the belief that exit interviews don’t lie-you’re just not listening. She lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri with her husband, Harlen, her children, Mady and Ethan, and their dogs, Lily and Bear.
liesl@alignedtalentconsulting.com


Melissa O’Daniel is an employee development strategist, root cause analyzer and storyteller with over 20 years of human resources experience. After many years leading large HR and Learning teams for a Fortune 500 Healthcare IT company, Melissa left her corporate job to focus on her passion for employee development. Melissa believes the secret to a great team lies in exploring each person’s unique strengths and supporting them as they apply them in the workplace. Melissa enjoys looking beyond the surface level of a business challenge to determine its root cause then aligning strategies which solve the true issues rather than treating the symptoms.

She’s a novice gardener with a love for sunshine, fresh air and ginger tea.
melissa@alignedtalentconsulting.com