It’s not true in every organization, but it is true in many. Managers often don’t understand their employees. They don’t know how to motivate, inspire, and correct people effectively. Read more…

Creating an environment of trust is a tricky issue. People carry past hurts with them. Some people expect more from their leaders than they are willing to give themselves. Read more…

The most frequent question I receive with regard to conflict resolution is this: “How do you remember the better ways to resolve conflict when you get caught off-guard and you find yourself in a situation that you did not anticipate?” Read more…

Different communication styles, behavior styles, and leadership styles all contribute to misunderstandings. When we learn to speak the “language” of other people, we learn to communicate clearly. Read more…

Studies of workplace behaviors reveal some startling statistics with regard to the impact that conflict has on business performance. Read more…

I often hear leaders from all types of organizations ask questions about hiring the right person.  Their questions usually sound like these:

 What if their resume looks great but they have a bad attitude?  
What if they put on a good act and then don’t work hard?
How can I tell how they will perform after I hire [...]

Good questions create a foundation for higher level thinking and for building a cooperative, participatory environment. Read more…

I have moved my blog to RecoveringEngineer.com. Here are excerpts from my two most recent posts. Please join me at my new blog.
Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: Powered by FeedBurner

You have probably seen or been involved in confrontation discussions that got off track. I know that I have. Maybe you were speaking with one of your co-workers about cleaning the coffee pot in the break room and you found yourself in a heated discussion about your desire to “boss everyone around.” Maybe you attempted to confront someone who reports to you about missing a deadline and you wound up discussing their sick family pet and the trouble they were having trying to get the issue resolved. Or maybe you mentioned taking out the garbage to your teenage son and, the next thing you knew, you were in the middle of a discussion about your tendency to yell at him “all the time.” Remember to address one issue at a time for better conflict resolution.

Conflict conversations often go wrong when the two parties disengage too soon. As Daniel Dana, author of Conflict Resolution, says; people often don’t “argue” long enough because of a hard-wired behavioral approach commonly known as the “fight-or-flight” response…Following a simple process to control these inappropriate responses can help you to effectively self-mediate many interpersonal conflicts.