Understanding Behavior Styles Can Turn Conflict into Growth

Emily here. For the past two semesters, I’ve been part of the Highlands College Leadership Institute, and I’ll admit, I’ve often felt like an imposter. Leadership hasn’t always come naturally to me, and conflict? I tend to avoid it. But here’s the twist: leaning into that discomfort has sparked unexpected growth. What if understanding your own personality—and others’—could completely change how you handle conflict? I’ve been exploring this in my leadership journey, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned about turning conflict into a powerful tool for collaboration. Want to know how? Keep reading!

Investing in People Makes Cents

person putting coin in a piggy bank

Last week, Emily kicked off our new series on professional development. What it is and why we should care about it. I’m pulling that thread to talk about the dollars and cents of why you should invest in people and why you should do it NOW. I just read a powerful article from McKinsey titled Increasing your return on talent: The moves and metrics that matter that hit me square in the face with this quote: “McKinsey research indicates that companies that put talent at the center of their business strategy realize higher total shareholder returns than their competitors.” One

AI for Talent Development: Good, Scary, or Both? 

cheerful ethnic woman against vivid red painted wall

AI is everywhere. Have you recently googled something and used the AI generated answer without ever clicking a link from the list? It’s one of my new favorite efficiencies…and it freaks me out a little. In the “if something scares you, it probably means you should do it” kind of way. We’ve been talking about AI for HR over the last few weeks in the context of our work and industries we support, and today I’m wrapping it up with my take on AI for talent development as a whole. It freaks me out a little, so it’s probably a

Effective Delegation: Closed Doors Lead to Open Ones

As we begin our series on the theme for the year, “Open the Door”, we realized it was important to also consider that in order to open doors, you also need to know how to close them.  The first step in effective delegation is to identify where closing a door for one person or organization is opening one for another.  As we sat around a table brainstorming our 2024 theme at our annual company retreat, we realized we were all in somewhat of a state of transition and so were many of our clients.   We often work with people, organizations,

Why Appreciation in the Workplace Matters

Remember Mary Ila’s take on “How to Be Authentic with Your Appreciation at Work”? We reference Chapman & White all the time in training and coaching with our clients. To celebrate Valentine’s Day with full hearts in the workplace, we’re bringing you an early look at the new updated version of The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.  We subscribe to the newsletter from Appreciation at WorkTM and got one of the first announcements of the new, post-COVID research on professional appreciation. Right away, I asked the team if we could do a blog about it. New research!? Yes!