Hi All, Read this excellent article from the Harvard Business Review entitled, How to disagree with someone more powerful than you. Life is brief. Make a difference. You’d better make it now, as your life may be gone any minute. If you don’t speak up (appropriately & effectively) to stop the train wreck, the train may indeed wreck. Ego (that whispers in your ear to … Continue reading How to Disagree with Someone more powerful than you
All Contact Professionals training/needing to be experts in conflict communication (aka: de-escalation) should immediately notice the validity of all these 6 points (attributed to Morihei Ueshiba). If you don’t, then you’re likely only familiar with less-than-complete, check-the-box type trainings that attempt to boil things down to a few simplistic techniques. Conflict communication has its own well-developed philosophy. There is no simple technique that enables us … Continue reading Become a Samurai of Conflict Communication
Hi All, See this quote by Robert Greene: In our own inner turmoil, we tend the exaggerate the negative intentions of our opponents. In general, we take conflicts far too personally. ~ Robert Greene In life, such as the workplace, it is often the case that people presume the worst intentions of others and thus contribute to their very own hostile work environment (in their … Continue reading Taking Things Too Personally
Go here for a nice post on LinkedIn. The folks over at Leadership First always put out great posts in reference to leadership. Seek them out. Now let me add another side to this particular image. Certainly, when someone is being inappropriate, mean, rude, or belittling, you need not listen, unless it is your duty to do so. If it is your duty, then, as … Continue reading Be on the Lookout for Ways to Help Others
Hi All, Contact Professionals familiar with the teachings of Verbal Judo should immediately reflect on George Thompson’s great teaching on this point and the difference between respect and RE-spect. If you’re not familiar with it, go here for a perennial classic. If you actually follow the discipline of Verbal Judo, then you know that there are, literally, no times in life when you’re not showing … Continue reading Respect at all Times
Kindness is strength. This is so very true! One would find it difficult to source a better summary of strength of character (for anyone and especially leaders) than that of The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. I said difficult, but not impossible, as a book fit to sit directly next to The Meditations is It Worked for me: In Life and Leadership, by Colin Powell. One … Continue reading The Dialectic of Creating Healing & Safe Healthcare Environments
There are no innocent bystanders. When wrong-doing occurs in your presence, your silence is tacit approval. If you witness inappropriate actions, you must: Assist others. Fix something when it is going wrong. Stop something that is wrong. No matter what, tell the truth. LIFE needs people who adopt a protector mindset. One does NOT need to be a Police Officer, Law Enforcement Officer, Security Officer, … Continue reading Mobilize Yourself for Others
I ask that you reflect upon how many (some might say most) modern human beings are far worse at reading the body language of their fellow human beings than our ancient ancestors. Why? Because we are distracted by words. We place such a high importance on what others verbally say, while we overlook what their bodies are non-verbally saying. We are distracting ourselves (by an … Continue reading Distraction is Dangerous
Dr. George Thompson, creator of Verbal Judo, identified (and gave a name to) just this practice of professionally given “REspect” (his unique spelling) to distinguish it from the commonly known form of earned “respect.” This is one of the many tools, tactics, practices, and strategies that he contributed to the world of Conflict Communication. His pioneering work forms the foundation of many Conflict Communication programs … Continue reading REspect All Persons…Always
Hi All, See this article over at Police1. Note that the same de-escalation (and hopefully non-escalation as well) tactics taught for the purpose of making vehicle pursuits as safe (physically, legally, emotionally, and otherwise) as possible are (should be) the same as keeping any people-stops safe, namely self/attitude management, nimble judgment & decision-making skills, all the while maintaining awareness of the need for immediate violence … Continue reading Vehicle Stops are People Stops: When you train for one, you train for both
Conflict Transformation & Ethical Guardianship 