In healthcare, we’re trained to tell patients hard truths about their conditions, but we struggle to have honest conversations with colleagues. This “chronic niceness” can be as harmful as aggression as it allows destructive patterns to continue and ultimately damages relationships.
In this episode, conflict expert Joe Weston offers a powerful alternative through what he calls “Fierce Civility”, confrontation aimed at deepening relationships rather than creating conflict.
When we avoid necessary confrontations, small issues fester into major problems that eventually require formal interventions. Our relationships deteriorate, team effectiveness suffers, and we create cultures where damaging behaviour becomes normalised simply because no-one addresses it.
This episode is an invitation to try one small confrontation this week – not with your most challenging relationship, but with someone where the stakes feel manageable.
