Welcome to this episode of the Communication & Culture podcast. I receive a special guest: 

Liz Kislik is a management consultant and executive coach, and a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Forbes. Her TEDx “Why There’s So Much Conflict at Work and What You Can Do to Fix It” has received almost half a million views. She specializes in developing high performing leaders and workforces, and for 30 years has helped family-run businesses, national nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies like American Express, Girl Scouts, Staples, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Highlights for Children solve their thorniest problems. 

Liz’s work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Morning Download, the Washington Post, Business Insider, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Her articles have been included in Harvard Business Press books Guide to Motivating People, Dealing with Difficult People, and Guide to Power and Impact, as well as in Entrepreneur, the European Financial Review, and the Forward. 
  
She is a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches initiative, which brings together the world’s top coaches and thinkers; has taught at Hofstra University and New York University; and is a frequent podcast guest. She received her BA from Yale University and earned an MBA in Management from NYU. 

We discuss the communication around conflict and its relationship with a company’s culture. 

Liz talks about the diversity of conflict and highlights its similarities too. A big intake for me is the subjectivity of conflict. 

Liz gives us examples how the culture of a company can increase unintentionally the level of conflict and that you need to take active steps to change the aspects of the culture creating conflict. 

We are usually unconscious of other people’s perspectives, and this can trigger conflict. A lack of awareness of our assumptions. 

Liz gives us advice on how to handle conflict. We feel conflict in our body. The first thing is to calm our body. Then, we open to others and we also look at structural aspects of the company that can perpetuate conflict. 

To continue the discussion with Liz, you can reach her on the following social media: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizkislik 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizkislik 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lizkislik