How to Work with Just about Anyone

Lucy Gill is an internationally known authority on the prevention and management of difficult and nonproductive behavior, and has been a Research Affiliate at the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto—the only management consultant to be accorded that status. Her clients include Bank of America, Varian, Rockwell International, TRW, Sun Microsystems, and a number of Silicon Valley start-up companies.

THREE SIMPLE STEPS FOR TRANSFORMING YOUR WORKPLACE.Every office has them: the ever-complaining colleague...the co-worker who is constantly late for meetings...the boss who either blows up at you or blows you off...or the one person who drives everyone else totally crazy.The problem is, the conventional methods -- like repeated warnings, threats, and heartfelt discussions -- for dealing with this negative behavior often don't seem to work. Drawing on a wealth of professional experience as well as forty years of research, Lucy Gill exposes the futility of these common practices and replaces them with a three-step strategy for creating a productive, conflict-free workplace:1. Get to the heart of the matter by focusing on what the real problem is.2. Determine what problem-solving methods to avoid so that you don't perpetuate the conflict.3. Choose a different and even surprising approach that will solve the problem and keep it solved.Whether you're just starting out in your career or you already have an office along the executive corridor, How to Work with Just About Anyone provides the key to success, satisfaction, and sanity in the workplace.

ContentsForewordSection IThe Problems That Won't Go AwayOneThe Care and Feeding of Problems: How Difficult Behavior Gets ReinforcedTwoMaddening Circles of Common Sense: How We Get in the Way of ChangeThreeJust the Facts, Ma'am: Focusing on the Heart of the MatterFourTackling the Right Problem: Avoiding Bogs and Dead EndsFiveShall We Not Dance: Taking the LeadSection IIThe Usual Suspects: Common-sense Solutions That Don't WorkSixThe Ear That Doesn't Hear: Repeatedly Urging ChangeSevenYou Should-Oughta-Wanna Like This: Trying to Talk Someone into Liking Your RequestEightOne-Upsmanship: Demanding Acknowledgment That You're RightNineSolution by Evasion: Using the Indirect ApproachTenWhen You Are Your Problem: Trying to Conquer Fear with Endless PreparationSection IIIHunting Down New SolutionsElevenChanging the Dance: Doing the Opposite, the Unexpected, the Outrageous, and the OrdinaryTwelveReady, Set, Go: Persuading Yourself to Try Something NewThirteenStick with a Winning Game: How to Keep a Problem SolvedFourteenIf It Didn't Work: Troubleshooting Your PlanFifteenSpeeding Along the Learning Curve: And Let the Changes BeginA Summary of the StepsBibliographyIndex