Conflict management via email?

Conflict management via email?

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...
“Carefrontation”?

“Carefrontation”?

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...
How to build trust

How to build trust

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–...

Advice for an upcoming confrontation

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...

Positive assumption

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...