When it comes to difficult conversations with employees, which ones cause the most angst for managers?

Firings? Nope.

Explaining why someone didn’t get a raise? Guess again.

The most dreaded conversation:

Telling an employee that he or she smells!

And the easiest conversation?

Confronting an employee about having inappropriate photos on his or her computer.

In fact, managers don’t mind giving an employee bad news if he or she deserves it. But they squirm when things aren’t so cut and dry, says the survey by HR News Update and Communications Update of more than 900 managers and HR professionals. The managers were asked to each of 19 difficult conversations on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the least difficult conversation and 5 being the most difficult.

The 5 Most Difficult Conversations (Total percentage those giving ratings of 4 or 5)

1. Telling an employee that he or she smells or has a hygiene problem (78.9%)
2. Telling an employee the company is downsizing and he or she will no longer have a job (73.8%)
3. Informing an employee that he or she is being demoted (68.4%)
4. Telling a hard working, valuable employee (but who doesn’t have tremendous talent) that he or she isn’t likely to rise any higher in the organization (67.6%)
5. Explaining to an employee this his or her spouse’s behavior at a company event was unacceptable (53.4%)

The 9 Least Difficult Conversations (Total percentage those giving ratings of 1 or 2)

1. Confronting an employee who has porn on his or her computer (77.9%)
2. Confronting someone who is spending too much time on MySpace.com, etc. (74.9%)
3. Talking to an employee about begin tardy or missing work (72.9%)
4. Confronting an employee who is job hunting on company time (70.7%)
5. Confronting someone who has stolen from the organization (70.0%)
6. Confronting someone for sending inappropriate email (68.7%)
7. Confronting an employee who’s blatantly lied (65.5%)
8. Firing an employee for cause (63.7%)
9. Confronting someone who is spending too much time on the phone (60.3%)

And the 5 Conversations with average ratings:

1. Explaining to an employee why he or she didn’t get a promotion
2. Firing an employee for performance
3. Explaining to an employee that his or her clothing is inappropriate for the office
4. Telling a normally excellent employee his or her work is not up to par
5. Explaining to an employee why he or she didn’t get a raise

ADDITIONAL HELP:
We’ve all had some of these “uncomfortable” conversations with employees. To help, you’re invited to check out the Executive Report: Handling Difficult Conversations with Employees: What Every Manager Needs to Know.

This might explain a few things. More than a third (35% actually) of entrepreneurs identify themselves as dyslexic, says a London professor. That’s staggering when you consider that only 10% of the population is dyslexic.

But it makes sense. The study says dyslexics are:

• more likely than nondsylexics to delegate authority since they’re used to getting others to help them read
• excel in oral communication
• extraordinarily creative in maneuvering around problems

Dyslexics have trained from childhood to identify people they can trust to help them. Their willingness to delegate authority gives them a great advantage over nondyslexic entrepreneurs who tend to be control freaks and do everything themselves, says the report in the New York Times.

Dyslexics tend to be hands-on who push very little paper. They lead by talking a lot, not writing memos and reading.

On the other end of the spectrum, only 1% of corporate managers are dyslexic.

Well-known dyslexic entrepreneurs: Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways; Charles Schwab, founder of the discount brokerage firm; and Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinkos. Orfalea also proudly admits to having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

“I get bored easily and that’s a great motivator. I think everyone should have dyslexia and ADD.”

Interesting report in the Wall Street Journal. The number of women in top corporate jobs (particularly CEOs) has barely budged since 2002. But WSJ’s Top 50 Women to Watch in 2008 indicates that the pipeline of talented women ready for top jobs has grown significantly. Read WSJ’s report to see who they are.

Playing poker is lot like negotiating business deals. The best “players” know how to read their opponents. In both worlds, savvy opponents try to act weak or appear uninterested, says Gregory Stebbins, author of PeopleSavvy for Sales Professionals.

These behaviors will tell you a lot about the person sitting across the negotiating table:

• The Stare-down: Often the tactic of the person in the weakest position. He or she tries to appear strong and confident.
• The Uninterested: If they’re still at the table, then they’re still interested. The uninterested tactic is usually a sign of strength.
• The Shakes: Don’t misinterpret trembling, shaking hands as fear. More than likely the person is excited about the way the deal is going and is in a position of strength.
• The Sigh (or Shrug): Another attempt to hide a position of strength.
• The Chatterer: If the person across the table is normally quiet, but is now chatting up a storm, more than likely they’re nervous and in a weak position.
• The Quiet Type: Top negotiators avoid unnecessary conversation. Important information often slips out during those asides.

What’s the worst thing one of your employees has done? Can you top this list from Careerbuilder?

• Bank employees forgot a 73-year old woman was checking her safe deposit box and locked the building and went home. She was found by a cleaning person later that night.
• The postal carrier that was stealing money from birthday cards, etc.
• Employee, unhappy with his wages, decides to make up the difference by pushing his manager out of the way and helping himself to the cash register.
• The West Virginia ambulance driver arrested for driving impaired after running two red lights. He was stopped because he didn’t turn his siren on.

See the full list here.

If you can top these, please share them by leaving a comment.

Not sure if this is good news or bad news. Starting next week, business travelers on JetBlue will be able to e-mail and IM in flight, reports the N.Y. Times. The No Bull Blog thinks most of us are too connected. We spend too much time “communicating” and not enough contemplating. But for execs who can’t survive a couple of hours without “checking in,” your prayers have been answered.

Looking for creative and innovative people? You’re probably better off hiring wackos and malcontents instead of the best and the brightest.

That’s what the Harvard Business Review touts. The article says:

• Hire mavericks and misfits who’ll drive you crazy because they don’t go with the flow and bull-headedly champion their own ideas.
• Hire novices who don’t know how things have always been done.
• Encourage employees to defy their bosses
• Keep creative types away from customers – and anyone in the organization focused on money.
• Get  your happy and content employees “fighting” over ideas.

You get the picture. To shake things up, you actually have to shake things up. And HBR says the payoffs can be huge.

At the No Bull Business Blog, we give it to you straight. No bull.