Let’s Talk About It: Turning Confrontation into Collaboration at Work


Book Description

From the bestselling author of Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work—proven communication techniques for turning workplace confrontations into respectful, successful collaborations In the workplace, the most common approach to what we believe will be a difficult or emotionally charged conversation can be summed up in one word: avoidance. Most of us will do anything to skirt conflict, but not only does that fail to resolve important issues, it typically harms our relationships and undermines productivity. In Let’s Talk About It, bestselling author and top consultant Dr. Paul Marciano presents a powerful collection of proven communication and relationship strategies that will transform your difficult conversations into healthy conversations. You’ll learn how to: Identify and shed the cognitive biases that hinder you from viewing situations from other people’s perspectives Recognize and address your own emotional triggers Use verbal and nonverbal communication to reduce conflict and foster collaboration Deal effectively with different personality types Navigate the course of a critical conversation from beginning to end Build, restore, and maintain healthy relationships Filled with ready-to-use sample scripts, real-world scenarios of common workplace disagreements, and proven psychological methods for diffusing conflicts effectively, Let’s Talk About It delivers everything you need to deal with the most challenging people and situations—confidently, competently, and collaboratively.




Getting to Resolution


Book Description

Our current models for ending conflict don’t really work. They waste incredible amounts of time, money, and energy and take an enormous emotional toll on participants. The parties remain embittered, relationships are destroyed, and often the conflict just reappears later in a different form. In this second edition of his classic book, Stewart Levine offers a revolutionary alternative approach that goes beyond compromise and capitulation to provide a satisfactory resolution for everyone involved. Marriages run amuck, neighbors at odds with one another, business deals gone sour, and the pain and anger caused by corporate downsizing are just a few of the conflicts he addresses. The new edition has been thoroughly revised with new examples, new tools, new material about building trust and virtual collaboration, as well as a more global outlook. Levine rejects the adversarial legal model: "If both sides are unhappy, you probably have a good settlement." Resolution, he shows, provides relief and completeness for both sides. No one goes away unhappy. Effective resolution stops anger and resentment cold, drastically cutting the emotional cost and allowing both sides to return to productive, satisfying, functional relationships. Getting to Resolution outlines the ten principles underlying this new approach—what Levine calls “resolutionary thinking. Levine provides a detailed seven-step process for using this new mindset to resolve conflicts in a way that fosters dignity and integrity, optimizes resources, and allows all concerns to be voiced, honored, and woven into the resolution. Levine's model has a thirty-five-year track record. It has been developed, implemented, tested, and proven in business, personal, and governmental contexts. Getting to Resolution will enable readers to shift from thinking about problems, fighting, and breakdowns to thinking about collaboration, engagement, learning, creativity, and the opportunity for creating enduring value.




The Big Book of Conflict Resolution Games: Quick, Effective Activities to Improve Communication, Trust and Collaboration


Book Description

Make workplace conflict resolution a game that EVERYBODY wins! Recent studies show that typical managers devote more than a quarter of their time to resolving coworker disputes. The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games offers a wealth of activities and exercises for groups of any size that let you manage your business (instead of managing personalities). Part of the acclaimed, bestselling Big Books series, this guide offers step-by-step directions and customizable tools that empower you to heal rifts arising from ineffective communication, cultural/personality clashes, and other specific problem areas—before they affect your organization's bottom line. Let The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games help you to: Build trust Foster morale Improve processes Overcome diversity issues And more Dozens of physical and verbal activities help create a safe environment for teams to explore several common forms of conflict—and their resolution. Inexpensive, easy-to-implement, and proved effective at Fortune 500 corporations and mom-and-pop businesses alike, the exercises in The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games delivers everything you need to make your workplace more efficient, effective, and engaged.




Carrots and Sticks Don't Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT


Book Description

Advance praise for Carrots and Sticks Don't Work: "Paul Marciano provides a wealth of prescriptive advice that absolutely makes sense. You can actually open the book to any chapter and gain ideas for immediate implementation." -- Beverly Kaye, coauthor of Love 'Em or Lose 'Em "This book should be in the hands of anyone who has to get work done through other people! It's an invaluable tool for any manager at any level." -- John L. Rice, Vice President Human Resources, Tyco International "Carrots and Sticks Don't Work provides a commonsense approach to employee engagement. Dr. Marciano provides great real-world insights, data, and practicalexamples to truly bring the RESPECT model to life." -- Renee Selman, President, Catalina Health Resources "The RESPECT model is one of the most dynamic, engaging, and thought-provoking employee engagement tools that I have seen. Dr. Marciano's work will help you providemeaningful long-term benefits for your employees, for your organization, and for yourself." -- Andy Brantley, President and CEO, College and University Professional Association for Human Resources "This book provides clear advice and instruction on how to engage your team members and inspire them to a higher level of productivity, work satisfaction, and enjoyment. I am already utilizing its techniques and finding immediate positive changes." -- Robert Roth, Director, Accounting and Reporting, Colgate Palmolive Company The title says it all: Carrots and Sticks Don't Work. Reward and recognition programs can be costly and inefficient, and they primarily reward employees who are already highly engaged and productive performers. Worse still, these programs actually decrease employee motivation because they can make individual recognition, rather than the overall success of the team, the goal. Yet many businesses turn to these measures first—unawareof a better alternative. So, when it comes to changingyour organizational culture, carrots and sticks don’t work! What does work is Dr. Paul Marciano's acclaimed RESPECT model, which gives you specific, low-cost, turnkey solutions and action plans-- based on seven key drivers of employee engagement that are proven and supported by decades of research and practice—that will empower youto assess, troubleshoot, and resolve engagement issuesin the workplace: Recognition and acknowledgment of employees' contributions Empowerment via tools, resources, and information that set employees up to succeed Supportive feedback through ongoing performance coaching and mentoring Partnering to encourage and foster collaborative working relationships Expectations that set clear, challenging, and attainable performance goals Consideration that lets employees know that they are cared about Trust in your employees' abilities, skills, and judgment Carrots and Sticks Don't Work delivers the sameproven resources and techniques that have enabledtrainers, executives, managers, and owners at operations ranging from branches of the United States government to Fortune 500 corporations to twenty-person outfits to realize demonstrable gains in employee productivity andjob satisfaction. When you give a little RESPECT you get a more effective organization, with reduced turnover and absenteeism and employees at all levels who areengaged, focused, and committed to succeed as a team. In short, you get maximum ROI from your organization's most powerful resource: its people!




