When dictators come to power, they often use a well-planned strategy for ousting their rivals. Part of that strategy helps them to justify the harsh tactics they use against their political opponents. One part of the strategy gradually strips away the human character of people who stand between the dictator and total control of the

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As I watch what is going on politically across the nation, attend various business meetings and even participate in family discussions, I can’t help but notice how the rhetoric and emotion often increase, while the civility and human connection decrease. People become obstinate or angry. Some even resort to insults, and productive conversation flies out

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In many cases, the path from conflict to resolution is like traveling down a dirt road in the country. It’s a little rough. Dirt might get in your eyes so that you don’t see clearly what lies ahead. You have to go more slowly than you do in other situations. Once you are on the

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In my work with clients of all kinds, I have noticed five basic types of people when it comes to responding to conflict. Admittedly, I did not come up with these categories from a sophisticated and comprehensive statistical analysis. They are, however, built on my observations from working with many people and talking about their approaches to

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When people are physically uncomfortable, they generally have difficulty focusing on the work at hand, and they tend to become emotionally sensitive and irritable. Both can decrease productivity and increase conflict. Here are three of the most common issues I see as I work with my clients: 1. Space constraints Such constraints can take many forms, but

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By Guy Harris The word “trust” has many layers of meaning. While most of us have similar general perspectives about what it means to trust another person, there are some subtle differences in how we view this simple word. The words I often use to describe the two sides of trust are transactional trust and

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If you lead others, you’re in the change business, and that means you will face your fair share of resistance. People will reject your ideas, fight the direction you want to go, disregard your expectations for new behaviors and more. Dealing with resistance is a normal part of leadership. When you initiate change that involves other people,

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You likely can relate to this scenario that often comes to my mind when I think about communication … I was working through an issue with a coworker who was distressed over problems with a process that affected us both. I helped to create the process and had the authority to change it. Plus, I had enough knowledge of the

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Feedback can be both hard to give and hard to receive. While it’s easy to say that feedback is necessary for us to get better, most people – including me – don’t like to hear what they did that could have been done better. And since most leaders know that people might not want to

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