Your Conflict Advantage: A workplace success story

Back in October, I was a speaker at a Disrupt HR event in Victoria, to a room full of HR (Human Resource) professionals. The event was capably orchestrated by a well-known local HR firm, Engaged HR, in partnership with Calliope Learning. “Disrupt HR is an information exchange designed to energize, inform and empower people in […]

How to build and scale conflict competency in your small business

There are approximately 400,000 small businesses in British Columbia. Every single one of them will face conflict, of one type or another. Yes, conflict will come. Conflict will most definitely come. If you are a small business owner, why not build your business’ conflict competency now, in preparation for the conflicts that will definitely come […]

Men: Three conflict management strategies to break down stereotypes and improve workplace relationships

Men don’t listen, aren’t in touch with their feelings, want to win (at any cost), abuse their power, are arrogant, are afraid to show weakness, think of nothing but sex, don’t see any gender problem, and so forth. I know and/or consciously intuit that I’ve been labeled with each of those stereotypes, at one time […]

Difficult conversations go better when you find and negotiate with your feelings

I was a cigarette smoker in my younger days. For close to 15 years, I wrestled with the addiction. When I finally committed to being a non-smoker, I gained a different perspective on smoking. Many years after my last cigarette, I spent several years as a contract business analyst, working on the development and implementation […]

Aligning values and behaviours makes for a healthier workplace culture

I’ve yet to encounter an organization whose stated value is ‘workplace harassment’.  Yet, the  sexual assault, abuse and harassment stories shared under the #MeToo hashtag on social media this week would almost suggest that’s the case. In a healthy workplace, values and behaviours closely align. Align behaviours and values: Walk the talk Values are words. Behaviours […]