Have you ever found yourself incredulous at how quickly your conversation with someone has deteriorated and the tension is mounting, your and their emotions are flying and you are flummoxed as to how you got there? It’s like being on an escalator that you can’t get off of, nor turn around and go down, and you are stuck riding to the top in order to reverse course…

There are important milestones in your professional development that will arise as you strive to accelerate and accentuate your leadership competencies. I am using the term leadership in a very generic sense, not implying any formal role, title or authority, but rather an elevated presence highlighted by intelligence, actions and behavior that inspires others to seek you out. Essentially, at various times in your career you will come to a crossroads, and whether by intention, guidance or luck, you might choose to go in one direction over another…

“He who forgets the language of gratitude can never be on speaking terms with happiness.”

C. Neil Strait The month of November has been dubbed the National Month of Gratitude here in the United States and swarms of organizations celebrate this in a myriad of ways. Many non-profits suggest increasing acts of charity to show gratitude. Schools and higher education organizations support a gratitude journaling practice to enhance student and teacher outcomes. Corporations offer employees opportunities to give back to the community and provide employee appreciation offerings. Managers share more positive feedback with direct reports…

Four key things you can do when a "severe cold snap" rushes into the office…

It's common to work with or for someone who occasionally dispenses good advice on how to handle complex interpersonal situations, but is pretty unlikely to take their own advice. Whether it is how to talk a customer down from a bad experience, how to deliver straightforward feedback to an employee or how to negotiate collaboratively for project resources, after a while, all you're reminded of concerning this person's leadership is "do as I say, not as I do."…

Dispute resolution misses two critical components that conflict management handles. Dispute resolution lacks proactive prevention and doesn’t harness the beneficial power of conflict…

March has been dedicated as Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8. With this season of reverence for women’s accomplishments upon us, I was curious about the qualities of powerful women from around the world. After reading several articles such as The Top 20 Influential Women in the World Today, The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, and 150 Women Who Shake the World, I considered what are the overlapping skills that they bring to the world to be so influential?…

In a recent training class, one of our exercises was to pair up people from the same department in similar job functions and have each person share a challenging situation they were facing at work. The other person’s role was to listen, ask questions, and offer any additional insight…

Accordence has just passed its 10th anniversary in business. We have much to celebrate and will do so in a variety of ways throughout 2015. While we look back at all of the growth and results we have created in a decade, we also want to consider what didn’t go well that motivated us and continues to push us to greater heights. By focusing on success only at all costs, we might set ourselves up for greater failure by reducing our tolerance for taking risks, find lessons, grow and innovate…

While the New England Blizzard of 2015 rages on in my backyard, I came to the conclusion that preparation is truly the key to being able to weather any storm. While I pondered this, I recognized the analogy to our work lives and what we could learn to enhance our ability to weather “storms” at the office…

Working within your comfort zone has its moments. There is a period of time (for some it might be months, for others it might be a year or more) when you’ve hit your stride – you’re working efficiently and effectively with no discernible downside. The effort is reasonable, the quantity is manageable, the time spent is acceptable, and the output is respectable, perhaps even impressive. Overall it feels predictable…