Enhancing Accountability: The Art of Difficult Conversations
Course details
2025
| Session(s) | Location | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25-01 English | Ottawa | 2025-11-18 | 2025-11-20 |
| Tuition |
|---|
| $2,250.00 |
Notes
- Accommodations are offered to course participants. Our rooms are subject to availability and the request must be indicated on the course registration form
- Meal plans are offered to course participants. The specific meal plan must be indicated on the course registration form
- Travel grant funding is available to our non-federal law enforcement agencies
- One registration form is required to apply. Once the student is approved to attend the course, the Registrar's Office team will ensure that the student is registered for all sub-sessions.
- Tuition fee is divided according to the number of sub-sessions, resulting in several invoices. These invoices will be distributed to the organization after each sub-session.
Description
Difficult conversations such as those dealing with performance issues, behavioural concerns, and other sensitive topics are vital to leadership. Yet, they are often delayed or avoided due to fear of conflict, emotional discomfort, or uncertainty about how to proceed.
Giving corrective feedback is critical to the success of any group of professionals. It has important impacts on the giver, receiver, and the organization’s ultimate success. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to provide constructive feedback and thus it is sometimes avoided.
This course helps leaders break that avoidance cycle. Moreover, this course will help ensure that the way the feedback is delivered maximizes the possibility of a positive outcome. Participants learn how to prepare, structure, and lead conversations like these with clarity, composure, and empathy. This transforms uncomfortable conversations into a constructive dialogue that supports accountability and growth at the individual, team and organizational levels.
Topics include:
- the nature and benefits of effective feedback for the giver, receiver and the organization
- what makes conversations difficult and how to overcome avoidance
- a mental model to clarify assumptions, perceptions, and triggers
- how stress impacts communication and decision-making
- practical techniques to manage emotional state, expectations, and inner dialogue
- common traps in difficult conversations
- a structured, four-step approach to lead difficult conversations effectively
- psychological safety
Format and delivery
- Delivery setting
- Classroom
- Length of course
- 3 days
- Class size
- 20 Participants
Learning outcomes
- Ability to create a psychologically safe environment while engaging in difficult conversations
- Understanding of the dynamics of all difficult conversations, their traps and how to prepare for them
- Ability to maintain composure while dealing with emotional situations
- Ability to use a supportive methodology to deliver feedback and hold others accountable that benefits all parties to the conversation
- Ability to overcome the hidden triggers that impede the acceptance of feedback
- Ability to use a step-by-step preparation methodology and template
- Knowledge of accountability mechanisms
Eligibility and mandatory requirements
- This course is offered to law enforcement leaders who are required to provide feedback to others or to have other difficult conversations, including those with direct reports, peers, senior officers and other stakeholders
- Acceptance or refusal in the course is at the discretion of the Canadian Police College
Assessment
- Each participant will prepare, and role play a difficult feedback conversation and receive feedback
Contact
For more details or other information about the course, please email cpc_registrar-registraire_ccp@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
- Date modified: