It’s Not Always A Personality Conflict

January 31st, 2018 by Kelly Kienzle

I have long been a believer that any conflict or frustration between colleagues is due to a difference in personality or temperament.  I believed that conflict came about because people could not communicate or understand each other well enough to see the other person’s perspective. A

Moving Back to Center

August 29th, 2016 by Kelly Kienzle

Sometimes after we’ve been in a role for a while, we are no longer happy. We go through our work almost blindly and do not need to exert much intellectual energy to fulfill our responsibilities satisfactorily. Sometimes we can even be performing above average, but doing

I (Don’t) Know

September 29th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle

We always want to know things. We yearn for certainty and assurance. But why? We want to know what will happen, who will say what and how the work will go. We assume that we will be happier and more secure if we can forecast what

“I can read people.”

March 26th, 2015 by Kelly Kienzle

“I can read people.” I have recently (very recently) begun to think that is one of the more dangerous sentences we can say about ourselves. I had always thought proudly of this skill of mine. Yet when I began coaching and learned how to suspend assumptions

Where is your choice?

August 7th, 2014 by Kelly Kienzle

Summer offers so many choices. We can choose to go outside or work from home; choose to wear sandals or flip-flops; or choose to stay out later or not. But is it only the season that gives us more choice? Why aren’t we at choice more

Listen Carefully

June 23rd, 2014 by Kelly Kienzle

How many workshops on listening and speaking have you attended in your career? How many books and articles have you read on how to be more effective in your communication skills? If the number is something greater than the number of vacation days you’ve had in

An Unlikely Source of Inspiration

March 4th, 2014 by Kelly Kienzle

I always have cheesy wall calendars.  Every year, I don’t remember until January to buy a new wall calendar.  And then I’m left with paltry options like “Rainbows!” or “Justin Bieber Unleashed.”  And 2014 was no different. Sometime in mid January I trekked to our local

Setting Goals from a Mindset of Success, not Deficiency

February 4th, 2014 by Kelly Kienzle

Today is February 4 and if you’re already a bit disillusioned and uninspired by your resolutions, here’s a new perspective: Look at all that you do have. Consider your strengths. What are your successes? What do you want to do more of? (Caveat: This does not

What’s Macro-Issue Feedforward?

October 7th, 2013 by Kelly Kienzle

The next time you have the urge to give someone feedback on what they did, here’s an alternative: Re-focus to the macro issue and think forward. Macro-Issue Feedforward is my spin on Marshall Goldsmith’s excellent Feedforward tool.  I added the “Macro-Issue” part.  Here’s how my (and

Do You Judge Behaviors or Intentions?

August 1st, 2013 by Kelly Kienzle

  We tend to judge ourselves based on our intentions and we judge others based on their behaviors.  Similarly, others judge themselves based on their intentions and they judge us based on our behaviors. Here’s how that plays out at work:  A colleague did not get