The Conversation You've Been Avoiding — Business English Thinking Canvas | ClassPlan.ai

Business EnglishBusinessclassplan.ai

The Difficult Conversation Diagnosis · Thinking Canvas

The Conversation You've Been Avoiding

Think of one real conversation you have been putting off — at work or elsewhere — and work through it here.

Name the avoided conversation

Write in one sentence the conversation you have been avoiding and who it is with.

What is truly at stake?

If this conversation never happens, what is the real cost — to you, to them, to the relationship?

Cost to me

Cost to them

Sort the forces

What is driving the conflict, and what is holding you back from addressing it? Place each force in the right zone.

Driving the conflict

Holding me back

How urgent is this, really?

Mark where this sits on the scale — and note whether your gut feeling matches what step 2 tells you about the cost of delay.

I can wait indefinitely

This needs to happen this week

The obvious answer

Write the response most people would give — the comfortable, safe, socially acceptable thing to do.

Attack the obvious answer

What does that safe answer cost or ignore? Look back at step 3 — does avoiding this conversation actually resolve any of those driving forces?

The hidden trade-off

Write the one word that names what you are really protecting by staying silent — and below it, one sentence that names what having the conversation would actually protect instead.

Why that word?

Discuss Tell your partner your word from step 7 — do they think it's accurate, or is there a deeper one underneath it?

Business01