Faith Wood knows how to resolve conflict. Her years in front-line law enforcement taught her how to effectively de-escalate any situation to a successful conclusion. Beginning today, Faith will use her knowledge of conflict management to guide you through the oft-times stressful experiences you may encounter in your personal or professional life. Her Conflict Coach…
Is it disrespect, miscommunication or misaligned values that are harming your business relationships?
“My client doesn’t respect me!” my colleague vented through the phone. It’s a feeling every entrepreneur has felt at one point or another in their career. It’s one I certainly empathize with. As I listened, it became clear that the client wasn’t being disrespectful. The two parties simply had disconnection in their communication styles, coupled…
If fear is putting you in an inner conflict, try collaboration instead of fighting and imagine a more triumphant outcome
That which we resist persists – but you can change all that! A young gymnast has been working with me on elevating her performance. Despite being exceptionally talented and scoring well on the bars and mat, she recently developed a completely debilitating fear of the balance beam. When pressed about the problem, she described a fear of falling;…No matter how desperate and unhappy you are, you'd be making a big mistake if you followed Johnny Paycheck's lead
It's hard to find someone who hasn't had a problem with a boss at some point in his or her career. The higher you go on the corporate power ladder and the more you earn, the more complicated the boss-employee relationship becomes. But no matter how desperate and unhappy you are, you'd be making a…
Our reactions to perceptions that aren’t aligned with our own firmly-held beliefs often lead to misunderstandings and conflict
We learn early that not everyone shares our point of view. To understand a situation, we need to consider varying perspectives. There’s no inarguable truth for all situations. We build understanding from inviting multiple perspectives. Consider your emotional reaction to the idea of honesty in politics, or where to spend critical health care or education…
Conflicts are less likely when everyone is focused on the goal, clear about how they can contribute and appreciated for their efforts
“I'm so tired of being ordered around or dictated to – I’m done with this!” “I can't believe they didn’t even discuss this with me. If they want to make all the decisions, then they can do it themselves.” If you've ever been on a planning committee, condo board, conference committee or not-for-profit board, you've…
We’re often reluctant to establish a line when dealing with others because we don’t want to be seen as difficult. So instead we stew in our anger and resentment
Have you ever lived near or worked with someone who seemed to have a problem respecting personal space? About 15 years ago, a neighbour decided he wanted to build a garage. There was a tree on his property line that he didn’t want to take down, so he figured he would just appropriate needed space…
Besides creating an economic crisis, COVID-19 is bringing conflict into some homes. Rate (and improve) your relationship
Not all of us are living happily ever after. Are you surprised? I didn’t think so! If absence makes the heart grow fonder, the opposite might also be true about too much time spent together in close quarters. A former colleague recently told me that call volumes for domestic disputes are on the rise. This…
When strong negative emotions kidnap the thinking brain, we become scarcely more coherent than a wild animal
You may have seen a video recently of a man punching a fellow pedestrian who he felt took his photo without authorization. Once the video was released, the man came forward and apologized for what he called his uncharacteristic behaviour. Whether it’s a result of stress, the state of the world or a variety of…
None of us are at our best when our boundaries are being pushed
We've all heard the nursery rhyme “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” But we know better. In fact, we know all too well that words can hurt and so does the interpretation of our nonverbal behaviours (like not paying attention, interrupting or day dreaming when someone is speaking).…