The Art of Gathering


Book Description

"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.




This Chair Rocks


Book Description

Author, activist, and TED speaker Ashton Applewhite has written a rousing manifesto calling for an end to discrimination and prejudice on the basis of age. In our youth obsessed culture, we’re bombarded by media images and messages about the despairs and declines of our later years. Beauty and pharmaceutical companies work overtime to convince people to purchase products that will retain their youthful appearance and vitality. Wrinkles are embarrassing. Gray hair should be colored and bald heads covered with implants. Older minds and bodies are too frail to keep up with the pace of the modern working world and olders should just step aside for the new generation. Ashton Applewhite once held these beliefs too until she realized where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces her journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. Explaining the roots of ageism in history and how it divides and debases, Applewhite examines how ageist stereotypes cripple the way our brains and bodies function, looks at ageism in the workplace and the bedroom, exposes the cost of the all-American myth of independence, critiques the portrayal of elders as burdens to society, describes what an all-age-friendly world would look like, and offers a rousing call to action. It’s time to create a world of age equality by making discrimination on the basis of age as unacceptable as any other kind of bias. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, this book will shake you by the shoulders, cheer you up, make you mad, and change the way you see the rest of your life. Age pride! “Wow. This book totally rocks. It arrived on a day when I was in deep confusion and sadness about my age. Everything about it, from my invisibility to my neck. Within four or five wise, passionate pages, I had found insight, illumination, and inspiration. I never use the word empower, but this book has empowered me.” —Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author




HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership Lessons from Sports (featuring interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Andre Agassi)


Book Description

The world's elite athletes and coaches achieve high performance through inspiring leadership, mental toughness, and direction-setting strategic choices. Harvard Business Review has talked to many of these high performers throughout the years to learn how their success translates to the world of business. If you read nothing else on management lessons from the world of sports, read these 10 articles by athletes, coaches, and leadership experts. We've combed through our archive and selected the articles that will best help you drive performance. This book will inspire you to: Improve on your weaknesses, not just your strengths Take care of your body for sustained mental performance Increase your confidence and manage your energy before an important event Turn a struggling team around Understand the limits of performance metrics Focus on long-term goals to overcome setbacks Understand where the analogy of sports and business doesn't work This collection of articles includes "Ferguson's Formula," by Anita Elberse with Sir Alex Ferguson; "Life's Work: An Interview with Greg Louganis"; "The Making of a Corporate Athlete," by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz; "The Tough Work of Turning a Team Around," by Bill Parcells; "How an Olympic Gold Medalist Learned to Perform Under Pressure: An Interview with Alex Gregory"; "Mental Preparation Secrets of Top Athletes, Entertainers, and Surgeons," an interview with Daniel McGinn by Sarah Green Carmichael; "SoulCycle's CEO on Sustaining Growth in a Faddish Industry," by Melanie Whelan; "Life's Work: An Interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar"; "Major League Innovation," by Scott D. Anthony; "Looking Past Performance in Your Star Talent," by Mark de Rond, Adrian Moorhouse, and Matt Rogan; "Life's Work: An Interview with Mikhail Baryshnikov"; "How the Best of the Best Get Better and Better," by Graham Jones; "Life's Work: An Interview with Joe Girardi"; "Why There Is an I in Team," by Mark de Rond; "Life's Work: An Interview with Andre Agassi"; and "Why Sports Are a Terrible Metaphor for Business," by Bill Taylor.




Designing Together


Book Description

The increasing complexity of design projects, the greater reliance on remote team members, and the evolution of design techniques demands professionals who can cooperate effectively. Designing Together is a book for cultivating collaborative behaviors and dealing with the inevitable difficult conversations. Designing Together features: 28 collaboration techniques 46 conflict management techniques 31 difficult situation diagnoses 17 designer personality traits This book is for designers: On teams large or small Co-located, remote, or both Working in multidisciplinary groups Within an organization or consulting from outside




Dare to Lead


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Don’t miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.” Whether you’ve read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.




Conflict and Communication


Book Description

Conflict and Communication introduces students to important theories, key concepts, and essential research in the study of conflict, along with practical skills for managing conflict in their daily lives. Author Fred E. Jandt illustrates how effective communication can be used to manage conflict in relationships and within organizational and group contexts. Along with foundational coverage of conflict styles, mediation, and negotiation skills, the text also features new and emerging models of conflict management, including chapters examining the challenges of conflict between cultures, a chapter on family and organizations, information on both face-to-face and online bullying, a detailed step-by-step guide for mediation, and more emphasis on online dispute resolution.