This is a blog intended to stir your curiosity about people and why they behave the way they do. This includes you, of course.

My whole career was spent in medicine working in a private single specialty radiology group in a large metropolitan area. My experience in the area of "behavior at work" has all come out of that career, but the principles can be applied anywhere. As chair of the physician HR committee, I was acutely aware of the many interpersonal issues going on across our system of multiple hospitals and private diagnostic offices. These were nothing unique to our practice, but were the com

The 1st step in addressing a work culture that could use some tweaking, is to get people talking about it constructively in an open respectful way. I say open and respectful to distinguish this conversation from gossip and complaining which seems never to need any organized encouragement. In our case we decided we needed some outside help to figure out how to do that, and I would suggest you consider this as well. We turned to Deborah Anderson of PivotPoint Consulting for hel

Conflict is inevitable where ever people are involved. It is normal and healthy. Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the presence of respect and equality. Unresolved conflict, however, that continues to ferment under the surface, is not healthy, but all too common. In the business setting, complaints about co-workers often are left unresolved and become just one more irritation that makes going to work drudgery and at best is a distraction to doing one’s best work. Th

One of our technologists assisted frequently with a certain procedure that she grew to dislike intensely. She was always, seemingly, misjudging what the radiologist wanted at each stage of the procedure and there were frequent “unpleasant” interchanges. She had come to the point of trying to trade out of that assignment as much as possible when one day she decided to try that one-to-one resolution she had heard about. With some trepidation, she explained her frustration to th

When people in your organization get more tools for effective communication, good things being to happen all over. I was talking with a manager some time ago who was reflecting on changes that were already happening around the system. She recalled talking to a physician about a bad interaction that had been reported to her. “I felt much more comfortable dealing with the situation,” she said, “knowing that I had the support of my colleagues in our respectful workplace initiati

As we all read in the news this morning, Travis Kalanick, founder and CEO of Uber has resigned (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/technology/uber-travis-kalanick-final-hours.html). The root cause was a culture of disrespect at Uber. Four months ago allegations of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, career sabotage, deception, and illegal threats of employment termination were published in a blog. Subsequent investigations have turned Uber upside down leading now to the

Haven’t we all been told that the culture of Google is “AMAZING”! The news today suggests that it may be otherwise with at least one person labeling it “TOXIC”! (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/08/08/google-might-be-in-trouble.html) The point is that the highest aspirations and most carefully planned strategies can go off the rails if the culture is allowed to grow in unhealthy directions. This is not really about Google, it is about your workplace and mine. How and in wh

There has been rising concern in recent years over the toll that burnout is taking in our country and around the world. The medical community has been especially hard hit. This condition is variously described but generally is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion, a failure to recharge during non-working hours, a feeling of low personal accomplishment, growing cynicism, and feelings of isolation. It differs from depression in that burnout symptoms are feelings a