Tag: behavior
How to Handle Workplace Tantrums and Meltdowns
A manager in a creative industry wrote in to ask how she can deal with a colleague who regularly throws hissy fits, all of which follow a similar pattern. The Hisser has a periodic and... Continue reading
How Can You Get Your Manager to Let You Help?
I heard from a middle manager who struggles with his senior manager’s unclear delegation and occasional absence of direction. The senior manager constantly shifts assignments, switching up what’s urgent today and what’s important tomorrow with... Continue reading
What Happens When Customer Needs Derail Employee Work Rules?
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
6 Ways Not to Put a Problem on the Table
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
4 Aspects of Managing Your Fight-or-Flight Response
The body’s fight-or-flight reactions are a good guide to our true perceptions of a confrontation’s level of safety or danger. Learning to check and manage our physical reactions is essential to both our effectiveness and... Continue reading
4 Steps to Clarify Your Assumptions in a Conflict
We may talk about the importance of not making assumptions, but we all make them, automatically, all the time. We tend to believe that other people are more like us than not, which explains some... Continue reading
How to Avoid the Mortal Combat of Personal Criticism
It’s normal to be “conflict-averse.” Most of us tend to try to avoid creating bad feelings among people. We shy away from anything that seems like a secret, can’t be helped, or isn’t worth getting... Continue reading
Can You Handle the Truth of a Compassionate Confrontation?
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