When I train on conflict resolution I ask people at the start to write down the first five words that come to mind when I say conflict. Invariably the following words come out:  stress, difficulty, tension, pain, loss, anger, frustration, and impasse. Only one or two will comment that conflict represents an opportunity or a [...]

Recently, I was walking with a participant the day before one of our training courses on quality service. I asked her what had been communicated to everyone about the reason for the course and why quality service was important to the organization. “Not much,” she replied.  I mentioned that the leadership group would be seated [...]

In the past several weeks, I have been in the throes of 360 surveys. This tool involves a data collection process where someone is asked to rate how competent another person is in skills such as communication, decision making, conflict resolution, leadership, etc. In this case, it involves getting feedback on skills before training and [...]

So many businesses and organizations are facing futures of uncertainty or tremendous demands; some need to reinvent themselves; others must transform into something completely new and different. The current strategic plan may now be obsolete, even while still in design. As we look to generating new plans, I believe there are some important things to [...]

When we train leaders on change management, one of the tasks for them to complete is a change personality assessment*. The tool identifies three types of personality preferences and how each responds to change.
The first personality type is the Conserver, an individual who is very disciplined and organized and prefers change that maintains the current [...]