Conflict Resolutions, Leadership, Leadership Strategies, Patterns, Success

Is being a leader a good idea?

Sylvia Lafair
June 12, 2019

Have you ever wondered if being a leader is such a good idea? Or, if you are in a strong leadership position, have you ever wondered if you made the right choice.

Leadership sounds so great. However, it’s not the ‘piece of cake’ so many people think it is.

Recently I got an email from one of the graduates from our Total Leadership Connections Program who had a seemingly perfect promotion as the COO of a major company. All was good during the honeymoon phase and recently all hell has broken out.

“Sylvia, I made a dreadful mistake…

This job is high profile and pays well. However, I am now learning it’s like living in a hornet’s nest. There is more in-fighting going on and office politics than I ever expected.

Damn!

Instead of being able to step into the role of a leader, my life has morphed into simply being both the fire marshal and the fireman.

Every day there is scorched earth because of the backstabbing and nastiness. I didn’t know the person I replaced had left so much negativity and nastiness behind for me to clean up.

I don’t know if I can handle this crap.

My wife said I am sullen and introspective all the time and even the kids are asking why daddy is always in a bad mood.

I know we learned a ton about how teams operate when I was in TLC and that has helped. However, it’s the day in and day out fires that have me annoyed and frustrated. Question: How long will it take till I have a team of people who can collaborate and create together without the turmoil.

HELP!!!.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Dan

Here was my reply to this very capable and competent leader:

Dear Dan,

You are expressing the thoughts of so many leaders who must use the ‘ROTO-ROOTER’ method to clean out the ‘stuck plumbing.’

We can go into the details of office politics later.

For now, I really want you to take a really deep breath and think about the core of what it means to be a leader. You can’t address the specifics until you rethink your personal mission statement and why you were so excited about taking this job in the first place, money, and prestige aside.

I hope you find this helpful.

Leading is not for the faint of heart. Leaders live dangerously, all the time. Frankly, it’s something you just need to get used to. Yes, it’s romantic and dramatic and exciting to be a leader. You are looked up to at work, in the community and hopefully at home also.

Leading can be inspirational and you can have a major impact on the lives of those who work with and for you. You can help to build fortunes and increase the bottom line.

Now, onto risk assessment.

You can and will take risks that may even jeopardize your career and impact your personal life. This is a tough place to be when most of us have been taught not to rock the boat.

Leaders need to learn how to meet resistance while disrupting the status quo. For, I promise you, there will be resistance to change. And when the resistance comes most leaders will revert to playing it safe and the old way.

I can tell you that as you sort through the office politics mess and decide you are ready to take the risk to plunge in and make the changes, you may get burned while attempting to put out the fires.

I want to suggest that there are ways to make a difference, strategies that can help with the turnaround.

You learned many of them when we talked about the 13 behavior patterns that come with us from our first organization, the family and into our present organization at work.

Now, you are ready for the advanced session of how to get your team to be more accountable, more productive and well….. just plain nicer with each other.

Please review Chapter 7 in Don’t Bring It To Work.

The title of the chapter is Talking Together. After reading we can reconnect. You just need a bit of a refresher on how to help your team surface the hidden conflict that has them so riled up.

Leadership is complex, challenging and creative. I know you have the core strength to make your job and your team spectacular.

Keep going and keep growing,

Sylvia.

Communication, Conflict Resolutions, Leadership, Leadership Strategies, Success

Be a positive force in the workplace

Sylvia Lafair
May 29, 2019

What does it take to be a positive force in the workplace? I’ve been getting so many calls about conflict at work and even in communities that got me wondering.

Are we becoming a more argumentative society or are we simply bringing to the surface what has been hidden way deep down and now is the time for more truth?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this.

Did you ever wonder why some people are extremely emotionally accident prone? They come to work with a dark cloud over their head dripping rain and constantly frowning while others are standing in the sunshine right next to them.

In my research about what makes some individuals so happy and positive and others so sullen and nasty I found that repetition of the positive has tons of merit. And yes, practice makes perfect.

I’ve made a checklist of 7 ways to make sure at least you can be a positive force in the workplace and not succumb to the negativity that is another pollutant in the world.

