Joyce Weiss

I work with organizations and individuals who want to kick conflict and chaos to the curb - Queen of Conflict Resolution and Communication Coach

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Why Conflict in The Workplace Research Matters: Part One

Do you compare your conflict in the workplace with colleagues or family members?
Would you like to find out what keeps your peers up at night?
Do you want to be a fly on the wall when I interview clients about their stress?

If so, the next few articles are for you.  They contain information I gathered from recent workshops on Resolving Conflict in the Workplace.  Let me know your specific stress so I can write about topics that fit your needs.

Conflict in the Workplace for Individual Employees

I asked the following questions to individual employees:

  • What do you need to improve your quality of life and working conditions?
  • What are frustrations that you experience?
  • How would you rate your level of being heard at meetings?
  • How does the company address conflict in the workplace?

These are some of their answers:

  • Spend more time with my family.
  • We are doing way too much and the quality is suffering.
  • I’m not heard at meetings.
  • I tried to share ideas and was shut down so I just sit there.

Solutions to Reduce Conflict in the Workplace for Individual Employees

1. Spend more time with family.
Give suggestions to management about what other companies are doing to help employees balance work and home.
Discuss the option of working from home 1-2 days a week.
Find on-line stress management programs.
Bring in a local speaker during lunch and learn programs.

2.  We are doing way too much and the quality suffers.
Give management suggestions on better ways to save time.
Check out the MI LEAN Consortium for resources on productivity.

3.  I’m not heard at meetings.
Let’s start with the obvious-make sure and speak loud enough to be heard.
If possible look at the meeting agenda and think about solutions to company challenges.

4.  I tried to share ideas but was shut down so I just sit there.
The following strategy may work if you have a good working relationship with your boss.
“I don’t want to be insubordinate.  I do want to discuss a concern of mine.
I was embarrassed when my ideas were strongly rejected at the meeting because it seems like some management doesn’t want our feedback.”

Let’s Get Real About Conflict in the Workplace

The comments above are typical of many of my clients.

All levels of an organization share their frustration and they want to resolve this conflict in the workplace.  The challenge arises when there is no trust or employees attempt to convey ideas to their leaders and nothing changes.

Stay tuned.  The next few articles will contain information I gathered about managers and senior level executives.  I promise to cover solutions to many of these frustrations.

Watch my video on Working with a Bad Boss

I want to hear from you

Send me an Email with your questions or comments on your frustrations and conflict in the workplace. You will receive a response from me because I enjoy connecting with my loyal readers!  🙂

Please share this and any article that speaks to you or your company.
Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts.  Help us help them reduce conflict and improve leadership skills and quality of life.

LEARN MORE how Joyce can help your company eliminate destructive conflict in the workplace here.

 

This is Joyce Weiss, Corporate Communication Strategist and Career Coach

Until next time, Remember…”You Get What You Tolerate!”

 

 

 

 

 

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Powerful Leadership Skills to Build Trust at Work

Effective CommunicationDo you want to improve your leadership skills and communication?

Is your team disengaged?

Do employees push back?

Are you rescuing employees instead of having them take care of their own conflict at work?

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them –
Ernest Hemingway

This article covers frustrations that my clients experience at work. I interview clients before each coaching program or workshop and specific patterns are apparent.

What are Some Leadership Frustrations?


Top level leaders are exhausted because they are taking over the responsibility from their directors or managers who are not having tough conversations with their team.

The same communication issues occur and nothing seems to get resolved.

Why Does This Happen?

As you know many managers/directors are not trained sufficiently on how to deal with tough conversations. The untrained managers know their job responsibilities. Employee push-back, gossip or any conflict are all issues that they want their boss to resolve.

How Can Top Managers Improve their Leadership Skills?

Top level leaders must have that tough conversation even if their senior staff pushes back and says, “I’m too busy to have productive conversations with employees.” Everyone is busy. It’s the responsibility of upper management to empower the entire team so they feel safe and to solve their own “drama” with bullies, narcissists, or low productive employees. At times leaders need to help managers or team members if a resolution is not found.

Specifically, What Can You DO to Change?

