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
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
Defensive fuel to flame fires
Think of the last conversation you had that escalated to a more intense level than you would have liked. Your ‘Amy/Andy’ felt threatened. When a threat is sensed, defenses rise. As a result, conversations become power struggles. You may toss … 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
A no-named family member
I received a letter from my health care provider that began with this salutation: “To My Most Valued Patient:” My first reaction was WHAT???!!!!! If I was so valuable, why couldn’t you at least address it to me – my … Continue reading
Helpless or helpful?
Excellent customer service is very much a set of buzzwords. Do companies really know their level of customer service? I recently had two separate ‘customer service’ experiences — one was a delight and the other was, well, it just was. I … Continue reading
What? Feedback doesn’t work?
Author Charles Jacobs states in his article, Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science*, “Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI as it’s known in the field, scientists are now able to watch the … Continue reading
Blinded by your own light … or darkness?
I found an interesting article on Knowledge@Wharton’s website.It was actually a five-page book review. The book is called “It Starts With One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations” by J. Stewart Black and Hal B. Gregersen. The authors asked “why do we … Continue reading
Collaboration without Egos?
One of my doctoral class topics that somehow gets integrated into subsequent classes is Collaboration. I have tried in the past to collaborate with others and frankly was not very successful. I believe there were two primary forces working against … Continue reading
