Define the Gap

Convert frustration into facts with observable behavior, specific dates, and measurable impact before initiating the conversation.

Initiate with Intention

Start with one question, listen to receive their perspective, and understand the context that shapes your response.

Establish Clear Expectations

Make expectations clear, ask for repetition to ensure mutual understanding, and address performance problems through specific guidelines.

Receive Perspective

Ask one question, then go quiet. Listen without interrupting, defending, or filling the silence. What you hear shapes every step that follows.

Commit to a Plan

Leave the conversation with three things documented: what changes, who owns it, and by when. No plan means no accountability.

Track and Follow Up

Send a summary email within 24 hours. Schedule the next check-in before either of you leaves the room. Follow-through is where the conversation becomes real.

About the Course

Most leaders don't avoid difficult conversations because they don't care. They avoid them because they don't know how to start — and they're afraid of making things worse. This course is built for that moment. The DIRECT Conversation™ is a 60-minute course that teaches you a six-step framework for addressing underperformance with a direct report. Not theory. Not general communication advice. A specific sequence — with exact language — that takes you from preparation to follow-up, start to finish. You'll learn how to define the performance gap before you say a word, how to open the conversation in under 18 seconds, how to give the other person space to respond without losing control of the room, and how to close with documented expectations and a clear plan. The companion workbook walks you through each step so you can prepare for a real conversation — one you may already have waiting for you. By the time you finish, you'll know what to say, how to say it, and what to do next.

About the Creator

Harry Karydes spent nearly two decades as an emergency physician and ED medical director — an environment where unclear communication doesn't just slow a team down, it puts patients at risk. That experience shaped everything about how he teaches leadership communication. Not as theory. As a set of specific, practiced behaviors that work under pressure, in real conversations, with real consequences. He is a certified high-performance coach and works with newly promoted and emerging leaders who are managing teams for the first time and need to communicate with clarity, confidence, and credibility — not someday, but now. The DIRECT Conversation™ reflects his practice-first philosophy: a framework you can learn in an hour and use this week.

Curriculum

1 Chapter · 4 Lessons

  1. 1

    The DIRECT Conversation

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 1: The Mindset Shift

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 2: The DIRECT Framework - Step by Step

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 3: The Words

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 4: The Full Conversation

The conversation isn't going to have itself.

You've been thinking about this long enough. The framework is here. The language is ready.  The only thing left is the decision.

$17.00

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