“Uncertainty creates fear, fear create anger” -- Lara Currie Out of control Karen’s are the poster people for the rise in bad behavior. Uncertainty causes fear, and fear causes anger. All too often that anger is vented in the wrong venue. Customers rage at service workers, policies trigger push back, and those who want things to ‘go back to normal’ (whatever that is) are walking around in a heightened emotional state that your staff has to deal with. In today’s episode, what ONE THING you can do to tame those unruly clients and diffuse the anger that your clients are expressing Why people are ..read more

We spend a lot of time with the people we work with. Whether in person or online friendships form, and leadership often tries to encourage a sense of camaraderie with staff. Without knowing it, this can create strife between coworkers without meaning to. When does camaraderie become toxic? With a nod to systems theory, we can learn how and why what is intended as 'team building' may, in fact, grow animosity.  Work with Lara: Got a Question? Comment? Email help@difficulthappens.com Corporate Training Difficult Happens by Lara Currie Difficulthappens.com/workwithme/    Apply for a ..read more

Do you ever wonder how a workplace turns toxic? It doesn’t happen all at once, and it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Like a pot that slowly boils there are a lot of steps along the way where you can stop the chain reaction of events before the workplace turns toxic. When blame, exaggeration, and generalizations are used in a conflict communication gets lost. Generalizing is another way to label and dismiss a person or a topic. Exaggeration inflames what may otherwise be no big deal, into a conflict.  When identifying errors turns into a blame game, that is where the conversation ends. Tune i ..read more

On top of everything else that you have had to deal with this past year, now loneliness is on the rise, and the impact of loneliness on you and the work you do is impactful. Douglas Nemecek, MD, chief medical officer for behavioral health at Cigna says that the impact of loneliness on your health is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is possibly worse than obesity and that isolated people risk having a significantly shorter life span.  I don’t think it's any surprise that any stress on your emotions impacts you physically, as the saying goes, your body keeps the score of your e ..read more

Our best self makes all the plans but she doesn't always show up to implement them The world is full of information, a plethora of knowledge is just a Bing search away, psych, we all use google. Yet with all this information at our fingertips, we can know a thing, understand it, but when it comes to implementing, it’s not as simple, we can have a hard time putting that information, that knowledge into practice.  So what do you need to make sure that you, and your team, walk the walk, and get implementing?   What you’ll hear on today’s episode: What sinks a team Learning vs knowing W ..read more

This is a juicy episode filled with the way’s that you can use stories in your everyday work life, from the boardroom to the stage. Carol and I talk about everything from our personal struggles and successes to the DNA of the feminine, from speaker hijackers to why Emma should stop watching Law and Order SVU. Carol tells us how she uses the three-act story structure and the Hero’s journey when working with clients. There are lots of free giveaways on dealing with conflict and a strategic speaking guide.  What you’ll hear in this podcast: Stories help us see ourselves in others experience ..read more

Well, some difficult S*it just happened. In 176 weeks of recording the difficult happens podcast, I have never missed a publication.  It’s time for me to model the very behavior I talk about. We will all go through some … stuff in our lives and I want you to do the same when you encounter some really difficult stuff,  take care of yourself and your family. Next week, I will be back and I will be combating toxic, manipulative, bullying behavior head-on!  Work with Lara: Got a Question? Comment? Email help@difficulthappens.com Difficult Happens by Lara Currie Difficulthappens.com ..read more

Everyone, at one point in their life, has experienced a compliment that did not sit right. Either it was way too personal, or it felt a little backhanded. That's why we're tackling whether or not compliments are toxic! When we break down compliments, we can see that it depends on a variety of factors; Who is giving the compliment, the context, and the motive. When it comes to genuine compliments, you know it when you see it.    What you’ll hear on today’s episode: Compliments Gaslighting and Narcissism Genuine compliments Overly familiar compliment Sideways compliments Backhanded co ..read more

"Knowledge is when you learn something new every day." We learn learn learn all day long but do we take enough time to apply? I love to learn, and learning the concepts is one thing, but implementing is another. This brings us to the one thing that we all need that we cannot do without. Something paramount to implementing better ways of communication, and that is empathy. What is empathy to you?   Empathy is the ability to understand what other people feel emotionally and see things from their perspective. Empathy is important because it is a precursor to any conversation. However, there ..read more

What kind of energy do you give off? Do you find yourself expressing more masculine attributes or feminine? This concept of masculine and feminine has been around a lot, and we are beginning to see it take hold in the entrepreneurial and small business fields. Someone who is more focused and driven is seen to have stronger masculine traits, while more caring and creative is seen as having more feminine traits. Discussing masculine and feminine energies is based on a continuum, yin and yang. People are made up of different traits, and when we say "masculine energy" or "feminine energy" in this ..read more