In this article, I will take you behind the scenes of my global adventures conducting executive programs and delivering keynote presentations. Join me as I share my six favorite stories from my decades on the road....
When people speak of CONFLICT, they inevitably bring up the topic of WAR, whether they are most concerned about the civil wars that erupt WITHIN a nation or society or the international wars that erupt BETWEEN nations that are located on either the same or on different continents. It’s one thing to address conflict between two people (i.e., interpersonal conflict) or to address conflict between a person and their organization’s surrounding systems (i.e., systems conflicts). But it’s quite another thing to consider the devastating horrors of people (and their societies) using armaments and other weapons of mass destruction to eradicate...
I’d like to share with you the first new TKI product to appear in a very long time. First, I’ll provide a summary of why Ken Thomas, Gail Thomas, and I developed the TKI Team Report after so many decades of providing the TKI assessment only for individuals, devoid of any specific team or group context. Second, I’ll suggest how this new online report can help all kinds of groups and teams improve their conflict-handling behavior....
Regarding ANY conflict with ANY other person, group, or team, choose the particular conflict-handling mode (competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating) that best matches the eight key attributes of the situation. Therefore, do NOT use any conflict mode simply out of habit or based only on your personal preferences....
How does stress affect the way in which people attempt to resolve their conflicts and problems at work (as well as in their other social settings)? This question is vital to consider, especially now, since the entire planet seems to be experiencing more stress than ever before — due to escalating climate change, the COVID pandemic, mean-spirited politics, the unprovoked invasion of a neighboring country, and spiraling inflation with the threat of a major recession looming just over the horizon....
Here is Vered Kogan's introduction to her podcast with me: Many organizations routinely launch campaigns intended to spark a change of culture among their workforces—yet often, any practical changes are short-lived, failing to bring about true transformation in employee behavior or the ways in which complex problems are approached....
Over the course of many years, I gradually came to realize that the particular words and phrases that a person uses to talk about (or write about) their core beliefs on any topic—specifically, whether they acknowledge the INHERENT UNCERTAINTY in the universe—has much do with whether other people (1) immediately ignore (and perhaps even demean) what was just communicated to them or (2) are wide open to fully incorporating those recent statements into their own knowledge base and belief system....
Groupthink is a diversion from reality. It allows a group to think they are on the right path (effectively resolving a complex problem or making a difficult decision) simply because all the group members AGREE on the same position. This group-wide agreement becomes a substitute for reality: “If we all agree, we must be right.” If any member argues against the group’s popular approach to the task at hand, the rest of the group applies strong social pressure to conform....
An organization can hire a diverse workforce and can prepare formal, written policies that stipulate how differences must be respected at all times. And yet, it’s the informal cultural norms that dictate (and enforce) whether those employee differences will actually be respected and fully utilized on a daily basis....
The immediate benefit of taking the TKI and reviewing your results (which includes a personalized report with the online version of the assessment) is AWARENESS: You learn which conflict modes you might be using too much (usually out of habit) and which ones you might be using too little (since you have not been exposed to the many positive uses of your underutilized modes)....
