What I’ve Been Reading

Stephen Burt “The art of listening in coaching and mentoring” (2019) This book is essential reading for anyone who coaches, and is also very useful for anyone working in a context in which listening to others is important. If you want to become a better listener in any situation, you will find this book helpful. […]

Leadership on the line by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky Real leadership surfaces conflict … and causes pain. This book starts with that premise and then suggests strategies for personal survival as a leader. Strategies include some common conflict management techniques (such as going to the balcony to get a big picture about what is

Resolving Conflicts at Work: Ten strategies for everyone on the job by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith This book provides ten specific strategies that can create a conflict positive workplace – an organization in which conflict is managed well and leads to positive transformation. The authors see conflict as an opportunity for leadership, and suggest

Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader by Craig Runde and Tim Flanagan This book now in its 2nd Edition, is essential reading for every manager in every kind of organization. The book provides an overview of conflict dynamics, destructive and constructive responses to conflict, how to manage emotions in conflict, reflective practice, and creating a workplace

Seeing what others don’t: The remarkable ways we gain insights, by Gary Klein Much of my work as a coach is supporting clients to gain insights into their experiences and their choices moving forward. As a narrative coach, I connected Klein’s description of insights as things that “shook people loose from their initial stories” and

Building agreement: using emotions as you negotiate By Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro This book, by two of the very big names in conflict resolution at Harvard, is based on the premise that the best way to manage emotions in conflict is to work on the underlying core concerns that cause those emotions. The authors

Inside Out: How conflict professionals can use self-reflection to help their clients by Gary Friedman I came across this book by accident and then couldn’t understand why I hadn’t discovered it earlier! The book is essentially all about managing emotions in conflict (those of the parties, and those of the conflict professional). And by managing

Think again: The power of knowing what you don’t know By Adam Grant This book is essential reading for anyone interested in reflective practice (at its heart, a process of thinking again). Grant emphasizes that it is the process of re-thinking that is important, not the outcome. Rethinking does not have to change your mind,

Schön, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Donald Schön’s book is the key text on reflective practice. First published in 1983, it led to a real commitment to reflective practice being introduced into many professional disciplines, including conflict resolution. The book begins by explaining the difference between competence and artistry, showing