A seasoned executive was venting to me about her dissatisfaction with the work of a longtime employee. Over time, the employee seems to have succumbed to a combination of habitual carelessness and general lack of... Continue reading
Sometimes the right thing for an organization to do for a customer and the fair thing to do for an employee are both really obvious but in direct conflict with each other. This story shows... Continue reading
Isn’t it annoying when management bobbles the ball, and then can’t understand why the rest of the team is stumbling around in disarray instead of flawlessly executing plays? Performance can be compromised when a senior... Continue reading
It’s not enough to announce to your staff, “Just get it done!” Because either they will or they won’t. If a manager communicates performance feedback without a real understanding of how the job gets done... Continue reading
What if you’ve got a functionally competent employee whose performance is just not up to snuff? Perhaps most areas of her work are fine, and a few are outstanding, one or two crucial aspects are... Continue reading
Let’s say you’ve identified a problem in your organization -- something that’s not working well or isn’t working at all, something that you know should be fixed or changed. And let’s say you’ve already analyzed... Continue reading
In some organizations, the fear of overt, explicit conflict -- and the pain and disruption that it can engender -- is even stronger than the fear of leaving existentially damaging problems unaddressed. You may have... Continue reading
In the last few posts on conflict, we’ve been assuming that the opponents in the conflict are working in good faith. But not all conflicts are straightforward disputes, that can be resolved merely with extra... Continue reading
No matter what you’ve told your team members about working things out together, and how you’ve tried to address the underlying structural problems that can trigger conflict among co-workers, folks are still showing up in... Continue reading
Executives ask me frequently: Why do they have to get involved in their subordinates’ conflicts? Why don’t they just work these things out themselves like adults instead of acting like they’re in high school? After... Continue reading
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