Are you nervous about an approaching meeting with an employee who has been performing well below your expectations?  Do you need to make sure you’re at your best for this meeting?  That you hit all the right notes?  That you accomplish all you need to accomplish to give this employee the best chance for improvement (or a fair explanation for why you’re terminating his employment)?  Well, you know, you needn’t go into this meeting (or any place where there’s sure to be conflict) unprepared.  You can do what the athletes do. Practice!  Grab a peer and scrimmage this meeting before the real thing.  Role-play some likely and unlikely scenarios.