- Use positive language: Words have energy. Use those that inspire rather than ones that can cause unnecessary fireworks. Words like hope, appreciate and care get situations moving past the log jam of words like impossible, alone and pessimistic.
- Expect respect: Give what you want to get. The simple rule is to always say please, thank you and call people by their given names. These basic rules make a world of difference in talking with each other.
- Don’t take the bait: Stay with facts, not personalities. If someone wants to derail a conversation and starts to gossip ask them “ What do you want me to do with this information” rather than adding to the mix.
- Fly above the clouds: Hold yourself accountable and make sure you say what you mean and do what you say. Be clear and clean in your communication and use a sentence like “Here I what I commit to do.” And then DO IT.
- Be authentic: Admit your vulnerability if you are not sure about a situation or what is being discussed. One moment of “Help me understand” will trump hours of clean up work.
- Check your assumptions: Always ask questions to make sure you and others are on the same page. Simply say, “I would rather not assume, is this what you meant” and then ask for clarity. It will save a lot of grief.
- Create change: You know you can’t change another person. However, you can change the direction of a conversation or change your perspective. You know its working if you or someone else says “Wow, I never thought of it that way before.”

Have a morning ritual of appreciation.

Think of it this way…

Life is too short to spend your time in negative, destructive or wasteful ways of reacting. It is far better to be a positive force in the workplace instead of being a destructive force.

Even if things start out badly you can turn your behavior to the positive by remembering the guidelines above to shape your responses.

Business, Communication, Conflict Resolutions, Stress

Coping with stress and frustrations in the workplace

Sylvia Lafair
May 15, 2019

What do you do when you’ve had enough, and you just can’t look at one more project or help one more person solve an angry dispute at work? Here’s 4 tips to coping with stress and frustrations in the workplace.

Some of us go outside to puff on a cigarette (you betcha there are lots of people still smoking). Maybe you call a friend and vent to them about the difficult folks you work with. Another coping mechanism can be found in comping down a chocolate bar or some other sugar-laden candy. And of course, there is beer or wine or vodka or scotch.

If you can’t talk about your frustrations maybe you stuff your emotions and just keep going, no matter how rotten you feel.

You know, the mantra that goes on and on in your head, “Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.” In the end, you then end up taking your annoyance home. That’s when you get extra pissy with your partner or feel the need to blame the kids for being too loud, too flippant, to disrespectful.

Look, not all stress is bad. Good stress can make you excel, pumping you with extra adrenaline before the speech or before the race.

However, stress that has no end in sight, stress that keeps the anger burning, stress that makes you feel worthless, stress that gives you brain fog, this stress can only lead from bad to worse to some form of disaster.

In an article by Jeffrey Pfeffer in The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2019, he talks about the hidden costs of stressed out workers. One of the most important issues he addresses is the need for greater autonomy for workers.

The world is changing and as individuals develop, there is a yearning, a strong desire to make decisions for oneself. No longer do people want to punch a clock when they walk into work in the morning and punch out when they leave.

As Pfeffer states, “Decades of research show that worker who have more control over their jobs and are subject to less micromanagement, are more motivated and engaged in their work.” And that amazing outdoor apparel company, Patagonia, uses a flat organizational structure to ensure that each manager has too many people to oversee to micromanage them.

They call this “management by absence.”

I suggest that well- being at work comes about when everyone learns the core methods of healthy accountability and understands how they fit into the larger system.

In my book “Don’t Bring It To Work” I underline these key ways to keep stress from ruining your days and work and make sure they do not end up ruing your nights at home:

Tell the truth without spilling your guts
Say what you mean and do what you say
Create healthy boundaries on when to say NO
Ask for what you need before deciding “they won’t listen to you”

In every off-site I have facilitated around the world, there are certain basic similarities. There is a desire for more trust with colleagues, more authenticity, more creativity, and especially for more autonomy.

Finding new ways to communicate, search for truth, express healthy caring, finding new ways to see each other, hear each other, understand each other – these are what sets us free.

Then the heaviness of stress that leads to anxiety, depression, and physical illness can be alleviated. It’s costing us billions of dollars in absenteeism, lawsuits, ad lower productivity.

The companies that give more room for employee input and offer programs for better communication and conflict resolution will be the ones that lower the stress and have longer term, happier employees.

Communication, Conflict Resolutions

Making Relationships Work

Sylvia Lafair
April 10, 2019

Making relationships work rather than putting them into an early grave takes thoughtfulness and intention.

If you’ve ever found yourself entangled in a less than ideal relationship with someone in your personal or professional life this will help you make sense of it all rather than throwing it all away.

Let me share a recent story that perfectly illustrates this…

A client told me he was so mad at his boss he was thinking of quitting and leaving without any notice. “Yes,” he said, “The jerk doesn’t deserve even an extra day of my time.”

