Page 256 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

how conflict escalates, how it deescalates, and how it is often enormously affected by how
much company power those involved in the conflict have.
What kind of conflict resolution system do you have in place? How do your executives
resolve conflict? Do they? Are employees walking around with grudges against each other,
deleteriously affecting the quality of your operation? How much money do you think you
are losing because of unresolved conflict in your company? We know that conflict is
inevitable. We also know that we have sound methods of resolving conflict productively. We
also know that most of us have to be taught these skills in order to carry them out because
we aren’t born with them. With this in mind, refer to the HR Tool entitled “Sample Conflict
Resolution Procedures,” on pages 244–245, for one way to approach this issue.

IMPLEMENT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TRAINING,
COACHING, NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION TRAINING,
AND ACCOUNTABILITY AS IMPORTANT CORPORATE
CULTURAL VALUES
In order for employees to give their best at work, they need to know at all times, but espe-
cially during hard times, that they are physically, financially, and psychologically safe. The
workplace culture, policies, leadership, management, handling of conflicts, and processes
must communicate these things at every opportunity. There are simple, practical ways to
accomplish this. Demanding above-average emotional intelligence (EI) skills from all
employees raises the bar for communication, behavior, and conflict resolution. Doing this
prevents costly problems that have plagued workplaces and have easily developed into
unnecessary lawsuits. How a sexual harassment complaint is handled, how a potentially
dangerous safety issue is handled, or how an employee’s point that could prevent a disas-
trous computer glitch is handled are all examples of how emotional intelligence skills can
make or break the bank.
How does the emotional intelligence of leadership and any other executives who enjoy
the privilege of having great organizational power affect the decisions made by them? How
does their emotional intelligence affect their responses to HR calling for legal compliance?
How does their emotional intelligence affect their responses to possible EEO claims, actual
EEO claims, OSHA citations, employee feedback, employee complaints, HR’s concerns
about disparate treatment of employees, and conflicts of interest? How does the EI of any
workgroup affect their job performance and how well the group functions? How can EI
training improve decisions at every level, increase profits, and increase efficiency in your
organization?
Nonviolent communication (NVC) training can instill behavioral, communication, and
most importantly, improved thought processes in the entire company. As described through-
out this book, NVC teaches very simple basic communication skills that start with our feel-
ings and thoughts. In this way, NVC is a perfect training complement to EI and conflict
resolution training, as well as any communication or management training. NVC is exem-
plary in that it is very easy to learn and very efficiently helps individuals and groups get to
the core of an issue. Be sure to find a Certified NVC trainer as well as Certified EI trainers.

CHAPTER 15 • F ostering F eedback, Training, and Improved P er formance 239