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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This 1 Idea Will Reduce Negative Behavior

conflict sign be nice or leaveI recently watched a hearing between the Secret Service Director and Congress. It was extremely heated and I knew that I was going to write about this interaction in a future article. Let me refresh your memory. A few agents drank alcohol at a retirement party. After leaving the party, they crashed their car into the white house. It was on international news for several days.

Congress asked important and tough questions to the Secret Service Director and he repeatedly skirted all issues. Congressmen and women actually said, “What are you going to do about it?” The Director said, “I first need to get all of the facts.” Several members of Congress said the same thing, “Why not fire the agents on the spot? You need to make the hard decisions.” The Director was very nervous and it almost sounded like he was covering up the “real story.”

The bottom line is that there was a huge communication breakdown in the Department. Supposedly the Director did not hear about this incident for a few days. I ask the question, why didn’t he hear about this sooner?

Reasons why there are communication breakdowns:

  • Fear of retribution
  • Covering-up for each other
  • Dysfunctional cultural barriers
  • The wrong fit for roles and job responsibilities
  • Not knowing who to go to for answers
  • Unclear expectations
  • Too much red tape

We still don’t know the facts about this embarrassing situation. There have been several mistakes in the last few years and it is obvious that leadership is weak. … [Continue reading]

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Why Successful People Believe in Mentoring

Here Are a Few Questions For You:

  • Have you used a mentor in your life? set up a mentor program 6
  • Have you mentored others?
  • Have you had a mentor to discuss how you would handle tough conversations?
  • Would you like to learn how to improve relationships at work?
  • Do you want to know strategies on how to reduce conflict in the workplace?

I will be addressing these questions in future articles.  One topic will be Whose responsibility is it to give constructive feedback, the mentee’s boss or the mentor?  I have heard this frustration expressed from many mentors.  Stay tuned for some interesting information.  Feel free to send me your experience either as a mentor or mentee. 

I am creating a new workshop on Top Level Mentoring Skills for a client of mine.  It has been fascinating interviewing people on how mentoring has helped them in their life.  AOL Time Warner Foundation wrote that 99% of individuals already in a formal mentoring relationship would recommend mentoring to others.

Reasons Why Mentoring is So Powerful

  • Receive unbiased opinions
  • Someone who helps others reach their goals
  • Someone to go to when challenges arise
  • The company retains experienced employees because their contributions are valued

… [Continue reading]

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Talk to Both Star and Sub-Par Employees

  • Do you find yourself having the same conversations with mediocre or low productive employees… and see no results?
  • Have you ignored your star employees by spending too much time trying to solve problems with your sub-par team members?
  • Do you want to learn proven strategies on how to engage your entire team? get new employees

Below you will find 3 different conversations to have with your team:
     High Performance
     Middle Performance
     Low Performance

ClickHere to read my article on Powerful Secrets to Be a Great Coach

High Performance Conversations

1.  Tell them where the organization and the department is going.
2.  Thank them for their work.
3.  Outline why they are so important.
4.  Find out how you can support them with career planning or training possibilities in the future. … [Continue reading]

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Are People Rude or Selfish if They are Constantly Late?

clock and hammer bigI recently shared a cartoon from my friend on Facebook that received quite a “buzz.”  NO YOU ARE NOT RUNNING LATE, YOU ARE RUDE!

Here are some of the comments that I received from the post:

  • I will not tolerate someone being late, not my style.
  • I was going to comment on your post, but I was running late.  (someone with a sense of humor)
  • Late drives me nuts.
  • We need to share this with others who need to read it.
  • Maybe the selfish ones are those who don’t care that things happen beyond our control.  Friendship is far more important than a few minutes in time.

This last comment brought on even more passionate comments about the rudeness of others. Obviously if someone is late once in a while that is understandable.  This happens to all of us. The people who I am describing in this post are the ones who are chronic and are late all of the time. … [Continue reading]

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Discover Important Tips Before Accepting a Promotion

i'm the bossRecently I have had some interesting “side bar” discussions  from people in my Leadership workshops.  Participants come up to me on breaks and the conversations go like this:

“Joyce I’m glad that I received a promotion because I’m making more money,  BUT…

  • “I haven’t received any training for this new position and I’m way out of my league.”
  • “I didn’t know that I was going to be responsible for so many direct reports.”
  • “My boss didn’t tell me that I was going to travel weekly with this new position.”

I feel such stress pouring out of these new leaders.  They are overwhelmed and don’t feel that they can do anything about this.  Let’s face it, most of us will NOT turn down a chance for a promotion.  First of all the company will not be impressed if we say, ‘NO” for what ever reason we give to them.  Plus we could be even more frustrated if we turn down a promotion because that could be the stepping stone that we are looking for our own success.… [Continue reading]

Contact Joyce

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