One of my pet peeves is when people try to solve problems via email. You’ve been there: someone words an email awkwardly or brusquely, offense is taken, someone else responds in an inflammatory way, often copying several additional people. Blind copying and forwarding...
A few weeks ago I heard someone use this phrase: carefrontation. It’s apparently an amalgam of caring and confrontation. Usually when we hear the word confrontation, caring seems like an antonym. But how can we bring caring about people– truly desiring their...
A while back I did a blog entry on handling conflict. One comment rightly pointed out that a basic foundation of trust was assumed and suggested I write an entry on how to build trust. I thought that was an excellent suggestion. Here’s my first take on it–...
Sometimes we don’t have much warning when we’re heading into a confrontation or difficult conversation. But in other cases, we have a pretty good idea on the front end that things might get challenging. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “I always want to give a good report...
What I’m calling positive assumption simply means assuming the best about a person. We think about this when we are trying to encourage people by pointing out something they’re doing well, but positive assumption can be every bit as helpful when someone is doing...
