Conflict and Courage

Ten Days to a Happier, More Successful Career and Life: Day Eight

Peter Block, author, organization development consultant, and speaker made significant points for me in his book, The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work (compare prices). He asked about how any of us can expect to accomplish our purpose, mission, and goals if we are unwilling to practice positive political skills at work.

By practicing positive politics, Block says we elicit help from others to remove roadblocks, obtain resources, reinforce our personal growth and development, and influence the direction of our work group or company. And, sometimes, Block believes, we need to participate in conflict to obtain what is needed. For many of us, conflict is the big scary. In fact, one of the most frequent questions asked of me as a consultant is how to avoid conflict in the work place.

This is the wrong question. The right question is how can you learn to participate in necessary conflict professionally and comfortably. With increasing comfort, you are willing and able to participate more frequently in conflict to support the accomplishment of your goals. Consequently, you increase the probability that you will accomplish your work and personal goals. Learning about conflict and courage is key to the success of Ten Days to a Happier, More Successful Career and Life.

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Introduction to the Ten Day Program.

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