Stop Workplace Drama

Overcome the interpersonal challenges holding your business back

Is your workplace riddled with gossip, power struggles, and confusion? Do you seek clarity in your management and cohesiveness in your team? Do you have a personal obstacle affecting your professional success?

If so, there is good news-help is on the way. Stop Workplace Drama offers down-to-earth, practical methods to help business owners, entrepreneurs, and private practice professionals maximize success, increase productivity, and improve teamwork and personal performance.

• Identify "drama" barriers and help your employees break free to experience higher personal effectiveness and increased productivity
• Each of the eight points is full of universal and practical principles any business leader, sales director or entrepreneur can put to use immediately
• Author Marlene Chism has shared her signature process with organizations such as McDonalds and NASA

When you're in the thick of business competition, you and your team need to function freely without internal conflicts, confusions, or rivalries. Stop Workplace Drama ensures that your employees will be able to give their best to create a healthy, profitable workplace.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction We Don’t Do Drama Here 1

Chapter 1 Clear the Fog 15

Chapter 2 Identify the Gap 39

Chapter 3 Tell Yourself the Truth 59

Chapter 4 Reinvent and Realign 81

Chapter 5 Stop Relationship Drama 103

Chapter 6 Master Your Energy 131

Chapter 7 Release Resistance 159

Chapter 8 Become a Creator 181

Conclusion No Complaints, No Excuses, No Regrets 205

Resources 213

About the Author 217

Index 219

MARLENE CHISM is a consultant, trainer, and professional speaker. She is the founder of the Stop Your Drama methodology—an eight-part process for helping managers and small business owners identify the barriers that are holding back their teams. Marlene is also the creator of Attitude Builders, a monthly teleseminar program developed for busy managers who want easy staff development with no prep, no plan, and no problem. Each month managers learn from experts, authors, and transformational leaders to help increase productivity and personal effectiveness. Working with high-level professionals who want to increase personal performance, Marlene has shared her processes and programs with companies like NASA and McDonald's. For speaking information, visit www.MarleneChism.com, and for free resources, visit www.StopWorkplaceDrama.com.

Stop putting fuel on the fire and take back control of your workplace

Gossip. Power struggles. Poor team coordination. These are all symptoms of workplace drama. They're the obstacles that can drain your company of its best talent, get in the way of true productivity and profit, and eat away at the effectiveness of your organization—that is, unless a leader steps up and takes responsibility for changing course.

Communications consultant and national speaker Marlene Chism has created an eight-step methodology that breaks through negative thinking that can contribute to drama in organizations of every kind and size. She has identified the gaps that drama creates—a gap between where your company is and where it aims to be and the psychological gap that occurs when people are faced with change and the fear that goes with it.

With Stop Workplace Drama, Chism shows how to change the way you and your organization confront and work through problems, implement effective management strategies in a drama-filled organization, and find new solutions that create positive growth for every member of your company. You'll learn how to:

• Understand the different kinds of "drama roles" played in the office—and how to work through them
• Create healthy boundaries, get your work needs met, and make the most of your valuable time
• Seek viable opportunities and take responsibility for your efforts
• Instill necessary changes without unleashing fear in your organization—which can lead to conflict
• Cut through your personal drama so that it doesn't create further issues at work

In today's business world, where competition is fierce and economic challenges are more intense than ever, ending the drama has never been more essential. With fascinating case studies, illuminating insight, and workplace-tested strategies, Stop Workplace Drama will help boost the morale of your employees, maximize your company's potential, and put your organization on the road to success.