“And then what?” I asked.

He shrugged and said he didn’t care what happened next. He was fried and furious and just salivated at the thought of revenge.

It took me a bit of time to help him calm down and listen to my questions that were not about destroying, rather about salvaging.

“What would be a possible good ending to the anger and frustration?” only led to more whining and upset.

I finally sparked some real attention when I asked what his ultimate intention was.

Ah, intention.

That changed not only the subject in a positive direction, but it also led to a powerful discussion about intending to make relationships work rather than putting them into an early grave.

Here is some of the research we talked about as ‘Mr. Furious’ decided to look at his anger and his decision to leave his boss high and dry before making his final decision on what to do.

Science explains the power of intention using quantum physics and the idea of information entanglement.

Entanglement occurs when two particles (or people) are deeply linked (boss and employee) and one particle (employee) can instantaneously influence the other (boss). Subtle energies can travel faster than electromagnetic light.

Okay, enough about the science. Back to the two men.

I asked Mr. Furious to think about what he could do to help his boss. He would have none of it. That is until I asked him if he knew anything about his boss outside of work.

The only thing he had ever talked about with his boss, and it was a minimal conversation, was that the man he reported to has a disabled child who was causing a lot of stress and turmoil at home.

It was, he reported to me, a short conversation that was quickly shoved to the back of the agenda and never discussed again.

I asked if he could keep an open mind and take a few minutes to look through his boss’s eyes. It was an uphill battle. However, soon he seemed to calm down and I watched as the vitriol lessened and he was ready for a new look at what made him so angry and yearning for revenge.

He took a big picture approach and did a deep dive into the possibility of staying at his job and changing the way he viewed his boss (who, he said reminded him of his very, very annoying grandfather). The direction of his thoughts began to change. He made a major shift and became clear about how he wanted his relationship with his boss to be.

He admitted he expected the other man to change and suddenly saw the arc of a possibility that if he changed, perhaps his boss could change also.

I don’t have the final answer to this. All I know is that Mr. Furious became Mr. Curious. He became willing to change his intention from the negative to the positive and see his boss as a human being with all the pains and fears and creativity and caring that he saw at that moment when he talked about his disabled son.

Today, he reported they had a long and successful conversation about job responsibilities. He decided to stay. And his comment right before we clicked off Zoom was, “I see my situation at work with a whole new sense of possibility. My intention changed the conversation and it was far better than I ever expected.”

Next time you think about throwing away instead of making relationships work…keep this in mind, it takes intention to make the choice to step out of entanglement and seeing things in a new way.

And I said to myself, “Now if I can only do the same with my ex-husband.”

Communication, Conflict Resolutions, Leadership Strategies

How to Get Along with Difficult People at Work, at Home, Everywhere

Sylvia Lafair
September 4, 2018

Dealing with and knowing how to get along with difficult people is an international problem.

Every workplace in the world has the same complaint about individuals who are procrastinators, avoiders, drama kings and queens, and the like.

Last week in a seminar I was talking about the fact that Work is NOT a Rehab Facility!

Three people in the audience of 80 stopped my talk by applauding so loud that I decided to find out why they had so much enthusiasm around this subject.

One woman said “I’m sick and tired of making excuses for some of the jerks I have to work with. You’re right, they should go to a rehab facility and leave us the heck alone.” Another called out “There should be a test for the nastiness gene.”

I had hit a nerve.

I veered from my speech to let the group vent. By the time I was ready to complete the afternoon we had made some strategic headway. Glad, those three had opened the door for a great discussion about difficult people at work and how conflict never seems to go away.

There was a shift to thinking about ‘difficult situations’ instead of only seeing ‘difficult people.’ Rather than lurching from upset to upset and applying Band-Aid solutions that do not change or improve anything, there was a willingness to hear me talk about what I absolutely know is core to conflict at work, in all relationships.

How a system operates:

Everything is connected, and no one wins unless we all do: Each of us is part of the system and you must learn to look at your part, not just at ‘the other guy.’
Patterns of behavior show the way out of conflict to collaboration: If a problem is solved, that’s great, you keep going. However, if the same problem keeps repeating and repeating, well then, you have a pattern and that’s where you need to look at how you respond to the situation at hand. Do you avoid, blame, attack, defend? These patterns need to be addressed, not just ‘the other guy.”
Transformation comes from personal responsibility to change: In any system when even one person is willing to ‘own their part’ it causes the whole system to shift. Individual accountability is infectious and can become group accountability. Often the ‘culprit’ is the willingness to blame others and that’s when teams (and families) stay stuck. Remember, it’s not just ‘the other guy.

