Last week’s post on reconciliation in the midst of conflict, looked for mutually held purposes and values that opponents could use as a foundation for conversation, and encouraged the practice of focused listening and empathy... Continue reading
Last week’s post on workplace conflict looked at the impact of personal differences and style as well as the roles that different individuals might take in instigating or sustaining a conflict. The next step in... Continue reading
We all experience conflict on the job. Just the act of trying to coordinate activities with others -- or, actually, any attempt at working together -- can trigger conflict, even if everyone involved cares about... Continue reading
A customer arrives at a service department he visits frequently to take care of some account maintenance. Before he leaves, he asks the department receptionist if she can pass along a document to another department.... Continue reading
Change is often seen as creative and necessary. It can be invigorating, in the sense of a fresh start. But change is also almost irrepressibly hard. When we first try to give up a personal... Continue reading
Many companies use some kind of program for “measuring quality,” but the result of these assessment is typically expressed in “error rates.” Error rates are pretty worthwhile when they’re used to identify process steps that... Continue reading
A lot of what passes for coaching -- in workplaces, in homes, even on kids’ sports teams -- is really just a lot of exhortations and fervent repetitions of normative statements. It doesn’t help the... Continue reading
How do you handle a perpetually negative employee? You may get an idea from this bit of conversation that I had with a distressed client about a pivotal but consistently negative staff member we’ll refer... Continue reading
At a recent meeting, I observed as team members wrangled over what should have been a straightforward process discussion. Not only did their disagreements about “the way things are supposed to be done” get heated... Continue reading
In any organization -- and it only takes two people to make an organization -- you’ll be exposed to bad behavior from time to time. This is true in all kinds of settings: at school,... Continue reading
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