The skills you need guide to interpersonal skills

1. What do you want to achieve? In other words, what is your 
favoured outcome?
Write it down and think about your reasons. Try to take a step back from your 
personal opinions and think about the facts surrounding the situation.
2. What might be the objections from others?
3. How will you answer those objections?
Think carefully about your answers to their concerns; 
demonstrate that you have considered their opinions or arguments.
4. What would you be prepared to sacrifice to achieve your goals?
Be prepared to negotiate. If what you seek is in conflict with the other 
person’s ideas, you may have to discuss sacrifices to provide a better 
result for both of you in the long run. Mutual sacrifice is usually seen more 
favourably than one-sided sacrifice. Aim to reach a compromise which results 
in a win–win situation.
5. What time scales could you suggest?
Your argument will be stronger if you can offer time-scales for 
when you foresee the benefit of your proposals being reached.

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2.
ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SKILLS
A FRAMEWORK FOR DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS
It can be helpful to have a framework to use in both planning and having difficult 
conversations. One possible framework is DEARMAN, a seven-step conversational 
framework that was first proposed by Marsha Linehan, a Dialectical Behaviour 
Therapist, in the 1990s. 
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