Posted By admin on June 25th
People don’t think before they communicate.
If you consider that to be a truth in all of your communications, you will avoid potential conflict. Many times somebody says something that offends you at some level, and your first reaction is to…well…react. React with anger, confusion, and maybe ridicule.
If you stop to consider, however, that the person may not have intentionally offended you and that it’s human nature to state something without fully considering the implications, you may avoid a confrontation.
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Category: Communication Skills, Conflict Management, Mediation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Workplace
Tags: communicate, communication, negotiation, problem solving
Posted By admin on June 10th
The book, Made to Stick, makes the point that the biggest roadblock to getting your message across to others…
is “The Curse of Knowledge”. The Curse of Knowledge is when the sender of the communication assumes that the receiver understands the message simply because the sender understands it.
The Curse of Knowledge is a barrier to successful negotiations because the sender falsely believes that the sender’s signals are being received correctly by the other party. (more…)
Category: Communication Skills, Mediation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Recommended Reading
Tags: communicate, communication, knowledge, negotiation, persuasion
Posted By admin on May 25th
Made to Stick looks at business communications from a psychological perspective…
meaning which communications get people to buy products, spend money, and simplify their buying decisions. It explains how to influence people – a core component of negotiation strategy – by showing there is more to persuasion than logic and facts.
Here’s how to create a “sticky” negotiation message using the six principles from Made to Stick - Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotional, and Stories:
- Write out in detail the goal of the message you wish to convey in the negotiation.
- Write out what message you believe your negotiation partner currently perceives.
- Then create and write out a second negotiation message trying to use the SUCCESs principles from the book.
- Create a scorecard (see below) to evaluate which negotiation message has more points, based on the SUCCESs principles. Rate the principles in the message on a scale of 1 – 5. The message with more points is more “sticky”.
Checklist Old Message New Message
Simplicity
Unexpectedness
Concreteness
Credibility
Emotional
Stories
You can buy the book here.
Category: Communication Skills, Mediation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Recommended Reading
Tags: communicate, communication, communications, ideas, negotiation, persuasion
Posted By admin on May 10th
Made to Stick is a book about what makes a message “sticky”…
meaning the message is memorable. The book is primarily aimed towards people whose responsibilities include presentations, marketing, and sales; however, it is not limited to those groups of people. Made to Stick also provides valuable insight for those people involved in negotiations. The book can help you understand how to make your negotiations sticky.
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Category: Communication Skills, Mediation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Recommended Reading
Tags: communicate, communication, communications, ideas, negotiation, persuasion
Posted By admin on April 25th
Facilitation is a special form of meeting leadership intended to help make a period of transition easier for the organization. A facilitator can be used for special meetings within your organization that are expected to be contentious and emotionally charged. Facilitation helps businesses work through conflict.
The facilitator is a person who has strong communication skills, objectivity, and persistence. The facilitator is a neutral third party who helps manage conflict by providing process leadership and process development. Many businesses use facilitation as a proactive way to prevent conflict.
The facilitator’s skills handling difficult people, exploring creative solutions, and reaching agreement will help your organization tackle its challenges while ensuring participation from all people who have an interest in the conflict. The facilitation process empowers people to take ownership over the conflict and develop their own solutions.
Category: Communication Skills, Conflict Management, Mediation Skills, Meeting Skills, Workplace
Tags: business, communicate, communication, conflict, management, procedure, program
Posted By admin on April 10th
The facilitator is a neutral third party who helps manage conflict by providing process leadership and process development. Many businesses use facilitation as a proactive way to prevent conflict.
Why is a facilitator a good choice to help a business manage conflict? Because a facilitator is familiar with conflict and conflict management, is a neutral person on the challenges, and is sensitive to the emotions involved. The facilitator’s skills help the organization alleviate tension while getting past individual agendas.
(more…)
Category: Communication Skills, Conflict Management, Mediation Skills, Meeting Skills, Workplace
Tags: business, communicate, communication, conflict, management, procedure, program
Posted By admin on March 25th
Everything I know about creativity for negotiations…
I forgot in kindergarten.
Creativity, however, can be critical to finding solutions in the negotiation process. Successful negotiations typically require us to change our thinking process in order to move us away from positions and towards exploring solutions to resolve concerns.
Fortunately, Roger von Oech has written A Whack on the Side of the Head. Von Oech takes the premise that our educational system and business environment stifle creativity. Through this book, von Oech provides illustrations, puzzles, inspirational quotes, and exercises to help us adults rediscover our creativity.
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Category: Conflict Management, Creativity, Mediation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Recommended Reading
Tags: creative thinking, Creativity, critical thinking, negotiation, problem solving
Posted By admin on March 15th
I had a wonderful time talking about conflict management in the workplace with Deborah Shane. You can listen to the archive right here.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trainwithshane/2010/03/15/career-transition-and-the-workplace
Category: Communication Skills, Conflict Management, Mediation Skills, Meeting Skills, Negotiation Skills, Workplace
Tags: business, communicate, communication, conflict, management, negotiation, procedure, program, Violence
Posted By admin on March 10th
Shmuley Boteach’s book, 10 Conversations You Need to Have With Your Children, is primarily focused on parents teaching their children skills to find their own way in the world. Boteach’s book also has four great lessons for improving communication skills with everyone you live with or work with. These are Boteach’s four lessons: (more…)
Category: Communication Skills, Mediation Skills, Recommended Reading, Workplace
Tags: communicate, communication
Posted By admin on February 25th
Unfortunately, workplace conflict is not limited to just the Fortune 500. Conflict can appear and affect even the mom & pop businesses. Conflict can result in low morale, reduced production, increased sick pay for employees taking leave because of conflict-related stress, and employee turnover. This all adds up to horrendous costs. The costs increase even more if the conflict leads to litigation.
Fortunately, there are 4 steps any business can take to implement a conflict management program.
All size companies now have more of an awareness and a willingness to manage conflict in the early stages. They recognize they can decrease the potential for conflict and litigation if they are proactive. A conflict management program would anticipate likely problems and provide a system for managing them. The goal is to build a system that enables people to “learn the art of dealing with conflict.”
Creating a conflict management program requires the following steps:
- Assessing the existing conflict management system.
- Designing a conflict management program that matches the needs, culture, and financial ability of your business while setting realistic targets and goals.
- Implementing a program in a timeframe and a manner that fits the organization and its current priorities.
- Evaluating the program by identifying and creating appropriate benchmarking within an appropriate timeline.
Category: Conflict Management, Workplace
Tags: business, communicate, communication, conflict, management, procedure, program