Stop rescuing your team by taking over their job responsibilities especially if your communication skills are excellent. This is your time to train managers and directors to do this on their own. You may think that I’m sounding like MRS. Tough Gal. I’m not. I hear complaints daily about employee morale and some leaders are in a rut and continue this same pattern.

Whose Responsibility is it Anyway?

Everyone’s – not just top leaders, the entire team. It will take you longer to resolve this conflict in the workplace if there’s no trust or lack of training programs. But it’s solvable. Recognize that there is a conflict with communication in your organization and do something immediately.

What Resources Do You Have for Us to Improve Our Leadership Skills?

I want to hear from you

Send me an E-mail describing the frustrations and stress that you experience at work with colleagues or leaders?

Please share this and any article that speaks to you or your company.

Loyal readers like you help us find more people who could benefit from these posts to reduce conflict and improve leadership skills.

This is Joyce Weiss, Executive and Career Coach

Please visit our FAQ page to discover how our services can help your improve your organization’s communication?

Until next time, Remember…“You Get What You Tolerate!”

PS. Read my article on How to Set Boundaries at Work

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Effective Communication and Leadership Strategies

Effective CommunicationDo you know if you use effective communication strategies?
Do you know how your team honestly thinks how you conduct meetings?
What do you think the #1 reason is why teamwork fails?

I ask my leaders and their direct reports to answer this questions during training and executive coaching sessions. The number one reason is poor communication strategies at work. I’m sure that this is no surprise to you.

The following reasons were also mentioned:

  • Disengaged team members
  • Unclear goals/strategies
  • One-upmanship
  • Lack of trust
  • Everyone likes to talk, but few like to listen
  • Negativity

This article will cover three effective communication strategies to discuss with your team especially if you are a leader who wants to improve your team communication.

Effective Communication Strategy #1: Strong Leadership

Ask your team how they would you rate your own communication skills. I’m sure your team is doing well if you receive honest feedback and the score is high.
I find that leaders who don’t know how to deal with disengaged team members miss a huge opportunity because the engaged members start resenting their leader for NOT taking care of disengagement.

Effective Communication Strategy #2: Leaders Taking Control of Meetings

You read this right. Sometimes we think that our meetings are better than they really are and thanks to the feedback we can find out if this is true! The following are questions to discuss with your team:

  • Do you encourage participation from everyone?
  • Do you control side bars when people discuss their own agendas to the person next to them?
  • Are your goals and expectations clear?
  • Do you follow up to make sure tasks are getting completed?Your meetings are probably not the most productive if your team did not answer yes to these questions. Asking for and accepting constructive feedback from direct reports is the sign of a strong leader.

Effective Communication Strategy #3: Knowing How to Stop Negativity

Ask yourself these important questions:

  • Is morale low because your team talks about the same negative topics and nothing gets resolved?
  • Do you notice new direct reports starting to lose their enthusiasm because of a few team complainers?

Leaders need to take negativity seriously because their team expects them to stop the negative people from draining the oxygen in the room. I’ve written numerous articles on how everyone is responsible for team morale even though it starts with leaders.

Let’s Get Real About Effective Communication

You’re fortunate if your team gives you constructive feedback about your communication and leadership skills. In past articles, I’ve discussed the importance of uncovering blind spots that we all possess. Executive coaching is a perfect venue to delve into these issues. Clients learn about themselves and the results speak for themselves especially when team members start noticing the positive change.

You can hire someone to do a 360 interview about yourself by asking your supervisor, direct reports, colleagues, and clients to anonymously discuss your strengths and areas of improvement. Feel free to send me an email if you want to find out about this important exercise.

Check out my article on Strategic Communication Strategies to Help Employees Grow.

Hopefully, you know when your meetings, morale, or team communication are productive. At times, we are so busy doing our important tasks that we are blind to see what’s really going on with our softer skills. That’s why feedback is a 2-way street and not just for direct reports.

I want to hear from you

Send me your questions or comments on how you and your leaders deal with disengaged team members, negativity or making meetings productive.

This is Joyce Weiss, Leadership Consultant and Executive Coach

Learn how I can leverage my 30+ years of communication and leadership consulting and coaching experience to help your organization address executive coaching strategies here.

Until next time,

Remember…“You Get What You Tolerate!”

Contact Joyce

Email: joyce@joyceweiss.com
Phone: 248-681-5831