Author: Robert Bacal

Site owner, author, management consultant, trainer, specializing in dealing with difficult, angry, and hostile people.

What is The Abilene Paradox, Communicationwise?

The Abilene Paradox, Communication and GroupThink What is The Abilene Paradox? The Abilene Paradox was presented to the world by Jerry Harvey, in his book of management essays of the same name. In the first essay in the book, Harvey…

What are communication channels and why are they important?

Communication can be split into two parts — the message or content, and the channel it’s transmitted on. For example, you may want to communicate something about your emotional state — let’s say that you are angry. You can communicate…

What You Don’t Say Counts: “You Don’t Say?” Good!

What You Don’t Say Determines The Relationship We know that “good” talk smooths and builds relationships, whether with family, or friends or in the workplace. Supportive listening and compliments are important in building a good foundation of trust and mutual…

Can you provide practical tips and suggestions to improve email communication?

The following is an excerpt from Conflict Prevention in the Workplace — Using Cooperative Communication When sending e-mail always reread what you have written before sending it on. Read it twice (at least) — once for content (does it say…

Why Is E-mail More Prone to Creating Unnecessary Conflict?

If you have any experience on the Internet or using your company’s internal email system, you probably realize that there is a great deal of very poor confrontational communication that occurs in the electronic medium. Why is that the case?…

Sweetspot: Communicating Positively and Negatively

Avoiding Overly Positive and Overly Negative Communication The Sweet Spot Between Overly Positive and Overly Negative Communication: Glass Empty, Glass Full You’ve heard the phrase: “There’s two kinds of people. Those that see the glass as half full, and those…