Wag more. Bark less.

At the risk of being simplistic, it could be a useful mantra for some conflict situations. It sure gave me a chuckle when I ran across an add for Cloud Star t-shirts, caps and other apparel in of my favorite reads, Best Friends Magazine.

Wag on,

Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.

Are your employees truly engaged in your business or organization? Here’s more evidence that the answer you want is either “Yes!” or “Not all, but I want to change that.”

A few months ago, the Gallup Management Journal (GMJ) reported on survey research intended to “discover what effect employee engagement may have on team-level innovation and customer service delivery.” In Gallup Poll: Engaged Employees Inspire Company Innovation, they concluded, among other things, that: [Read more...]

A couple of months ago Marion contacted me about a challenge she faced with a client of her successful small business. This is the third post in my Marion series, where I chronicle the conflict management coaching experience for and with Marion (links to the first two article are at the foot of this one).

One of Marion’s three primary goals for the conflict management coaching experience is to learn how to manage her hot buttons and keep her balance in conflict moments at work. As part of our initial exploration of the ways she engages conflict, I had asked her to complete a conflict style inventory and begin to take note of the kinds of moments that got under her skin.

In our next conversation, Marion reported that of the most common four conflict triggers, she noticed that she was bothered a little bit when she felt excluded in some way by those close to her. And she particularly noticed that when someone seemed to be questioning her worth, she was really bothered.

We also discussed the results of the conflict style inventory, which were pretty revealing and not surprising to either Marion or me by that point. Marion’s inventory suggested that [Read more...]