From time to time, most of us have experienced or even contributed to workplace drama. It can take many different forms: People gossip, spread rumors, complain, lash out emotionally, rant about a perceived wrong, purposely exclude others, take sides in conflicts, and so forth. No matter how drama manifests, it can be a highly destructive force inside a company, and leaders must … [Read more...]
Can All Conflicts Be Resolved?
I often get asked if every conflict can be resolved. Since I work with leaders and teams to resolve workplace conflicts and to build the confidence people have to address conflicts, I think it's a really good question. The short answer is: yes, every conflict can be resolved. The question does have one problem though: It is incomplete. It is incomplete in that people often … [Read more...]
Be the Victor, not the Victim
In much of my work, I see a tendency that many people have (including me) to play the victim during interpersonal conflict. I encourage my clients, and I strive myself, to overcome this tendency to blame every conflict on the other party. I call this tendency to blame others a victim mentality. When I am blaming others, I am a “victim” of their behavior with no power to … [Read more...]
Leadership Lessons from a Rainy Day
After several perfect spring days here where I live in Virginia, today has been nothing but dreary, chilly and rainy. The high I experienced early this week of being outdoors with my children has pretty much disappeared, and I find myself feeling grumpy, unmotivated and pessimistic. It's not in my nature to be any of those things, so it's prompted me to think about life, and … [Read more...]
Is Your Workplace Hostile? Here Are 5 Indicators It Is
This is a guest post from Chris Dyer performance expert, speaker, consultant, and author of The Power of Company Culture. When office relations go south, the boss is often the last one to know. Gossips and bullies act from the shadows. Employees might hold back their gripes for fear of losing favor. And trouble with customers may be shielded so it doesn’t reflect poorly on … [Read more...]
Put An End to Time-Consuming (And Exhausting) Turf Wars
Turfs wars can derail progress on a project quicker than any other kind of conflict in the workplace. Offering your staff conflict management training on how to deal with that type of situation will save morale and productivity from plummeting—and will lead to stronger interdepartmental relationships, which will undoubtedly be valuable down the line. When you notice the … [Read more...]
Resolve Conflicts Much Faster With This Surprising Advice
“How do you resolve a conflict quickly?” You may think this answer is counter-intuitive, but it's true: To solve conflict quickly, you must slow down. Just about everything I do professionally centers around resolving conflict, improving communication, enhancing leadership and inspiring teamwork. I work with teams of all kinds: work teams, non-profit teams and even … [Read more...]
Learn to Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
When you interact and work with other people, you will eventually disagree with someone. Sometimes, the disagreement will be over minor issues that you can easily ignore. Sometimes, however, you will disagree quite strongly about an issue that is vitally important to both sides. It might be about what course of action to take to turn around the company, which candidate to … [Read more...]
That Escalated Quickly: 3 Words Guaranteed to Increase Conflict
I tend to notice how people respond to certain words. I guess that's something of an “occupational hazard” for me. As I watch how people respond, I look for patterns. While tone and body language can often turn minor disagreements into full-on arguments, it's more often the words people use that cause conflicts to grow. So which words are guaranteed to start or escalate a … [Read more...]
Managing Tricky Conversations in the Workplace
We are living in complicated times, friends. People seem to be up in arms over everything. Take this week's brouhaha over Nike deciding to include Colin Kaepernick in a new campaign. There seem to be two very distinct opinions regarding the company's decision, and neither side is pulling any punches. Once upon a time ago, our opinions were kept to ourselves or shared with a … [Read more...]