Radical Candor by Kim Scott speaks directly about this topic in the opening chapters and also the consequences of avoiding the conversation, because it makes you as the manager feel awkward. I highly recommend the book and I find it even better than Difficult Conversations or Crucial Conversations.
I'm in operations and I also loved "Cheaper by the Dozen" as a kid. Have you ever read, "My Forty Years with Ford" by Charles Sorensen? He was the first COO of Ford and he talks about building the first modern assembly line, dealing with his difficult process engineering problems (for 1910) and creating one of the first continuous improvement programs. I really enjoyed how everything he described is still relevant today for operations and his seemingly intractable problems are now considered simple today.