Difficult Conversations

Why Bother to Banish Bad Behavior?

Why Bother to Banish Bad Behavior?

Why bother to banish bad behavior? It’s tempting to ignore it, hoping it will go away on its own—but the reality is that it rarely does. More often, unchecked negativity festers and spreads, impacting your entire team’s morale and performance. As a supervisor or leader, one of the most challenging yet essential tasks is addressing bad behavior within your team.…

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How to Work Together Better

How to Work Together Better

It’s easy to work together better when things are going well, but inevitably there will be conflicts, confusion and miscommunication that need to be addressed. The words we choose can make or break the way we work—especially when things are not going as planned. What does that look like in real life? Communicate with Candor—And Kindness We work together better…

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How to Disagree Without Destroying the Relationship

How to Disagree Without Destroying the Relationship

Sadly, it seems that the ability to disagree without destroying the relationship is a lost art.  People seem to have forgotten how to constructively express their differences of opinion without digressing into a name-calling free-for-all. Interactions on social media are an exasperating example of our society’s loss of civility—especially during these unprecedented times. Certainly, there are times when the other…

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Make Bad Attitudes Better With These Good Words–and Without Getting Ugly

Make Bad Attitudes Better With These Good Words–and Without Getting Ugly

  “You have a bad attitude!” Even though we know people who could benefit from that negative feedback, that ugly wording is not the best way to share it. There are two reasons that saying “you have a bad attitude” is not the best way to get results: Those harsh words are likely to get a defensive response. It provides…

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“Sound of Silence:  Responding to What’s NOT Said”

“Sound of Silence: Responding to What’s NOT Said”

“People hearing without listening” is one of the lines in the iconic song The Sound of Silence which I recently ran across on YouTube. The listening challenge, however, is when you’re interacting with someone who is “talking without speaking.” They may be talking but not saying what they really mean. Or their non-verbal actions convey that they have something more…

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