How to get along with difficult people – 4 questions to ask yourself

Here are some thoughts to ponder as you consider the move from conflict to collaboration:

Why is conflict and upset with difficult people universal in workplaces?
Why does conflict arise so quickly in work relationships, often before colleagues really have a chance to get to know each other?
Why is there such a propensity for conflict to fester and worsen rather than just be a short annoyance that goes away on its own?
Why do most HR interventions fail to reduce the level of conflict at work?

In the webinar “Transform Conflict to Collaboration,” you will learn about the underlying behavior patterns that get in the way of team cooperation. You will learn the way OUT of the continuous whirlpool of defending, blame and attack by Observing, Understanding and Transforming the way you see, hear and feel the unpleasant situation.

And if all else fails, well, rehab is still an option.

Here’s to knowing how to get along with difficult people…

Best,

Sylvia

Business, Communication, Conflict Resolutions, Leadership Strategies

Is your work environment toxic with lots of “staff infections”?

Kristen Poborsky
July 25, 2018

Here is what many people have emailed me regarding toxic work environments, and they all sound like they work in the same company.

The only difference is the geographic location, the same toxic work environment seems to pop up everywhere.

These companies are scattered around the U.S., actually around the world from Pittsburgh to Paris, Long Island to London, and Milwaukee to Madrid.

Yet they are all infected with the same “staff infection”.

I will respond to all. Here is one of the ways a frustrated senior leader wrote to me:

Hi Dr Sylvia,

I am ready to quit!

Now, this is a big deal because I’m making good money, have great benefits, and I am even in line to be sent to your Total Leadership Connections program in the fall.

However, there is so much backbiting at my company I just don’t know if I can stay.

The toxicity is making it hard to breathe. My nemesis, a woman named Deb is the worst. She sits at her desk and moans so loudly it’s like a bomb going off right in front of us. She complains about everyone and everything.

Nothing satisfies her.

I really think she wants to be fired so she can claim a hostile work environment lawsuit. While we each report to the same Senior VP, he just brushes it off as “Well, that’s Downer Deb at it again.” He says this to himself, although once, he did admit me she is a pain in the butt.

This has been going on for so long I think he has normalized the abnormal.

Do you have any helpful suggestions before I call it quits and look for another job?

Signed,

Disgusted with Downer Deb

Here is my answer to all who have a Deb or Don or David or a Belinda, or whoever at work that can never be happy no matter what.

In an office, just like in a family, everyone learns to deals with conflict and disappointments in their own way. At some point someone needs to find the courage to stand up to the craziness with decency and dignity.

Guess all of you who have written to me about the “staff infections” are the ones who can make the changes, or at least, give it your best shot before you decide to leave for greener pastures.

Leadership development is important for everyone and it’s up to YOU to help change the dynamics at work.

It’s not that different than speaking up about a difficult family situation. You can learn more about how why most people will bury their heads in the sand rather than speak out at work in my book Don’t Bring It To Work.

For starters, please take a few minutes and look at who you went to as a kid when there were troubles and unfairness at home (yes, we all experienced some form of negativity). Then look at how the issues were resolved.

If you were in a family that avoided or denied the tough stuff you will be more prone to walk away rather than find the courage to face the Debbie Downers.

Look, this situation is impacting YOU or you would not be writing to me.

Therefore, you need to talk to your boss and share your concerns. This will, I promise you, raise your self- esteem and give you the opportunity to be part of the change you want to see.

For all of you living with toxic co-workers.

The courage to dare is the beginning. Please contact me directly so I can help you before you decide to leave a company that is giving you so many perks and possibilities.

Conflict Resolutions, Leadership Strategies

Leadership Strategies: Let the jerks at work be your teachers

Sylvia Lafair
June 6, 2018

My advice to those of you dealing with less than ideal personalities at work: Let the jerks at work be your teachers.

Here’s an email that I think belongs to all of us as we search for meaning at work, I think we all want more than just a paycheck. We want a place to grow and reach full potential.

This is what John, a client of mine wrote to me about the frustration of dealing with work jerks.

Dear Dr. Sylvia,

Why are there so many jerks at work, actually so many jerks in the world in general and how do we make the shift to let the jerks at work be your teachers?

