Double Negative: Meeting Ignorance with Impatience

I’m not the first to say that there is a lot of tension in conversations these days. Whether on social media, at the Thanksgiving dinner table, in office discussions, in political discourse and beyond. I’ve been listening to this dis-course: Listening to the dis-comfort, the dis-ease and to the general dis-content as well-intentioned people enter…

Yesterday I was your peer, today I’m your supervisor…now what?

Changing dynamics at work add to already challenging situations. It’s not uncommon that individuals get promoted, and overnight go from being their co-workers’ peer to supervising them. When roles and goals change, the management and leadership style must follow; but tensions and triggers show up that accompany the change and often lead to confusion and…

Develop Healthy Boundaries: The Problem with Over-Sharing in Organizations

Many well-intentioned professionals have been striving to create more collegial relationships at work, with a focus on positive interactions they hope will boost morale, loyalty and also the bottom line. Unfortunately, opening up is often connoted with over-sharing while friendliness is sometimes mistaken for divulging personal information inappropriately. Where do we draw the line to meaningfully…

Prepare Your Emotional Strategy for Negotiating

Negotiating is an interpersonal process. Making deals involves individual interests that conflict, oftentimes giving rise to anger and anxiety. Most people prepare a legal and business strategy going into a negotiation that focuses on talking points, offers and counteroffers. Rarely do people plan out their emotional strategy for what is essentially an emotionally charged conversation.…

Talk-Sick Work Environments Harm Business Health: How to Detox Your Workplace

Gossiping. Lashing out. Undermining. Triangulating. Shooting down. Judging. Criticizing. Chastising. Trivializing. Harassing. Misleading. Deceiving. Lying. Shaming. Blaming. Complaining. Stonewalling. Sadly, the number of ways we create a talk-sick (read: toxic) environment at work is countless. It’s common knowledge these days that putting toxins into our bodies (cigarettes, drugs, refined sugar, alcohol, saturated fats, pesticides, mold,…