I know a lot of lawyers will think, “Self-compassion? Isn’t that for weaklings?” It is precisely this thinking which makes our profession suffer so much. Thanks to a recent study by the ABA and Hazelden, we now have empirical evidence of how the stress of the legal profession affects us.
Wouldn’t it be great if the act of honing and refining your mental processes through higher education led to being free of the stress caused by our fight or flight ...
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What should an employee do if he or she knows a co-worker is being threatened, teased, demeaned, called names, glared at and ostracized? I think we can all answer this question — the employee should report the matter or stand up to the bully. Whether or not they will do so depends on your organizational culture. Does your organization see the value of respect in the workplace? Does your organization live by its values? Bullies can only thrive if leadership ...
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When I have asked managers why they hesitate to give constructive feedback to their employees, I hear things like:
What do all of these excuses have in common? Fear.
We fear the other’s reaction. Notice how in each of these explanations, the burden is put on the other person. “She’ll get upset” or “she won’t be able to ...
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Previously, I discussed why we might be reluctant to give others feedback and gave some ideas for approaching feedback in a positive way for positive results. This week, I’d like to talk about the downside of not giving feedback and why it’s such an imperative if you want to maintain effective working relationships.
What is implicit bias?
There is a lot of talk about implicit bias these days. We are grappling to understand what it is and how it impacts our lives. ...
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Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws define and prohibit “discrimination” at work. Discrimination is a term of art and it has required components in order to prove it exists. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency charged with seeing these laws are complied with. Employees can also hire private attorneys to advise them. EEO laws protect particular classes of people from discrimination. Sometimes people say EEO laws give these classes of people “superior” rights — not true. What ...
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I’m one of those people who can be a little smug about how awesome it is to live in the Northwest. We have gorgeous mountains, rivers, lakes, coastline, forests and great food. We place a premium on good relationships, which gives us strong communities. But just like everything has an upside, everything has a downside, too. Our preference for positive relationships can sometimes lead us ...
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