Workplace bullying: A resource list

Robyn McMaster of Brain Based Biz has posted a good resource article on workplace bullying. In Stop Abuse: Bullying in the Workplace, Robyn’s compiled the thinking of a number of professionals who’ve written on the topic, and if you’re a manager or in HR, the article is well worth your read.

I want to add a note of caution about the article’s list of behaviors that bullies may employ: [Read more]

Don’t let your workplace team go to abilene texas!

Sitting in a faculty meeting last week, I realized I’d just been transported unwittingly to Abilene.

Abilene, Texas, that is.

Abilene in and of itself may be a fine place to visit (I’ve never been). But this particular type of trip to Abilene is one worth avoiding. It’s a form of groupthink known as the Abilene Paradox, made famous in The Abilene Paradox and Other Mediations on Management, a wonderful little late 1980s book by management professor Jerry Harvey. The gist of the story is this, as re-told in Wikipedia: [Read more]

Confronting conflict: raise an issue or let it go?

One of my recent conflict resolution workshop participants raised his hand. “How do you know when it’s worth raising an issue and when it would be better to let it go?”

Well that’s sure the $64,000 question! (I’m probably dating myself with that one, eh?)

In the workshop, I showed folks how to figure it out for themselves, each time that good question comes up in a conflict situation or other problem. Since I don’t have all of you in a workshop, here are some guiding questions I offer my conflict coaching clients and training participants: [Read more]

Conflict resolution articles vault for september 2007

The Conflict Resolution Articles Vault is a monthly feature that dips into the archives and shares still-relevant articles from one year ago:

Channeling Elaine: How Seinfeld Helped Me Apologize: Who knew that an episode of Seinfeld would come to my rescue?

5 Simple Ways to Keep Your Cool in Conflict: A few simple, do-able ways to help you manage your frustration during conflict.

Arguments, Conflict and Negotiations: Picking Your Battles: How a pair of red Converse All-Stars almost broke my heart but instead [Read more]

How do you get someone to change?

Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.

The 7 hallmarks of genuine dialogue

A reader has asked me what makes dialogue “genuine,” a question prompted by my tagline, “Jump-start genuine dialogue.”

When I’m coaching a workplace team or a couple in the creation of genuine dialogue around change, conflict or key decisions to be made, I use these criteria for assessing the quality of dialogue: [Read more]

Persistent workplace rumors defy conventional response

“Is it true that if a student’s roommate dies, the surviving roommate gets automatic A’s for the semester?” When I was a college dean, a fall term rarely passed without a first-year student asking me that question.

Persistent rumors, urban legends and myths find lives of their own in the workplace, too. The conventional response? Counter the incorrect, bad or troubling information with accurate, good or upbeat information.

Unfortunately, research suggests that denials, clarifications and counter-information may have paradoxical consequences: greater resiliency of the myth. [Read more]

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