Trusted by leaders at
An 8-Week Behavior-Change Intensive · A Catalyze Program
The Cost of Avoidance: Mastering Difficult Conversations helps your leaders say the hard things that drive growth — so issues get resolved sooner, your best people stay, and performance climbs. Not a workshop. A deliberate-practice engine. The goal isn't learning; it's measurable behavior change — backed by a behavior-change guarantee.
The #1-rated module of Kirstin Lynde's leadership programs · Co-author of a best-selling Harvard Business School note · delivered to 500+ leaders across tech and financial-services organizations.
Trusted by leaders at
The Problem
Organizations rarely suffer because leaders don't know what to do. They suffer because leaders don't say what needs to be said — and the cost of avoidance compounds daily.
*Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. Dollar ranges are illustrative industry estimates to size the problem — not figures from Catalyze engagements.
The Solution
This program gives your leaders deliberate practice, live feedback, and a five-month accountability loop — so they actually have the conversations they've been avoiding, and handle them with candor and care. What separates good leaders from exceptional ones isn't intelligence or experience. It's what gets said, what doesn't, and what gets done as a result.
What becomes possible
The Program
A deliberate-practice arc that ends with a real conversation. The live “real play,” where each leader rehearses their actual conversation and gets feedback, is the part people say is worth the price on its own.
A 5-minute Avoidance Index — your read on three skills (creating safety, listening & learning, shared accountability), your fight/flight-freeze instinct, and your confidence.
The 11 Golden Keys to a genuinely successful difficult conversation, the four-phase anatomy of one, and a non-verbal playbook. You leave with tactics to try right away.
Your stress-response pattern — fight, flight, freeze, or appease — and the trigger map behind why you avoid — or get suboptimal results from — specific conversations.
You run YOUR real conversation with live feedback from peers and coach — and observe four to seven other leaders run theirs, in a cohort of 5–8.
You have these conversations. For real. With text support within 24 hours — for the moment you're sitting in the parking lot before you walk in.
Post-conversation analysis, your permanent framework, alumni-community access, and a bonus 1:1 coaching session to prep or debrief the next hard one.
Five months out, participants report back: pre/post confidence and avoidance scores, the conversations they initiated that they'd previously have ducked, and one success story. Management receives aggregate metrics and anonymized stories — never individual responses.
The Economics of Candor
| Outcome | Illustrative value |
|---|---|
| Avoiding one wrongful-termination dispute | $50k–$200k |
| Retaining one senior leader about to quit | $200k+ |
| Unblocking a six-month cross-functional stalemate | $500k+ |
| Keeping a key client or enterprise account | $100k–$1M |
| Productivity regained by addressing a toxic top performer | $250k+/yr |
| Total potential value of one program | $1M+ |
Illustrative ranges to frame the stakes — drawn from commonly cited replacement-cost and decision-delay estimates, not from specific Catalyze engagements.
Evidence of Impact
A few of the stories behind the program — drawn from Catalyze engagements with technology and financial-services teams.
“The program completely changed how I think about accountability. I learned how to address performance issues directly — without creating defensiveness or eroding trust. It's a skill every leader needs but few are taught.”
— Vice President, Product Management
Why This Program
| Typical Workshop | The Cost of Avoidance | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Lecture + slides | A deliberate-practice engine |
| Length | 1–2 days | 8 weeks + a 5-month loop |
| Measurement | None | Pre/post Avoidance Index + 5-month follow-up |
| Real-world reps | Brief mock scenarios, minimal feedback | You run YOUR conversation, with rich feedback and ideas from coach + industry peers |
| Coach support | Workshop only | 24-hour text support during execution week + 1:1 coaching |
| Guarantee | Satisfaction survey | Behavior-change guarantee — Kirstin keeps working with you until it lands |
Complete all elements of the program, hold your real conversation(s), and take part in the follow-up assessments. If you fully participate and don't believe it materially improved your ability to handle difficult conversations, Kirstin will keep working with you — at no extra cost — until you see the impact you need.
Enrollment
Preventing a single regretted departure or one badly-handled decision pays for the program many times over.
We'll help you find the right fit on a short call.
For the individual leader. All program elements, your cohort of 5–8, a 50-minute private 1:1 coaching session (or two 25-minute sessions), and alumni community access.
Book a CallOne leader, privately, with no cohort or wait — the full method delivered 1:1, for the urgent conversation that can't wait.
Book a CallA dedicated cohort of 5–8 from one organization or team — custom scheduling, your real scenarios practiced, and a management metrics report.
Book a CallWe run cohorts primarily (but not exclusively) for technology and financial-services organizations and teams.
Free Diagnostics
Two quick, no-cost assessments — one for you, one for your team. Each takes about 5 minutes and gives you an instant, private read on how difficult conversations are being handled.
Common Questions
Ready to stop avoiding?
Thirty minutes, direct with Kirstin. We'll assess where avoidance is costing you and whether the 8-week intensive is the right lever. No pitch.
Book Your Strategy Call →Which difficult conversation have you been putting off? Book your call to assess your Avoidance Index and find out whether the 8-week intensive is the right next move.
Book a Free Strategy Call