By Marlene Chism, consultant, executive educator, professional speaker and the author of Stop Workplace Drama, and No-Drama Leadership. One of the most important communication skills you will ever learn is the art of effective listening. This skill alone has the power to transform any relationship. In your professional life, listening is at the heart of effective leadership, … [Read more...]
It’s Time to Have That Difficult Conversation
You can put off having difficult conversations with employees about negative behavior and poor performance, but you can’t avoid those discussions forever. By delaying the inevitable, you risk the chance of escalating your dread into chronic anxiety. Perhaps you’re concerned about saying the wrong things and hurting someone’s feelings. You may be worrying yourself sick over … [Read more...]
[Infographic]: Follow the 5 W’s of Delivering Bad News
![[Infographic]: Follow the 5 W’s of Delivering Bad News](/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/216a7f96b07a6abfa52d6435e916a1c3-348x180.png)
As a leader, at some point, you are going to have to tell employees or coworkers something they don't want to hear. Sharing bad news is hard on you, but it's much harder on the people who have to hear it. So stifle your discomfort and follow this advice from the good folks at GetVoip.com when you have to break bad news. You can also find more infographics at Visualistan … [Read more...]
Negative Vs. Positive Leadership (and Why You Should Choose the Latter)
If you're a leader, best-selling author Jon Gordon wants you to take this message to heart: Spreading negative energy solves nothing. In fact, it causes people to shut down. Morale suffers, employees disengage, productivity takes a hit, and profits fall. "It's easy to get upset and derailed by anger when things go wrong, but then the issue gets lost because you mismanaged … [Read more...]
The New Leader’s First Team Meeting
We recently received this question: Do you have any tips for communicating with my team as a new leader? In today's video, I'm going to answer this question from a slightly different angle by helping leaders lead their first team meeting - providing ideas and solutions for how to communicate and what to communicate in this very important … [Read more...]
Your Power of Choice in Conflict Resolution
In many cases, the path from conflict to resolution is like traveling down a dirt road in the country. It’s a little rough. Dirt might get in your eyes so that you don’t see clearly what lies ahead. You have to go more slowly than you do in other situations. Once you are on the road, you have to keep going. It is too narrow to turn around and go back the other way. At … [Read more...]
Are You An Arrogant Boss? Here’s How To Tell
It’s one thing to be proud of your successes and promotions; it’s quite another to allow that pride to morph into arrogance. Reflect on your attitudes and actions, and identify whether the following statements are True or False: I behave toward my subordinates very differently than I do toward my superiors. If forced to choose, I’d rather make myself look good … [Read more...]
The 5 Ways People Respond to Conflict (and Why You Should Care)
In my work with clients of all kinds, I have noticed five basic types of people when it comes to responding to conflict. Admittedly, I did not come up with these categories from a sophisticated and comprehensive statistical analysis. They are, however, built on my observations from working with many people and talking about their approaches to conflict and then observing the … [Read more...]
Why Nice Teams Finish Last
By Kris Boesch My brother-in-law recently got a job in retail sales of satellite TV. Here’s a psychological trick he was taught – ask the nice young couple who has stepped into the big box store to follow you, and as you ask, turnaround and walk away with your back towards them. Invariably they will follow you even if they have no interest in what you’re … [Read more...]
Manage 3 Major Causes of Workplace Tension
When people are physically uncomfortable, they generally have difficulty focusing on the work at hand, and they tend to become emotionally sensitive and irritable. Both can decrease productivity and increase conflict. Here are three of the most common issues I see as I work with my clients: 1. Space constraints Such constraints can take many forms, but they almost … [Read more...]