I struggle with how to keep calm and cool when these folks start to annoy me. Sometimes I wonder if maybe, I’m the real jerk and I just don’t want to admit it.

I tell myself that I’m OK, that I’m good and smart and kind, and fun. It’s them, damn it. They are the ones who ruffle my feathers because they are irresponsible, dumb, and ornery.

I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and look the other way when these jerks annoy me. I don’t confront them. I just make nasty comments to myself and gt on with my work.

Question, how do you handle the jerks in your life?

I was impressed when you talked about the guy who had sociopath written on his forehead and you still ignored what you felt and knew and decided to have him do some marketing work for you. Yet, you kept telling yourself he was a true jerk to work with.

That was, until you looked at a part of your ego that was still in need of being appreciated, even though the relationship was built on lack of character, built of pure baloney.

I’d appreciate some insights so I can, as you say so often, get at observation of why these irresponsible, dumb, and ornery people bother me.

Best,

John

Dear John,

Your question shows that you are a searcher, one of the aspects of developing powerful character traits. Once you do battle with your ego (something we all have to do) it’s a sign you’re moving to a higher level of maturity.

Just know, that building a strong character is a lifelong process.

Here’s what I see and hear from what you wrote. You want healthy relationships at work, everywhere. And work is a great place to do deep research and look at who rubs you the wrong way and figure out why.

You see, personal family relationships are more complex and multi-layered, therefore more difficult to observe. So, let’s stay with the jerks at work for now.

If someone bugs you who is irresponsible, dumb, or ornery it could possibly because you are the opposite. Question, do you think you are always the responsible one, the smart, one the agreeable one?

Often being the upstanding individual may become exhausting. And, just maybe you would love to slack off, not have all the answers, and maybe be nasty at times.

It’s not fun to look at what is called “the dark side.” However, shedding light here is really enlightening.

In my upcoming webinar, I will discuss ways to develop strong character and look at those who bother you as a gift for future development.

Life is full of ways to grow and develop. Let the jerks at work be your teachers.

Business, Business and Life Patterns, Conflict Resolutions, Leadership, Leadership Styles, Patterns

Are you an avoider or initiator at work?

Sylvia Lafair
February 7, 2018

Are you (or someone you know) an avoider? You know…when there is conflict, contention, carrying-on in a nasty way that doesn’t stop, do you ever think “I gotta get outta here?”

We all have that feeling at some time. However, when it happens over and over it’s a powerful behavior pattern…the avoider.

Avoiders often grew up in families where dissension and disagreement never got resolved. In worst case situations, it became violent with physical or verbal abuse, hitting with hands or with words. In other cases (actually, equally as bad) it was the silent treatment with icicles and frozen one word meaningless responses.

Those I coach who wear the avoider jacket tell of hiding from the unpleasantness of the adults by going to a vacant room and closing the door and putting their hands over their ears or getting out of the house just to get some quiet.

Think for a minute about how your family handled conflict.

Was it a continuous blame game?

Was it pushed under the rug?

Wat it resolved by negotiation?

Was it ended by agreeing to disagree?

Was it left hanging in the air?

Was it handled with respect or dissing?

There is a gender issue here also. More often than not, guys want to get the hell away from an angry woman. And women want resolution, or at least want to be heard and acknowledged.

At work avoiders are absolutely aware of contentious issues, they just don’t want to face them. So you will hear “I’ll get back to you,” or “Let me think about it,” or “Let’s let it work itself out.”

Want to know how to talk with an avoider? Watch the video here:

The good news about transformed avoiders is they are amazing at flipping that run-away energy into becoming initiators. They start the dialogue to have difficult conversations and they stay with it to resolution with out judgement, blame or attack. They become the go-to individuals when stuff gets out of hand. They make amazing leaders who are admired and revered.

Business and Life Patterns, Conflict Resolutions, Leadership, Leadership Styles, Patterns

How to harness the drama queen and turn it into story telling

Kristen Poborsky
January 9, 2018

One of the main behavior patterns that is showing up strong these days is the Drama King/Queen.

So many people have emailed me, just this week, asking how to harness the excess noise that comes with drama people at work and home. And the most frustrated are those who see how social media can become a disturbing force and make the drama even more intense.

First, I’d like to disclose that this pattern is one I know all too well. I know how to have Academy Award hissy fits when I don’t get my way. Actually, I USED to have noisy, disruptive blow-outs on a regular basis until….

