From Conflict to Courage: How to Stop Avoiding and Start Leading

Conflict is workplace kryptonite--learn how to build your personal and organizational conflict capacity so you can turn conflict into an opportunity for growth. Unresolved conflict wastes time, inhibits productivity, hampers team performance, and negatively affects business outcomes. The only way for leaders to productively manage conflict is to expand their capacity for it. This book is a complete guide to building conflict capacity in any organization. Marlene Chism shows that conflict capacity is a combination of three elements: Culture; the Inner Game, and the Outer Game. The culture must support leaders in initiating accountable conversations; The inner game is about the leader's tolerance to withstand the emotional storm; and the outer game is the developed skills and abilities to communicate, coach, and mediate conflict to a desired end result. Chism teaches readers how to build all three elements of conflict capacity. Readers will be able to approach difficult conversations and work with high-conflict people while overcoming their internal and external barriers to give them better emotional integrity and a clearer vision for the future of their organization.

Marlene Chism is founder and CEO of Marlene Chism Consulting, a company designed to help people build drama-free workplace cultures that drive growth and reduce costly mistakes. Marlene is an advanced practitioner in narrative coaching, and her expertise includes leadership development, conflict management, strategic communication, and more. As a seasoned professional speaker, Marlene's transformational message of personal responsibility and alignment is making its way around the globe at leadership academies, corporate retreats, association conferences, and customized webinars. She is the author of three books, including Stop Workplace Drama and No-Drama Leadership .