As health care professionals, we do demanding, high-stakes work. And the demands on us and our health care system are growing—financially, operationally, and personally. To continue to serve our members, patients, and their families well requires continuous learning and improvement.

But learning is only possible when people can have an honest dialogue about what’s working, what’s not, and how to best achieve our goals. These conversations need to be part of every manager and health care worker’s toolkit.

 Crucial Conversations is an important book for enabling these conversations to happen. The authors, Kerry Patterson and his team, show how to build interpersonal skills that are as important as our functional or technical skills. Emotional intelligence, good communication, and clarity of purpose are keys to our success at work and in life. Without those, it’s easy to get caught up in our day-to-day work processes and pressures and forget our larger purpose—to focus on the needs of our members and patients. Whatever our role in the organization, that’s why we’re here. If we remember that, we will always make the right decisions.

Note: LMP Communications is piloting frontline communications training based in part on the book Crucial Conversations. For more information, please contact janet.coffman@kp.org