A client recently asked me to help him resolve some staff conflicts within his marketing team. At the surface, it looked like the staff were insubordinate, reactive, and uncooperative. However, after some discussions with all of the staff, it became clear that the real issue was GRPI (pronounced grip-i), not insubordination. Is GRPI a rare […]
Why Conflict at Work is a Good Thing
When Gabriel visited headquarters from his Milwaukee office, everything seemed great. Members of the team welcomed him warmly, invited him to lunch, and had his workstation set up. Gabriel would be there for a week to transition the team to a new software platform to track their hours, request vacation days, check benefits, find employee […]
Seven Steps to Resolving Conflict in Crucial Conversations
It’s time to talk. Really talk. About the national and global issues that are impacting our changed lives, including Covid-19, civil unrest and returning to work or school. I don’t mean a quick chat; I’m referring to real conversations about tough topics where the stakes are high, the opinions vary and the emotions run strong. […]
How and Why to Ask For What You Want at Work
I still cringe when I think of the time I got my haircut during my teenage years. The hairdresser asked how I wanted it cut and I replied, “I don’t care. You choose.” In that moment, I gave away total control of how I looked to a complete stranger! As a child, I never learned […]
Listening: The Do’s and Don’ts and How To Master It
The human mouth plods along at 125 words per minute, while a neuron in the brain can fire about 200 times a second. No wonder our mind wanders when there’s so much time in between the words of a conversation. This is part of the reason we remember only 25 to 50% of what we […]
Conflict in the Workplace? 7 Ways to Resolve It
Crucial conversation sounds like a serious life or death conversation. It’s not. Instead, it’s a concept pioneered by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler that describes a conversation between two or more people where the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong. We tend to avoid crucial conversations at work. […]
