It happens to all of us … we witness an injustice – someone is mistreated, or an email is misconstrued. You don’t know all the details, yet you are quick to judge the wrong-doer. Are you interpreting their behavior as … Continue reading
Regression, Learning and Stress
Continuing my thread of Captainitis and the ego …. When you are stressed, how do you react?Do you fall into behaviors that you did years ago?In other words, do you regress?It may be something as simple as immediately rationalizing the situation … Continue reading
Addressing Nuts and Bolts before Planes and Cars
As a leader, how intuitive are you to what your followers are saying — and what they are not saying? Do you clear your mind of extraneous clutter before addressing issues? Do you dwell on what you will say and … Continue reading
Triggering the emotions of others
Many people ‘wander’ through life not cognizant of the effect they have on others. Others simply do not care – they are who they are and they will not change their people-interaction-skills or techniques for anyone. They believe it is … Continue reading
Putting your head in the sand
We’ve all seen it happen …. someone is overly-emotional and expressing it in the most inappropriate manner: laughing too loudly or jumping up and down ‘for joy’ and on the other end of the spectrum crying, shuffling with head down … Continue reading
Talking Emails
Electronic communication is our way of life and unfortunately oftentimes our primary method of communication. The same words can be read and interpreted several different ways, especially when all words are uniform (no bold, italics or emoticons). For instance, how … Continue reading
Sarcasm or Intentionally Forcing Happiness?
Remember this scene from “The Sound of Music” … It’s Maria’s [Julie Andrews] first evening dinner with the Captain and the children. Earlier that day the children placed a frog in her dress pocket. Instead of chastising them, she took … Continue reading
Inside your brain: Techniques for reducing conflict with coworkers
When cooperation with coworkers is at a low level, conflict increases, productivity decreases, tempers are shortened, deadlines are missed and safety is compromised. These high stress levels fuel conflict and disharmony, which directly affects productivity and damages your safety culture. … Continue reading
How do you relate?
Think of the last time you were in a meeting and you and your team were discussing your latest project. You needed to propel the team to continue as they have been, or to put forth more effort, or to … Continue reading
Gaining Rapport by Asking Questions
Questions are your most powerful tool in gaining rapport. Questions give you control of the conversation and help steer the direction of the conversation. As a presenter, questions can help you improve your presentation. As a boss, they can let … Continue reading