That’s what I want to discuss. For each of the patterns, 13 in all, that I believe are the key ones that show up in every workplace as well as in every family. There’s really good news that with a bit of strength training they can be transformed to their healthy and positive opposite. You want to find your primary pattern?

Take the quiz. Better yet, take the quiz >>HERE<< and then contact us.

The Drama King/Queen was often pushed to the side as a kid. There may have been other siblings that got more attention (my brother in my case) and the main way to be heard and seen was to create a fuss, a loud fuss.

It usually works (it did for me) and I became an expert at getting my way, just to “shut me up.” This lasted into adulthood until I started to get feedback that I was “acting lik a child.” (more like acting like an ass).

Here’s what I found and those of you out there with the drama-thing, pay attention. I learned to transform my bragging, sobbing, demanding, and annoying behavior into being a really good storyteller.

That way, I can still get attention, in a positive way. I’ve learned to tell stories that have meaning and yet, still let me be front and center and keep the adrenaline rushing through my system.

I promise, when you harness the drama and turn it into story telling everyone you know at work and at home will hear you better and love you more.

how to successfully handle stress and conflict at work

Communication, Conflict Resolutions, Leadership, Leadership Styles

3 Ways To Be On Top Of The Frustration Caused by Stress and Conflict At Work

Sylvia Lafair
October 10, 2017

Do you have a stupid boss?

Well, maybe not stupid, just indecisive, or slow in answering?

Or perhaps you have an incompetent colleague.

You know, one who always messes up the report and you must fix everything?

And then there is the passive-aggressive direct report.

That’s the one who says “yes” and does “no” and then stares at you with that awful deer in the headlights look of innocence.

How do you respond to them? You know deep inside you have a choice. However, in the moment of exasperation, it often feels hopeless.

And then that voice in your head, the one that sounds like your conscience says gently, “You know the only one you can change is you.”

When I hear that pleasant, kindly voice, all I want to say is “Zip it!”

Yet, that’s where the truth resides. Therefore, when it comes to conflict resolution in the workplace ya gotta start by looking inside yourself.

I know, I know, it’s so much easier to point the finger of blame out there. It’s less painful and even, I must admit, more enjoyable.

I looked and looked and didn’t find any credible research from neuro-science that blaming others makes you feel good. Maybe it’s just like eating sugary foods, good for the moment but not really healthy long term.

I do know that in my early career, I have really felt better using conflict management strategies that placed the reason for the mess on someone else’s shoulders.

Think about it.

If you can manage conflict in the workplace by saying “It’s not me, it’s him or her or them, don’t you feel the burden lifted from your back?

Also, we don’t really have to blame another person. We can blame the economy, the government, or even the weather.

Or we can call in the stress card. “It’s my hormones or my stomach, or my gall bladder that got me so mad or sad. And that’s why I can’t figure out how to resolve conflict. I’m at the mercy of my bodily functions.”

Here’s the short cut to go from mad or sad to glad

Good news…it only takes a few minutes of concentrated time:

Count and breathe: Take a few deep breaths for practice. Then breath in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth. That’s a full breath. Do these seven times. That helps you get more oxygen to your brain and most of the time has a calming effect.
Ask the BIG question: ask yourself, what do you want as an outcome from all this upset. Do you want an apology or do you need to apologize? Do you want acknowledgement or do you need acknowledgement? Do you want an answer or do you need to give an answer?
Think relationships: when it comes to managing conflict in the workplace think in terms of on-going of how you and others interact. Yes, the basic aspect of conflict lies in the realm of relationships. And please remember, just a few kind words can go a long way, like healing salve on a wound.

I’d love to hear how you handle stress and conflict at work. What can you add to this?

The first people to respond will get a fun surprise…Just send your answers to sylvia@ceoptions.com.

1 2 3 Next

Is being a leader a good idea?

Be a positive force in the workplace

Coping with stress and frustrations in the workplace

Making Relationships Work

How to Get Along with Difficult People at Work, at Home, Everywhere

How to get along with difficult people – 4 questions to ask yourself

Is your work environment toxic with lots of “staff infections”?

Leadership Strategies: Let the jerks at work be your teachers

Are you an avoider or initiator at work?

Want to know how to talk with an avoider? Watch the video here:

How to harness the drama queen and turn it into story telling

3 Ways To Be On Top Of The Frustration Caused by Stress and Conflict At Work

Here’s the short cut to go from mad or sad to glad

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